What advice is there re racking into 2nd FV mid fermentation?
I have been doing this to assist in aiding the clearing of the beer - is this right?
Also should I be siphoning some of the yeast from the bottom of the bin across to the next fv or keg.
I have found with a few kit brews that when I have done this and then added the priming sugar its coming out sweet.Might this be because there is not enough yeast carried over to allow secondary fermentation?
Racking into 2nd fermenting bin during fermentation
Racking into a secondary is something I dont do (well I do but its a corny).
It will clear in its own time without going to secondary, but I am sure its one of those Sparge or Batch Sparge things, some people do, some people dont.
When I do rack to secondary(when I make wine) I only do it as I dont want it to sit on dead yeast for months. Fermentation can slow down considerably so I would leave it till fermentation of the wort had finished so it does not stall when it goes into the secondary.
But thats just me.
Do you get carbonation ?
Or just the sweetness with no carbonation?
If you were adding too much priming sugar you could get carbonation but with sweetness as well. This would mean that there is enough yeast to carbonate but it just cannot consume all of the sugar available.
Edit : This is just what I do or have done, I am sure there will be more advice along shortly
It will clear in its own time without going to secondary, but I am sure its one of those Sparge or Batch Sparge things, some people do, some people dont.
When I do rack to secondary(when I make wine) I only do it as I dont want it to sit on dead yeast for months. Fermentation can slow down considerably so I would leave it till fermentation of the wort had finished so it does not stall when it goes into the secondary.
But thats just me.
Do you get carbonation ?
Or just the sweetness with no carbonation?
If you were adding too much priming sugar you could get carbonation but with sweetness as well. This would mean that there is enough yeast to carbonate but it just cannot consume all of the sugar available.
Edit : This is just what I do or have done, I am sure there will be more advice along shortly
Fermenter(s): Lambic, Wheat beer, Amrillo/Cascade Beer
Cornys: Hobgoblin clone, Four Shades Stout, Wheat Beer, Amarillo/Cascade Ale, Apple Wine, Cider, Damson Wine, Ginger Beer
Cornys: Hobgoblin clone, Four Shades Stout, Wheat Beer, Amarillo/Cascade Ale, Apple Wine, Cider, Damson Wine, Ginger Beer
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prodigal2
Re: Racking into 2nd fermenting bin during fermentation
Unless your emulating a specific style you are better to wait till the end of fermentation, eg 2 matching hydrometer readings over a 24hour periodMulberry wrote:What advice is there re racking into 2nd FV mid fermentation?
This is a correct assumption if you wait till the fermentation in the primary has finished, although in truth I have been of late only using the secondry as a bottling bucket so I am not rousing to much yeast into my bottlesMulberry wrote:I have been doing this to assist in aiding the clearing of the beer - is this right?
It your syphoning as you get toward the bottom of your FV rouse some yeast with the end of the syphon and this will help with the conditioning.Mulberry wrote:Also should I be siphoning some of the yeast from the bottom of the bin across to the next fv or keg.
Out of interest what was your FG reading on your hydrometer? And was there any carbonation present in your bottles/kegMulberry wrote:I have found with a few kit brews that when I have done this and then added the priming sugar its coming out sweet.Might this be because there is not enough yeast carried over to allow secondary fermentation?
Although if your transferring mid fermentation, you may be creating a stuck fermentation which will be creating the sweetness exasperated by the priming sugar not getting converted by the yeast.
If you leave your beer in the primary for 7-10 days(leave it a couple days more once you get a stable FG reading), then transfer to your secondary rousing some yeast. then secondary for a period and then transfer to your keg/bottles. Though if your just kegging just transfer straight to the keg , though add your priming sugars before you start transferring your beer to the keg
Its worth pointing out that if you use a secondary for any length of time you may need to pitch another batch of yeast to deal with the conditioning (S04/Nottingham), as any yeast you may of transfered to the secondary may be spent, and it would take a eternity to get your beer to a appropriate levels of carbonation.
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Mulberry
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prodigal2
Check out DaaBs page on Hydrometers:
http://www.18000feet.com/how/hydroreading.htm
You may find aload of other information of use on his pages, well worth giving up a night to read through
I know it set me on the straight and narrow 
http://www.18000feet.com/how/hydroreading.htm
You may find aload of other information of use on his pages, well worth giving up a night to read through
I know it set me on the straight and narrow -
Frothy
Don't rack mid-fermentation. You will lose activity and character in the beer if you do rack whilst a healthy fermentation has built up. The use of a secondary is hotly debated particularly on the US forums where they seem to love their 2ndary fermenter. If you consider real ale as a prime examle of how to brew and condition beer, the ale is fermented out to within a few degrees of it's final gravity in 3-4days, kegged with finings and shipped off to the ale houses. At the pub the keg is stored in the cellar for a period of weeks whilst it matures & conditions. In this way the keg is both a secondary fermenter (better describes as conditioning) and dispense vessel. Leaving the yeast in is essential to the conditioning of the beer as it recoups many of the compounds it expelled into the brew whilst it was rapidly fighting with itself metabolising all of the sugar it could get hold of.
My spin on this with corny kegs is to leave the ale in the primary to ferment dry and fall clear, this takes 5-10 days. Then rack to a corny and allow the beer to condition for a few weeks pressurized at no more than 15psi (at higher pressures the yeast becomes inhibited.) Since using a high flocculation yeast Safale S-04 I've had no sediment problems in the keg or had to use finings at all but if you do get sediment in there it just comes out with the first 1/2pint of beer.)
Essentially it is essential to condition/ mature your beer but the dedicated 2ndary fermenter (instead of using a keg) is only a benefit if it helps prevent you from drinking the beer early
or if you have a particularly cloudy and irksome yeast. You don't need to syphon across any yeast, there will be plenty of cells and enzymes in the beer that you can't necessarily see.
phew.... sorry one of my pet subjects.
Frothy
My spin on this with corny kegs is to leave the ale in the primary to ferment dry and fall clear, this takes 5-10 days. Then rack to a corny and allow the beer to condition for a few weeks pressurized at no more than 15psi (at higher pressures the yeast becomes inhibited.) Since using a high flocculation yeast Safale S-04 I've had no sediment problems in the keg or had to use finings at all but if you do get sediment in there it just comes out with the first 1/2pint of beer.)
Essentially it is essential to condition/ mature your beer but the dedicated 2ndary fermenter (instead of using a keg) is only a benefit if it helps prevent you from drinking the beer early
or if you have a particularly cloudy and irksome yeast. You don't need to syphon across any yeast, there will be plenty of cells and enzymes in the beer that you can't necessarily see.phew.... sorry one of my pet subjects.
Frothy