Secondry fv advice needed

[ni9e]

I'm going try putting my beer into secondry FV to hopefully help the beer clear and have been searching the forum but seem to get conflicting answers so here's the niggleing questions

1- When do I transfer the beer to the secondry?

2- Once transfered how long should I leave it there do I leave it till the beer falls brite if so will I be able to prime keg/bottles?

3- If beer does not clear in the secondry should I use gelatine for fining the beer if so what gelatine do I use and where can I buy it from?

Thanks

[llannige]

Hi n,
What works for me is.7 days Primary,14 days in secondary.Then for the last day or two add some Beerbrite.
I then transfer to a bottling bucket which includes my Primer.
Don't usually have any problems with this method.

Good luck.

[Jim]

The trick is not to transfer to secondary too soon, or the fermentation can stick. As llannige says, 7 days is fine for normal strength beers. You can leave it in the secondary as long as you want, within reason, providing it's under an air lock.

If you want to fine with gelatine, just use the stuff you get in the supermarket in the baking ingredients section. It comes in a little box of half a dozen or so satchets. Have a look at this page (about half way down) to see how to use it.

[Buzz]

If bottling I tend to leave it in the primary until fermentation is complete, (just to avoid any chance of it sticking when taking it off the yeast too early) 7 days is usually sufficient.

I then rack it off into another vessel under an airlock to clear for 2 weeks. I then bottle and prime without finings and usually find there is still sufficient yeast for the bottles to carbonate. I like as little sludge at the bottom of my bottles as possible.

If putting into a pressure barrel i use the same procedure but leave it in the secondary for just 1 week because I'm impatient and you don't have to be so fussy as with bottling.

These days though, I mainly use cornis. Ferment in primary for 1 week, rack off and store secondary vessel in fridge to fall bright as secondary carbonation is not required.

[Jim]

One thing I forgot to mention is that both isinglass and gelatin (which are just different forms of the same thing) both give unstable sediment when used in bottles - only use them if you're kegging.

[maxashton]

I don't think clearing's ever been a problem for me in bottles.

[mattmacleod]

You could just not bother transferring at all.

I leave all my beers in the primary until fermentation is well and truly complete (ie: no change in gravity over 3+ days). I then move the fermenter somewhere cold and wait until it has cleared.

[Iank]

One thing I forgot to mention is that both isinglass and gelatin (which are just different forms of the same thing) both give unstable sediment when used in bottles - only use them if you're kegging.

Good point. it just goes to show how much there is to learn from ths forum. My AG#2 tastes great after 39 days in the bottle, but because I forgot to use finings when boiling I thought I'd better fine when racking. I'm lucky if I get 4/5 of the bottle out without sediment
My first AG which was also bottled I fined correctly in the boiler (whirlfloc) and didn't fine when bottling and that sediment was solid as a rock. It was clear too.

[ni9e]

Thanks guys gonna give this a try with my latest batch got a couple more questions though

Is it possible to move beer earlier to achieve a desired gravity of alcohol and if I do this will it affect the flavour of the beer in any way?

Finally once beer has been in secondry for x amount of time when kegging/Bottling and beer has been primed do I still leave somewhere warm for a few days?

[Jim]

I don't think you could use a secondary fermenter as a reliable way of controlling final gravity - the results would be too variable.

Regarding moving to a warmer place after priming, yes you would need to do that.

[ni9e]

Thanks Jim I'll give it a go and see how it goes

[MartialAnt]

Here's my two penneth. Fv till done. Then into secondary for a week. (never crossed my mind to use an airlock). Then finings, leave that a few days then bottle/keg. But i keep some* of the shit from the bottom of the primary FV and add a tiny blob into each bottle with sugar so it can carbonate as usual.

It produced nearly sediment free beer for me.

* SWO's went into the fridge to get the marge not realising i had a full tub of yeasty shit in there. She make a right mess when she opened it. So now i only keep enough for priming bottles.

I will learn to wash yeast soon.

[pantsmachine]

I must be a slacker, I let it ferment out in primary, settle for a day(big fan of 5 gallon glass FV) then bottle with priming solution. Thin layer of sediment on bottom of bottle so last 1/2" of beer remains in bottle. Since i use a glass FV i can't fit a tap so to work around this I made up a length of 15mm copper tube with holes in the side. The holes are spaced to be above the sediment layer in the FV, i then set my plastic tube depth within the copper tube, slowly lower it into the fv till bottoms out and then start bottling. Works well with good control of tube and precise required draw of depth. I robbed this idea from downhole offshore tools i have seen over the years. What i would really like though is a big s/s conical fermenter which would make the whole process much easier!

[Parva]

Have to admit I'm with pantsmachine on this. I have two brews in primary FV's which I'm pretty sure are now ready to go into cornie kegs but I'm going to leave for another day or two before I do so.

I'll probably end up with slightly hazy beer at worst but then I'd much prefer that over crystal clear vinegar! I can see the advantages for competitions etc but for home drinking I'm just not going to take the chance of infecting my brew by messing about with it.

[confused]

I have been a devotee of secondary fermenting since I started using cornies, but it is something I have overlooked in my new brewery design. Previously I used top tap kegs where secondary fermenting is not such a benefit.

I'm now agonising over whether to amend the design - which I'm rather pleased with, or doing away with secondary fermenting. I will admit that I do like the idea of simplifying the brewing process and removing possible points of infection.

The flip side is that I still want to rack beer as bright as I can into the keg.