when to tranfer to secondary?

[Brewster]

Hi there guys. I'm a first time brewer who works with several people who home brew. With the info. and help i've got I decided to dive right in and brew a california common for my 1st batch. I used White Labs San Francisco lager yeast + had a O.G. of 1.050. The wort has been fermenting at 62 degrees for a week now and the airlock activity is about 1 bubble per 5 seconds. My question is should I check gravity now or wait for the airlock to slow down more?

[shughes600]

I looked but can't find the other thread. We had a long discussion on when to rack. I like to rack when the bubbling falls to less than once a second and yeast stops collecting at the top (ale). Your yeast should collect on bottom (lager). I skim the yeast throughout primary so I know when it quits. Others like to time it out and transfer at the one week point.

I believe that is what you were asking? If you are going to base racking on gravity then check it. Some people rack when their gravity is a certain percentage of beginning gravity (33%).

[Brewster]

Thanks for the reply. I haven't been able to find much information about when to rack this style of beer or racking in general.

[shughes600]

You'll get a feel for it. Trial and error works well. Be very careful with sanitation. Sanitation (or an assumed lack therof) is the reason your kit or instructions probably didn't guide you on racking. The beer will be less bad picking up off flavors from the trub than it would be from an infection.

[paul84043]

You can check your gravity any time you want, but to rack to a secondary, you're not so much worried about gravity as the initial fermantation being "done".
In my glass carboys, I wait until the Kreusen falls and the top of the beer clears out, there will also begin to be some opacity of the beer itself, this signals that alot of yeast has fallen out of suspension.
I have yet for this to take longer than a week. If it happens sooner, I will wait anyway.

The California common is a different animal, being a lager yeast, it will flocculate to the bottom and do it's work from there. I just made one as well and the top was clear within 3 days or so. Then you judge by the bubbling, or just wait a week.
The lager yeasts will also require a bit more time in the secondary as they are less active than the ale yeasts. I'm going to give mine two weeks, then I'll begin to take gravity readings.
Oh, I also take a gravity at racking, just because it's really easy then..
My Steam beer had a very interesting taste, it was like several different beers mixed together, yet the flavors were separate...weird but good..

Another point....the longer you wait to rack to your secondary, the more yeast will fall out of suspension = alot longer to carbonate when bottling. If you're not bottling, it's no big deal, but if you wait a real long time, you may even have to repitch a bit of yeast to get your beer to carbonate. A very touchy prospect and one that I would rather avoid. Bottle as soon as you can.

[b3s]

i'll toss in my $2*E-02 usd ;) i use the following decision tree for racking:


bubbling drops to 1 to 5 bubbles per minute.
round up to nearest week of time (i do beer stuff on weekends, typically sunday).
if the fermenter is plastic, no more than one week in the fermenter (don't want off flavors).


my third decision point is no longer necessary since i drilled holes in my old primary fermenter to make a lauter tun and bought a 6.5 gallon carboy.

[S.F.B.]

The method I have used from the beginning with a lot of success is to wait until the air lock bubbles once every 90 seconds. I find my gravities are in line with what I want almost every time.

[michaewa]

I brewed a hefeweizen just over a week ago, and pitched a starter made with WL ale yeast. It is still bubbling at once every 5 seconds approaching day 8. It is sitting at just below 70F, I haven't checked the gravity yet.

I was thinking about going ahead and racking as I don't want to risk picking up off flavors. How long is too long in the primary?

Trying to weigh the risk of picking up off flavors from the trub against racking too soon. I'm leaning toward racking too soon (tomorrow regardless of activity) but would love to hear any thoughts on the subject.

[paul84043]

In my experience, wheat based beers take longer to get through the primary, I don't know why, it's just the way it is.
If your foam has fallen and the bubble rate has peaked and dropped back off (I hardly even pay attention to bubble rate anymore), then go ahead and transfer. 8 to 10 days is pretty normal for my Hefes...good stuff!!

[michaewa]

Yes, it started going within a few hours of pitching, and filled the airlock the next day and I used a blowoff tube for a few days. Since then the krausen has fallen and the production of CO2 has slowed, there is just a small layer of foam on top.

Thanks for the advice, I'll go ahead and rack it.

[BucksBrew]

First off you need to rack when it's finished.

One of my batches I transferred after 4-5 days. The last batch of Altbier I made fermented for close to 11 days! I rack when the bubbles are at one per 90 seconds or so. Then I'll leave it in the secondary for at least a week depending on schedule.

If you rack to soon to a secondary you could get the yeast going again and have it blow off your airlock.

I read you want to get the wort up into the neck of your 5 gallon secondary to reduce the surface exposed to O2. If you rack too soon, there is no room for the krausen. My $.02!

[michaewa]

Interesting BucksBrew - I take it you didn't have any weird flavors in the Altbier?

I started thinking that maybe it was too cool, as I have it in a room that stays about 70-72F, but I used the wet t-shirt method after it started fermenting. This morning I moved it out of the water to see if I could warm it up a few degrees and get the fermentation finished.

Still not sure what I'll do, but I'll keep you posted. I'm sure I could do it either way and have no perceptible difference. Like Charlie says, RDWHAH.

[BucksBrew]

The Altbier is in the secondary right now. I don't think it will have off flavors. I tested and tasted during racking. It tasted great, even the wife liked it. I try not to let the wort sit on the trub for more than a few days after active ferment has stopped. I'll rack any day of the week because of this. I usually cook on a Sat. or Sun. though.

I just did an Extract Kit from the local HB store, an Ocktoberfest brew. That thing took off like a champ! I had active fermentation within two hours! Can't wait to taste that!

[michaewa]

Quick update - 11 days and still going strong, bubble in the airlock every 7 seconds. This one may turn into a science project.

Could it be going a long time because there were no grains steeped? The only thing added was LME (7#) and some bittering hops. Seems like all the sugar that is in there is fermentable.

[michaewa]

I think this one will be OK.

Last night it was still bubbling along (in primary) about once every 15 seconds. Today was day 16(!) so I decided to go ahead and move it. Checked the SG first, and it was 1.008. I drank the contents of the thief, and it tasted great - no weird tastes.

Cheers!