25 replies to this topic

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

Do you do anything different like cold crashing the primary for a few days before transferring to keg or bottling? My main concern with skipping secondary when kegging is every time I pour that first beer (if I haven't poured one in a while or if I've moved the keg) that I'll get a glass full of trub/yeast.

[siouxbrewer]

Yeah I let my primary crash for at least 48 hrs before racking anything out of it, sometimes I let it crash longer if I'm busy or just being lazy. I try to get the beer going into keg as clear as possible, but now I'm considering the gel thing for some of my beers I want really clear. I only use a secondary vessel for lagers and belgians and for that I use a sankey keg capped with a large universal stopper.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

Yeah I let my primary crash for at least 48 hrs before racking anything out of it, sometimes I let it crash longer if I'm busy or just being lazy. I try to get the beer going into keg as clear as possible, but now I'm considering the gel thing for some of my beers I want really clear. I only use a secondary vessel for lagers and belgians and for that I use a sankey keg capped with a large universal stopper.

do your beers still clear up okay? how much junk makes it into your kegs?

[siouxbrewer]

do your beers still clear up okay? how much junk makes it into your kegs?

I'd like to think so but what do I know There is always a thin layer of sediment at the bottom of my kegs when I clean them, but it's well below the dip tube and my beers pour pretty clear with maybe a touch of haze. As you said before, I'm more concerned they taste good. My beers don't usually last long so I guess I'm doing okay.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

I'd like to think so but what do I know There is always a thin layer of sediment at the bottom of my kegs when I clean them, but it's well below the dip tube and my beers pour pretty clear with maybe a touch of haze. As you said before, I'm more concerned they taste good. My beers don't usually last long so I guess I'm doing okay.

even when I age in secondary I end up with some sediment in the bottom of my kegs. usually I'm not super careful when transferring from primary to secondary with regards to yeast and stuff. from secondary to keg I don't really need to be that careful again b/c there is so little yeast stuck to the bottom of the carboy. but inevitably when I kick the keg and take a look in the bottom there is some stuff down there

[orudis]

I never secondary and usually end up with pretty clear beer. After fermentation is done I sit the bucket/carboy on top of a chest freezer and prop one side with a 2x4 and let it sit for a day or two, then rack off the trub. First pint or two are cloudy, then the third is pretty clear, and they are usually crystal clear by the end of the keg. A few times the beer has been hazy and I've used gelatin, but that is pretty rare and IMO has nothing to do with no secondary.

[RommelMagic]

I almost always cold crash for a couple/few days prior to kegging. As has been said, there is some small amount of yeast at the bottom of the keg when it gets kicked but my beers are pretty clear, and when I remember the whirlfloc they are usually super clear.

[HVB]

I always plan to have 5.5 in a carboy or 11 in the conical so I can be sure to only get clean beer. I also let it sit in the primary for atleast 3 weeks so the yeast will drop out. First pint is usualy pretty clean.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

I always plan to have 5.5 in a carboy or 11 in the conical so I can be sure to only get clean beer. I also let it sit in the primary for atleast 3 weeks so the yeast will drop out. First pint is usualy pretty clean.

I could try to do that but I know I'd get greedy and try to take as much as I could

[MakeMeHoppy]

I ferment at least ten days and sometimes up to two weeks. Then I cold crash for at least 2 days. The trub settles out even before that and the yeast gets very compacted from the cold crash. Then I move to my racking area and let sit at least 1/2 hour to let things resettle. I get a little bit of yeast because I am greedy and want to get all the beer I can. I siphon until I see some yeast go up the tube.I usually have the keg in the serving fridge at least a day before I tap it and, yes, the first pint is a little cloudy. But even if I just toss that I still lose less beer than I would transferring to secondary and then to keg.Final thought, you can think of your keg as a secondary. You can either pull that first pint before moving or siphon from keg to keg just like you would carboy to keg.Give it a try I bet you don't secondary again!!!

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

I ferment at least ten days and sometimes up to two weeks. Then I cold crash for at least 2 days. The trub settles out even before that and the yeast gets very compacted from the cold crash. Then I move to my racking area and let sit at least 1/2 hour to let things resettle. I get a little bit of yeast because I am greedy and want to get all the beer I can. I siphon until I see some yeast go up the tube.I usually have the keg in the serving fridge at least a day before I tap it and, yes, the first pint is a little cloudy. But even if I just toss that I still lose less beer than I would transferring to secondary and then to keg.Final thought, you can think of your keg as a secondary. You can either pull that first pint before moving or siphon from keg to keg just like you would carboy to keg.Give it a try I bet you don't secondary again!!!

WHY DO YOU TEMPT ME!!??

[3rd party JKor]

For an average beer, I let it sit in the primary for at least two weeks at fermentation temp, then I transfer to cornies. I don;t really have to worry about transferring excess trub/yeast since the transfer valve on my conical is well above the layer of solids in the cone. Once the beer is in the cornies I let it sit and carbonate cold for a week. That clears it up as much as it;s going to clear. The first half pint or so is nasty, the second and third may have a slight haze but after that it's clear.I'm actually thinking about adding a couple of bright tanks to my system, so I can add gel to the brights when I transfer, then after a week or so transfer the crystal clear beer to cornies. I like the idea of having no sediment in the serving vessels, but it's also another vessel to clean and sanitize.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

For an average beer, I let it sit in the primary for at least two weeks at fermentation temp, then I transfer to cornies. I don;t really have to worry about transferring excess trub/yeast since the transfer valve on my conical is well above the layer of solids in the cone. Once the beer is in the cornies I let it sit and carbonate cold for a week. That clears it up as much as it;s going to clear. The first half pint or so is nasty, the second and third may have a slight haze but after that it's clear.I'm actually thinking about adding a couple of bright tanks to my system, so I can add gel to the brights when I transfer, then after a week or so transfer the crystal clear beer to cornies. I like the idea of having no sediment in the serving vessels, but it's also another vessel to clean and sanitize.

we do essentially the same thing except in between the primary and keg I put the beer in a 5 gal better bottle. I actually pretty much always do about 2 weeks + some time spent in the basement or fridge (sometimes, like right now, the basement is already cool enough to encourage yeast to settle out).

[MakeMeHoppy]

WHY DO YOU TEMPT ME!!??

A senior member of my brewclub swears by the no secondary rule. He looks at it was just another chance to infect or oxidize your beer. I think you should try no secondary at least once with a light colored beer to see if you like the results. As I said before you can always rack it to another keg if you don't like the results.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

A senior member of my brewclub swears by the no secondary rule. He looks at it was just another chance to infect or oxidize your beer. I think you should try no secondary at least once with a light colored beer to see if you like the results. As I said before you can always rack it to another keg if you don't like the results.

What is this "light colored beer" you speak of? I seem to be adverse to low SRM values...

[stellarbrew]

I'm actually thinking about adding a couple of bright tanks to my system, so I can add gel to the brights when I transfer, then after a week or so transfer the crystal clear beer to cornies. I like the idea of having no sediment in the serving vessels, but it's also another vessel to clean and sanitize.

I guess I think of my secondary as a "bright tank". Usually gel is not needed in my secondary, if I give it a couple of weeks of cold conditioning. Like Zym, I prefer to have as little yeast sediment as possible in my serving keg, and no matter how careful I am in transferring from primary to secondary, and no matter how clear the beer seems at the time of transfer, I will inevitably have a thin yeast layer at the bottom of the secondary after a week or two. With the recent discussion about oxidation during transfer, I have been trying to think of a way to skip secondary (one less transfer) and still minimize yeast in the serving keg. What I think of doing is allowing for a nice, long primary, and then adding gel a day or two before transferring to the keg. My thought is that the gel would settle out with the yeast, and lessen the the likelyhood of stirring up any yeast that would carry over during transfer. I might give this a try. Of course, if I wanted to reuse the yeast, I think I would need to harvest it before adding the gel.

[MtnBrewer]

Do you do anything different like cold crashing the primary for a few days before transferring to keg or bottling? My main concern with skipping secondary when kegging is every time I pour that first beer (if I haven't poured one in a while or if I've moved the keg) that I'll get a glass full of trub/yeast.

I used to but I just cold crash in the keg now. The first couple of pints are discarded because there's too much lees in them but that was always the case with me anyway.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

I used to but I just cold crash in the keg now. The first couple of pints are discarded because there's too much lees in them but that was always the case with me anyway.

even when you would transfer to 2ndary prior to kegging you'd discard the first couple of pints?

[MakeMeHoppy]

What is this "light colored beer" you speak of? I seem to be adverse to low SRM values...

I only meant that because a porter or stout isn't going to show the difference in clarity anyway. Gee if you like high SRM beers, I would skip secondary for sure.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

I only meant that because a porter or stout isn't going to show the difference in clarity anyway. Gee if you like high SRM beers, I would skip secondary for sure.

ah - yeah. I make some pale ales but I tend to go to the dark end of the SRM guideline.