Racking beer before bottling

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BrewFanatic

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Hi.

I am currently brewing Wilko's Cerveza and Festival Golden Stag.

I was wondering if i could perhaps rack the beer into another FV after 2 weeks of primary fermentation, and leave it in the new FV before bottling for a few days. My thinking behind it is to reduce the amount of sediment in the bottles.

Will this affect the beer (oxidisation?) or is this a good way to go?
 
BrewFanatic said:
Hi.

I am currently brewing Wilko's Cerveza and Festival Golden Stag.

I was wondering if i could perhaps rack the beer into another FV after 2 weeks of primary fermentation, and leave it in the new FV before bottling for a few days. My thinking behind it is to reduce the amount of sediment in the bottles.

Will this affect the beer (oxidisation?) or is this a good way to go?
Click to expand...
I usually rack my extract brews into my bottling FV and batch prime and bottle.
As long as you don't splash it around that is fine. Assume you are going to add sugar to each bottle.
 
With properly sanitised equipment there should be no problems whatsoever.

However, personally I wouldn't bother because it exposes the brew to infection when it isn't really necessary.

If the beer has cleared it can be syphoned into a bottling bucket without significant yeast carryover; and if it hasn't cleared I leave it for another week or even more. :thumb:
 
I'm currently using Young fermenting buckets so it's hard to gauge how clear the beers are.
I want to follow the 2-2-2 method but maybe do 1 week in primary FV then another week in secondary FV just to get rid of a bit of sediment.
 
BrewFanatic said:
Hi.

I am currently brewing Wilko's Cerveza and Festival Golden Stag.

I was wondering if i could perhaps rack the beer into another FV after 2 weeks of primary fermentation, and leave it in the new FV before bottling for a few days. My thinking behind it is to reduce the amount of sediment in the bottles.

Will this affect the beer (oxidisation?) or is this a good way to go?
Click to expand...

im at the same stage and have moved mine from primary to secondary fermenting bucket, about 8 hours prior tho I added abit of sugar to the mix so that there was less risk of oxidisation as my yeasties would be producing CO2 and expel any oxygen they came in contact with.

I now am trying to find out how much I should be batch priming with and how long after batch priming that I should bottle + do I stir in the sugary solution once cooled?
 
Personal91 said:
im at the same stage and have moved mine from primary to secondary fermenting bucket, about 8 hours prior tho I added abit of sugar to the mix so that there was less risk of oxidisation as my yeasties would be producing CO2 and expel any oxygen they came in contact with.

I now am trying to find out how much I should be batch priming with and how long after batch priming that I should bottle + do I stir in the sugary solution once cooled?
Click to expand...

I usually do 5 grams per liter. After adding, I do wait 30 minutes or so to let the solution mix in. However I do it a tad differently. I boil my sugar solution for a few minutes to steralize it. Then I quickly pour it into my bottling bucket, beer hasn't been added yet, and let cool just for a bit. In my mind, I think it adds another kind of sanitation. I don't wait till it's fully cooled, I just syphon in the beer. It's so little liquid that the cool beer quickly mixes in.
The 30 minute rest is the time I use to harvest the yeast into boiled jars I had prepared that morning. Harvest, then clean the FV. By then the beer is ready to be bottled.
 
Alot of the chat so far has been more directed towards bottling. While interesting it's not really what I'm asking. Not to sound too blunt :-/.
Do people really bother racking their beers into another FV for a further few days after fermentation is finished? I also brew wine and I know it benefits from being in a clean sterile new FV for a good amount of time before bottling. Does beer behave in the same way? Or does it benefit from quick procession from brew day to bottling? Such as the '2 week' fermenting limit being enough?
 
Some do, some don't, I have done, but now don't, once your beer is clear, its easy to siphon without disturbing the sediment.
Some argue it stops the yeast tainting the beer, some argue the yeast helps clear up any off tastes, try it both ways and take ya pick, its down to personal choice more than which is the correct way to do it.
 
BrewFanatic said:
Alot of the chat so far has been more directed towards bottling. While interesting it's not really what I'm asking. Not to sound too blunt :-/.
Do people really bother racking their beers into another FV for a further few days after fermentation is finished? I also brew wine and I know it benefits from being in a clean sterile new FV for a good amount of time before bottling. Does beer behave in the same way? Or does it benefit from quick procession from brew day to bottling? Such as the '2 week' fermenting limit being enough?
Click to expand...

I don't want to sound blunt either but Dutto and others did answer that FV question.
You asked about how much sugar to use and if you should stir it. I answered in the process I do. I think all the replies in this thread were spot on.

Update. My bad. Got you two mixed. Too much of the brew going down the hatch.

Cheapbrew nailed it.
 
Last edited:
BrewFanatic said:
I'm currently using Young fermenting buckets so it's hard to gauge how clear the beers are.
I want to follow the 2-2-2 method but maybe do 1 week in primary FV then another week in secondary FV just to get rid of a bit of sediment.
Click to expand...

You don't have to actually look in the FV to check clarity.

When sampling the beer to check the FG:

o If the sample is cloudy it isn't worth racking because there is still suspended yeast in there and no matter where you locate the syphon you will move yeast into the new FV.

o If the sample is clear and the FG is at or below 1.010 for two consecutive days then it can be racked into the bottling bucket, carbonated and bottled. :thumb:

Also, at this time of the year I would definitely avoid any unnecessary transfer of the beer because wild yeasts and the dreaded fruit fly just love warmer weather and the danger of infection is increased whenever the wort or beer is exposed to the atmosphere ...

... and no-one needs 23 litres of vinegar no matter how many fish & chips they eat! :lol: :lol:
 
...what dutto said.

I used to rack into another FV, then place it somewhere cool for a few days until the beer was clear then bottle it. Despite careful santising, I ended up with some infected brews (was this time of year), and those that didn't get infected were under-carbonated as too much yeast had dropped out. Waste of time in my opinion.
 
Well.....on the other side of the fence.
I invariably rack off to a secondary FV after the primary has finished, usually in conjunction with a dry hop.
I have never had an infected brew (yet), nor experienced the dreaded oxidation (which I suspect most people have heard about but never actually experienced themselves).
I do it because it helps the beer to clear before it gets into bottle/PB, plus it gets rid of the crud that sometimes floats on the top of the brew at the end of the primary.
Also I don't use a bottling bucket. So my risk of infection during the single transfer to my second FV is the same as that for a single bottling bucket transfer, all of which I suspect is minimal, unless you are really unlucky. Though if you rack off and use a bottling bucket.....
 
Definitely is a personal preference thing. As some have said, some do and some dont. I havent with most and did with just one. Didnt really see any need afterwards although that particular beer was by far my best. Not necessarily to do with racking into a second fv though
 
I have a pressure barrel that no longer holds pressure - I sometimes use it as mass storage for beer when I'm short of bottles. After transferring from the FV into the barrel I add the usual priming sugar. Although the barrel doesn't hold pressure this ensures that the head space is full of CO2 rather than air. After a couple of weeks I bottle it, priming each bottle as usual.
Doing this makes for a much clearer bottle of beer with very little sediment.
Downside is that because you've let most of the yeast settle out of the beer it takes much longer for the bottles to come up to pressure. a couple of weeks rather than the few days it would otherwise take.
 
Sorry haven't been back lately to reply. Both brews are still going and have slowed down at the 1.011 mark. I think the cervaza should be ready for bottling this weekend but I will wait first to see if it's clear enough when I take a sample for testing. On the bright side this allows me more time to decide what to do. I'm leaning more towards just racking into a bottling bucket with priming sugar and bottling from there an hour later
 
Cwrw666 said:
I have a pressure barrel that no longer holds pressure - I sometimes use it as mass storage for beer when I'm short of bottles. After transferring from the FV into the barrel I add the usual priming sugar. Although the barrel doesn't hold pressure this ensures that the head space is full of CO2 rather than air. After a couple of weeks I bottle it, priming each bottle as usual.
Doing this makes for a much clearer bottle of beer with very little sediment.
Downside is that because you've let most of the yeast settle out of the beer it takes much longer for the bottles to come up to pressure. a couple of weeks rather than the few days it would otherwise take.
Click to expand...

I've been thinking of a similar approach to this as I'm too tight to buy a bottling bucket!

I was going to prime the barrel, syphon into the barrel then fill the bottles straight away once the syphoning has finished.

Can anyone see any disadvantages to this method?
 
Slayer said:
I've been thinking of a similar approach to this as I'm too tight to buy a bottling bucket!

I was going to prime the barrel, syphon into the barrel then fill the bottles straight away once the syphoning has finished.

Can anyone see any disadvantages to this method?
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with that as long as the barrel is properly sanitised. :thumb:

I use the term Bottling Bucket but it is actually just another FV ... :thumb:

... and I suspect that many others on the Forum do the same. :whistle:
 

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