16 replies to this topic

[CaptRon]

So my Pale Ale is fermenting nicely. The yeast is hard at work and have produced a nice fluffy bed of foam on top. So I know this has been discussed before, but I am thinking of going straight from the primary to keg and bottle. I usually transfer to secondary for a couple/few weeks to let it clear up a bit first, but I think most here say that I could really just do that in the keg after I hit the FG that I'm after and let it condition in the keg in the fridge and then force carb it. Right?I think I'll let the one that I'm going to bottle sit in the primary for an extra week though. Unless the consensus is to secondary the ones to be bottled.What is ya'lls opinion?

[Dave]

Take the blow-off tube out ( if you're using one) put on a 3 piece airlock and put it in the fridge for a few days then keg and force carb it...If you are using a blow-off tube and cool it down it can pull the contents of the blow-off bucket into your fermenter ( happened to me with two 10-gal batches)

[BrewerGeorge]

I haven't done a secondary on an ale in years. I just leave everything in the primary fermenter for 2-3 weeks and then keg.IMO, there are only three good reasons to move an ale to secondary: 1) to recover the primary vessel quickly for another brew, 2) to dryhop, 3) to add fruit. Autolysis just doesn't happen to 5 gallons of beer kept at a decent temperature.

[stellarbrew]

I secondary all my beers. It gives me a clearer beer faster, with less yeast sediment in the keg. Plus it frees up my primary carboy sooner. Most often when I dry hop, I do it in the primary vessel after the primary fermentation is over, and then siphon off of the yeast and hops into a secondary after a week or two.

[brewhead]

i agree here with BrewerGeorge. i rarely secondary anything. 2-3 weeks then keg. done.

[ncbeerbrewer]

As you can tell already you are going to get different answers from many and none of them are wrong. I have always secondaried my beers. Its just the practice I am. I brew about 3 times a month and while I have a good many carboys I have primarily two that will fit side by side in my fermentation freezer. When I dry hop I do that in secondary vessel as well. I don't think there is any problem doing it anyway that you choose.

[CoastieSteve]

Chock another guy up to the straight to keg routine. It's simply easier and one less vessel that needs cleaned and sanitized. Also, I don't chill then keg as was mentioned above. I go straight from primary to keg that's already blanketed in CO2, chill to serving temp (usually I just wait a day), then force carb. I cut off about 1/4" of the tips from all my keg pick-up tubes so I get little to no sediment in my first beer.

[MoreAmmoPlz]

Addicted to the secondary unless it's a wheat beer. Usually I'll do a week in primary, a week in secondary, and then off to the serving keg. My two biggest reasons for using a secondary is to help clear the beer and to also free up space in my fermenter so that I can brew back to back in one week.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

So my Pale Ale is fermenting nicely. The yeast is hard at work and have produced a nice fluffy bed of foam on top. So I know this has been discussed before, but I am thinking of going straight from the primary to keg and bottle. I usually transfer to secondary for a couple/few weeks to let it clear up a bit first, but I think most here say that I could really just do that in the keg after I hit the FG that I'm after and let it condition in the keg in the fridge and then force carb it. Right?I think I'll let the one that I'm going to bottle sit in the primary for an extra week though. Unless the consensus is to secondary the ones to be bottled.What is ya'lls opinion?

I usually secondary for the long term aging process to clear the beer up. For bottled beers I don't do this.

[CaptRon]

For the force carbing, do you use the method of putting the gas line on the beer side of the keg with the long dip tube to get the co2 to bubble up through the beer or do you just let it sit at the desired pressure for a few days and wait it out? I've only kegged my last beer, so i'm still a newbie at it.

[JReigle]

For the force carbing, do you use the method of putting the gas line on the beer side of the keg with the long dip tube to get the co2 to bubble up through the beer or do you just let it sit at the desired pressure for a few days and wait it out? I've only kegged my last beer, so i'm still a newbie at it.

I connect to the beer-out post, but honestly I don't think it achieves all that much considering the bubbles coming up through the beer are quite large. You'd need really cold beer and really fine bubbles to have them dissolve into the beer quickly just by flowing through it. I guess this is where one of those airstones comes in, but I've not bothered with that expense yet.I do a bit of a hybrid technique. I put the keg on 40-45psi at room temperature (60-65F) and shake it two or three times hard and wait until the regulator stops making noise after each shake. Then I disconnect it and put it in the fridge off the co2 tank. The next day I will purge the gas in the keg and hook it up at serving pressure. This gets me enough carbonation to be nicely drinkable in a day without risking overcarbonating as much as you would leaving it hooked up to high pressure. Three or four days in the fridge on serving pressure takes it the rest of the way to perfection, so about 4-5 days for ideal carbonation this way. If I leave it in the fridge on serving pressure (10-12psi) to carbonate that way, it's about 10 days before it reaches ideal.

[Big Nake]

I secondary everything. It's extra storage so I can get to the yeast in primary and use it again. Plus, the secondary is the place to allow the beer to clarify and smooth out. At any given time, I have 4-6 beers in secondary on my cool basement floor. I understand why people would want to skip it as it's a place you can pick up an infection. But it's not extra work to me... I do it every single time and add a gel solution, no exceptions.

[Stout_fan]

I haven't secondaried a beer in years.It'll be fine.Running the gas to the liquid out post has the advantage of stopping beer slosh from getting back into the connector.And you can hear how much gas went into solution when you shook it.

[brewhead]

to clarify, i wouldn't leave an ale on the yeast in 70 deg temps. but since after fermentation, i keep the batch at around 65 degrees or a little lower it is fine.

[MAZ]

With the exception of the occasional wheat beer, I also secondary everything. I don't go to the lengths that Ken does for clarity (no gel solution), but it most definitely helps speed up the clarification process. Also, I have 2 primary fermenters... one 10 gallon bucket for pseudo-open fermenting and one 6.5 gal glass carboy. I never use a blow-off tube - just don't like dealing with them. So when I need a primary, I rack (assuming the beer is 95% fermented) to a 5 gallon secondary carboy, and I have my primary available again.Do whatever you want though - there's no wrong answer here in my opinion.

[HVB]

I stopped secondarying a few years back. I do and extending primary fermentation and then i go right to a keg. Less chance of oxidation and my beers have not suffered in any way from this. Plus I am lazy and it is one last step!!Mike

[Deerslyr]

Plus I am lazy and it is one last step!!

+1