From: mark@verdix.com (Mark Lundquist)
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing
Subject: Re: Racking to a secondary
Date: 7 Jan 93 22:40:03 GMT
Article-I.D.: verdix.9499
Organization: Verdix Western Operations, Aloha  OR

In article <C0G4B2.Gs0@world.std.com> econrad@world.std.com (Cromwell) writes:
>What are the benefits of racking an ale or stout to a secondary carboy 
>before bottling?
>
>I think Papazian mentioned that it was important to get the beer off the
>trub as soon as possible to avoid the trub breaking down and reentering
>the beer, but it seems like this wouldn't happen with a quick ale (~2 
>week primary ferment, then bottle).

Ahh, that old chestnut...

IMHO there's a lot of confusion about this topic.  I'll explain the
way I see it, maybe someone else can tell me if they think I'm wrong
and why.

Trub is material from the hot- and cold-break that has settled out.

Trub contains a lot of fatty acids.  As I recall, Dave Miller says in
his book that the yeast can make use of these compounds instead of
dissolved oxygen. 

Unfortunately, later on in fermentation these same fatty acids play a
role in the production of fusel alchols, which are generally regarded
as undesirable (and are supposed to be a factor in "beer headaches"?)

Yeast is another story.  You want the beer to remain in contact with
all the yeast until it has fermented out, in order to get as much
reduction of diacetyl as possible.  After that, what you do depends on
the kind of beer.  For a lager, you'd rack into a lagering vessel.
For an ale, you'd be ready to bottle.  In cases where you can't bottle
immediately for some reason, a couple of weeks on the yeast is
probably not going to hurt anything.  Dave Miller seems to be a little
bit paranoid about yeast autolysis, although it probably will happen
sooner or later (that's where the yeasts go into panic-mode, secreting
proteases in order to turn each other into food -- it's every yeast
cell for himself!)

To summarize...

True two-stage fermentation, i.e. racking from a "primary" to a
"secondary" fermenter after high kraeusen, is not worth a plugged
nickel IMHO.  The beer should remain on the yeast until it has
fermented out.  Ales are ready to bottle at this point.  (If you have
to rack instead, the carboy you rack into is not really a "secondary
fermenter", it's a beer storage tank).

After a lager is fermented out (and only then), it should be tranferred
to a lagering vessel for lagering (not "secondary fermentation").

Racking off the trub:
   It's probably a good idea, although I can't say that I've ever
noticed a difference either way.  It might depend on the style of
beer.  Miller swears by it;  Papazian says it's up to you, and
something to the effect that there are a lot of other variables that
make more of a difference in how the beer turns out, so it's not worth
being that concerned about.  (Then again, every little bit helps, and
racking is a pretty simple procedure -- maybe he's trying to keep a
novice from feeling stressed out because they just have one bucket to
brew in or whatever).  As to the question of when to rack...the sooner
the better, but you have to give the trub time to settle out for it to
make any difference.  If you're force-chilling the wort, then you should
(1) pitch the yeast immediately, (2) allow the trub to settle during
the "lag time" or respiration period, then (3) rack the beer (and the
suspended yeast) off the trub, before active fermentation begins.
Obviously, this means that you can't just "pitch and forget"...but if
you're not going to pitch immediately, then you are loosing one of the
primary benefits of chilling the wort.

Racking at bottling time:
   As you might have seen from a recent thread, not everyone does
this.  But most of us do.  You leave behind a lot of sediment, and
then you don't have to be so careful about keeping it out of the
bottles, and it gives you something in which to mix in the priming
solution.
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing