New Brunswick Craft Brewers Association
Brewing => Technique => Topic started by: jdueck on June 05, 2014, 02:01:56 PM
-
While I am getting all of the parts together for 5 gallon all grain set-up, ( I am currently making 1 - 2 gallon all grain) I purchased a Festia Brew kit for my father-in-law. It is currently in the primary, a bucket and lid. Could I rack this directly in to a keg for a secondary? Thoughts.
Jon :o
-
I don't secondary any of my beers. I'll typically give a couple weeks in primary and right to keg ... If you get that cold in the keg, most will just naturally drop out within a couple days if you find it's clear.
-
Thanks Jake, that is what I figured. :rock: Less mess, less cleaning.
-
I've always done a secondary even on the festa brew kits I did . I would primary for one week then secondary until the gravity was constant then bottle. I find the primary has a thick layer of trub and yeast that I wouldn't want in my keg. Even after the secondary there's a decent amount of junk on the bottom of the carboy so I wouldn't try to secondary in a keg then serve from the same keg. If I were you I'd either leave it in the primary until finished and very carefully rack into a keg or do a secondary and keg from the secondary.
-
I'm a lazy ass brewer ... it's true, it's true.
Roger is probably doing it right and if you're concerned about having super clear beer it's not a bad step to add to your routine - I don't really care a whole lot, but that's just me. I've found that the first couple pints from the keg may be a little cloudy, but after that you're golden. If you're planning on moving the keg around and agitating it, secondary may be worth it because with the way that I've described, you'll get cloudy beer each time you agitate the keg ... since my beer very rarely has a chance to move, this isn't a problem for me
-
Sounds like I am going to do a secondary. :party:
-
I don't usually secondary unless I dry hop. I have a fridge with a temperature controller I use for fermentation so right before I want to bottle/keg I set it down really low (cold crash) for about a day, rack it in to a spare fermenter and then rack that in to the bottles and kegs. I've never really been to concerned with clarity but my beers are never crazy cloudy. If you're only doing 1-2 gallon just pop it in the fridge a day before bottling.
I used to always secondary because the kit I bought from my LHBS said to. After I read in to it a bit I decided to try just using a primary and I have noticed no change in flavor or clarity.
I thought this was an interesting read, I can't find the original article or podcast but heres someone who wrote about it on HBT: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/secondary-not-john-palmer-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-176837/
-
I’m also in the “lazy” camp like Jake. I will only secondary if it’s going to be aged past 4 weeks.
Actually, I put to secondary a pale ale last week but it was only because I wanted a fresh yeast cake to ferment a 1.110 barleywine :rock:
-
I usually move to secondary once the krausen has fallen, you don't want your beer sitting on all that dead/early flocculating yeast. Not really a secondary per se, but a way of getting rid of the trub. That way you only have nice healthy yeast doing the conditioning.