Oxidation in beer

Discuss making up beer kits - the simplest way to brew.
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Garth
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Oxidation in beer

Post by Garth » Sat Aug 26, 2006 11:18 am

Can anyone tell which of these is right, as I have been told both

Giving the brew a good stir when making the kit up is good as it oxygenates the wort so the yeast can grow, I know that is true and I implement that every time.

But when it comes to 'dropping' the brew after 2-4 days into another vessel, should I be using a tube to the bottom of the vessel to keep as much oxygen out or should I be dropping it from the tap into the second bin to create foam and a new yeast head?

any help would be great

mysterio

Post by mysterio » Sat Aug 26, 2006 11:32 am

The only time you want to aerate the wort is before or just after you pitch the yeast -- care should be taken to not splash the wort/beer any other time.

So when you're racking to another vessel it should be done quietly with as little splashing as possible. A tube to the bottom or a racking cane is a good way of doing this.

Vossy1

Post by Vossy1 » Sat Aug 26, 2006 11:34 am

Hi Garth, You should only oxgenate the wort at the beginning when the yeast is added.

If you transfer after 2-4 days you should keep as much air out as possible ie, place the tube at the bottom of the secondary, keeping it under the liquid level until transfer is complete.

Why transfer after 2-4 days??? Normal primary fermentation is 7 days with a lot of us on the forum using 10.

jasonaustin

Post by jasonaustin » Sat Aug 26, 2006 11:44 am

'Dropping' was a method made popular in homebrewing by Graham Wheeler in his books. Idea was to separate the beer from the initial dirty yeast head. However, it should be done early - 24-36 hours - otherwise the yeast takes such a knock that it doesn't recover. And some would advocate giving the beer a good rouse to introduce oxygen again to help the yeast on it's way (dropping invariably removed a lot of yeast).
Current thoughts are that dropping is not necessary.
Racking to a secondary is popular though, but as others have said, should be done later (7-10 days), or when fermentation has all but finished, and should definitely be done without introducing oxygen.

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Post by Garth » Sat Aug 26, 2006 9:18 pm

Thanks guys for the replies

ok, so in my crazy beer-addled brain I have sort of mixed up two techniques really, haven't I?

So gently moving it to another clean vessel (I use those plastic wine fermenters that you can airlock in the lid) is the best way but I should be doing it a bit later than 4 days, more like a week, am I on the right track here?

Doing this too early may account for my slightly higher FG which many of my brews suffered from and would not go any lower than 1015 -1020, kind of a stuck fermentation, would you agree?

I would be interested to see what sort of schedule people go for.....

ie. X days in a primary vessel then X days in a sealed airlocked, then when bottled and leaving warm for X then in the cool for X.

any thoughts, as I hate to admit it, but I think I'm getting these timings a bit wrong.........HELP

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Post by Garth » Sat Aug 26, 2006 9:44 pm

great, Daab, this is what I wanted, a rough timeframe, as I too have been developing my own techniques but have lost my on the path and got it a bit wrong...oh dear

...and the path wasn't even a rocky one, more like a slightly lumpy badly laid patio area......

Cheers, anyone else?

Vossy1

Post by Vossy1 » Sat Aug 26, 2006 10:56 pm

Garth, I used DaaB'S advice and it's serving me well B)

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Post by Garth » Sat Aug 26, 2006 11:08 pm

hey Vossy, I too have always followed his advice and its worked every time

thank the lord for people who know what they are talking about.

At the moment I'm drinking a couple bottles of 'set aside' Brupaks lager which turned out great after some advice from the Daftser....thanks again mate

quote, Ghostbusters (Film - 1984 - Winston Zeddemore) " Ray, when someone asks you 'are you a god', you say 'YES'!!"

bod

Post by bod » Sun Aug 27, 2006 2:03 am

i normally leave for a week to 10 days int he [rimary fermentor, then transfer to another for 2 to three weeks before bottling(soon to be kegging).
When i transfer to secondary, i normally add some finings, like gelatin, but for most of my brews this year i havent been adding anything. time takes its course and it ends up nice and clear in the end! :D

basically, for ales, i recon 6/7 weeks, start to drinking time, normally does the trick. hope this doesnt add any more confusion for you!

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Post by Garth » Sun Aug 27, 2006 8:10 am

no probs Bod, thanks for the advice.

I'm getting a good picture now and realise I wasn't a million miles away just a bit wrong with the timings

it obviously hasn't done any damage to the majority of my brews as they have turned out great

Vossy1

Post by Vossy1 » Sun Aug 27, 2006 12:37 pm

Garth, just remember that if you fine in the secondary it will take longer for your bottles to carbonate naturally as there is less yeast in suspension.
I bottle direct from the primary and any gunk that enters the bottle settles to the bottom of the bottle in the fridge before pouring.
DaaB recommends maturing in the secondary as beer matures better when in large volume.
I am guilty of disturbing the sediment in the bottle deliberatley though as I dont mind it in my beer. When I don't its usually crystal clear with carefull pouring anyway.
To really compact the sediment, chill the beer to really cold, pour, allow to warm up, then drink. I usually can't wait :P

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Post by Garth » Sun Aug 27, 2006 3:49 pm

I have never used finings as most of the time they clear themselves, just sometimes I have had to sit it out a while, I bottle everthing and apart from my first two kits, I have used a secondary to mature in. I found that new Safale yeast, can't remember the number, gave a rock solid sediment to the point of not coming out the bottle when rinsing out time came.

I've not any brews ready at the moment so I'm drinking some testers that I stowed away, they are nice and mature now but obviously not been stored cold enough as most of them have become overcarbonated, possibly that warm period we had.

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Post by Garth » Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:01 pm

so if I added some gelatin when adding the spraymalt to prime the bottles, I would get a much harder sediment which is less likely to make it into my glass?

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Post by Garth » Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:28 pm

I have noticed that with the Safale range,

I have just checked my beer log notes and it was S-33 that gave a rock hard sediment on a particular kit that I substituted the yeast on.
Also I have used the blue packet one a fair bit, thats quite good too, sets away very quickly when used in a starter (thanks to your nice easy to follow pics Daab)

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