Secondary Fermentation

buckfast · Post by **buckfast** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:55 am

Can anyone help?
Lastnight I dropped my batch of beer from the trub in the primary fermenter. I thought I'd left most of the sediment behind, but in 24 hrs I can see another good thick layer of sediment through the carboy.
Is this normal? Its the first time I've used a carboy for the secondary and it took me by supprise.

Will it be ok to leave it like this for a few weeks, or should I drop it again?

Cheers

Whorst · Post by **Whorst** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:43 am

The trick is to eliminate as much trub as possible. The Belgian Dubbel I just brewed was about 99% trub free. The trick is to keep the break material in your kettle. You do this by adding Irish Moss during the last 15 minutes of the boil. I actually rehydrate mine in about a pint of water before adding. After your done cooling your wort, carefully siphon off at the very side of your kettle. The wort should run clear, leaving break material and hops to remain in the kettle. I've tried the whirfloc tablets and find them nowhere near as effective as re-hydrated Irish Moss. How do you rack your cool wort to the fermenter?

buckfast · Post by **buckfast** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:07 am

Hello caps.

I put a post in a while back (forgot the irish moss).
I drain from boiler tap which has a copper manifold attached inside. I also run it through a S/S sieve and a sterile muslin cloth. I thought I'd caught most of the trub.

The fact I never added the Irish Moss Won't have helped I guess.

Cheers

spearmint-wino · Post by **spearmint-wino** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:30 am

Whorst wrote:I've tried the whirfloc tablets and find them nowhere near as effective as re-hydrated Irish Moss.

Interesting, I find quite the opposite and my beers have been clearer since using whirlfloc over 'standard' irish moss. Maybe you're getting supercharged seaweed

Stonechat · Post by **Stonechat** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:33 pm

It depends what you mean by a "thick layer of sediment". I always drop my beer into a secondary closed FV and I always get more yeast dropping out from the beer and coating the bottom of the FV. The layer is between 1.5mm and 3mm thick, depending on the OG of the beer.
So is this what you're seeing? If it's trub, how would you have carried this over into the carboy, as the whole idea of dropping for me anyway, is to leave as much trub in the primary FV and secondly to allow more yeast to drop out before barreling or bottling.
I've recently bought a stainless steel pot to use as a primary FV, but I must admit I'll miss seeing what's going on with the yeast through the opaque walls of my present Hambleton Bard buckets.

buckfast · Post by **buckfast** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:56 pm

I'm using a glass carboy for secondary fermenting. I can see about 2 inches in the bottom, but i'm not sure if its just clinging to the side where it sort of tapers into the base

I hope this is the case. If i knew how to post pictures, i put one in.

Cheers.

buckfast · Post by **buckfast** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 1:27 am

Cheers DaaB
Here goes. Sorry if it doesn't work.

buckfast · Post by **buckfast** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 1:31 am

There we go. Does this look normal to you? Like I said, I've used a carboy before so never seen this sort of thing.

Cheers

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Secondary Fermentation

Secondary Fermentation