I have been brewing for a couple of years now, starting off with a Youngs kit, fermenting bucket and plastic barrel.
Last few months I have moved to a Fastfermenter and metal kegs with a Co2 bottle, cornelius counter cooler and dual taps.
In the past I have racked off halfway through the fermenting into a clean bucket so the beer isn't sat on a layer of yeast too long and left it to go for the remainder of the time, then added finings/gelatine let it stand for 3 days before kegging and adding 5 campden tablets then pressuring up to 20 or 35 psi for 3 days.
I have not had an issue with exposing the beer to air in the way of contamination so far.
Now I have added a brew fridge to the equation, so racking off is not quite so easy as with the fast fermenter it was a case of just remove the collection bottle empty and replace, taps on the bottom of my buckets means I don't have to syphon, but I am thinking it easier to just rack off once now once fermentation has ceased into a bucket then add the finings/gelatine before racking into the keg.
I guess my question is, what are peoples thoughts about transferring half way through to avoid the yeasty taste? I understand some brewers do rack off as soon as the really fast fermentation process is over ie 3-4 days and let the rest carry on in a cleaner container.
Also once the finings are added, any point dropping the temp in the fridge with bitter/ale or just leave it covered on the bench in the garage?
I am really still learning and experimenting, this advice was given to me by my brewshop owner who has been doing this for many years.
FYI its a Youngs American IPA on the go, at 5% after 7 days
should take 15 days and its sat nicely at 22 degrees in the fridge, will be interesting to see if the lack of daylight affects things at all, previously my fermentation has been in a room with plenty of natural light.
Last few months I have moved to a Fastfermenter and metal kegs with a Co2 bottle, cornelius counter cooler and dual taps.
In the past I have racked off halfway through the fermenting into a clean bucket so the beer isn't sat on a layer of yeast too long and left it to go for the remainder of the time, then added finings/gelatine let it stand for 3 days before kegging and adding 5 campden tablets then pressuring up to 20 or 35 psi for 3 days.
I have not had an issue with exposing the beer to air in the way of contamination so far.
Now I have added a brew fridge to the equation, so racking off is not quite so easy as with the fast fermenter it was a case of just remove the collection bottle empty and replace, taps on the bottom of my buckets means I don't have to syphon, but I am thinking it easier to just rack off once now once fermentation has ceased into a bucket then add the finings/gelatine before racking into the keg.
I guess my question is, what are peoples thoughts about transferring half way through to avoid the yeasty taste? I understand some brewers do rack off as soon as the really fast fermentation process is over ie 3-4 days and let the rest carry on in a cleaner container.
Also once the finings are added, any point dropping the temp in the fridge with bitter/ale or just leave it covered on the bench in the garage?
I am really still learning and experimenting, this advice was given to me by my brewshop owner who has been doing this for many years.
FYI its a Youngs American IPA on the go, at 5% after 7 days