Secondary fermentation and bottling

[Lenart]

Greetings!
I'm pretty new to brewing and I need your help. I also apologise, if I'm asking question, that has already been asked.
So my problem is that when I transferred my worth form primary fermentor to the secondary, I carefully siphoned it, so I didn't transfer yeast bed at all (or very little of it). So now I'm worried, that by beer in bottles won't carbonate properly because the lack of yeast.
If I'm wrong, correct me, but if not, is there anything I can do?

Thank you for your answer,
LM

 

[ACBEV]

First of all don't worry about asking questions, even if already asked.

Don't worry, there will be enough yeast for bottle conditioning... What ABV is your beer? How long in primary? Did the beer drop clear? What type of beer?

 

[Lenart]

First of all don't worry about asking questions, even if already asked.

Don't worry, there will be enough yeast for bottle conditioning... What ABV is your beer? How long in primary? Did the beer drop clear? What type of beer?

Thank you for quick answer. The ABV is cca. 6.5%. For 7 days (the F.G. was stable for the last 3 days), and yes, the beer is pretty clear. I brewed an English IPA.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

all beer has some yeast in suspension so like above your good, we all have gone through it, you really don't need a secondary anymore, just go strait from your fermenter to the bottling bucket in most cases unless its an aging type beer

 

[ACBEV]

What Ozarks said... Bottle now... (Remember to prime though)

 

[Nosybear]

Thank you for quick answer. The ABV is cca. 6.5%. For 7 days (the F.G. was stable for the last 3 days), and yes, the beer is pretty clear. I brewed an English IPA.

A beer with one million yeast cells per milliliter looks perfectly clear. At 6.5%, it'll take a bit longer than a smaller beer but it will carbonate. All it takes is one cell per bottle and enough time.... And agreed on racking: Don't unless you have a good reason to. If you don't know what a good reason to rack is, you don't have a good reason to (know why you do the things you do, it'll make you a better brewer).

 

[Mase]

Admittedly, I still do a secondary . I see no reason to continue but it's more less routine. I should just go get a second 6.5 gallon carboy so I can ferment simultaneously.

 

[jeffpn]

No shame in using a secondary. It’s part of my process. Of course, maybe I’m just shameful! For me, they’re great storage vessels for waiting for an empty keg. And it frees up a primary for another batch. I like to secondary for at least two weeks.

 

[Nosybear]

Although I've argued against secondary, I can see one good reason to do so: If you dump everything into the fermentor, the trub layer will be very thick and when you siphon it off, it goes into your bottling bucket, ultimately into your bottles. I'll rack my "dumped" wort beers.

 

[Mase]

Although I've argued against secondary, I can see one good reason to do so: If you dump everything into the fermentor, the trub layer will be very thick and when you siphon it off, it goes into your bottling bucket, ultimately into your bottles. I'll rack my "dumped" wort beers.

Although I dump everything to the primary from the boil kettle, we still use a hop bag between the two, so what goes in is pretty clear

 

[Brewer #90001]

Good Morning!

Piggy Backing on this thread and new to the Forum - I have a query on the cloudiness of the beer while bottle conditioning.

Brewing a batch of Evil Dog at the moment - dropped the primary fermentation to the bottling bucket once SG was stable for a week, the wort was still cloudy. Bottled with 90g sugar as primer and stored at 18C. Cloudiness in the bottles cleared after about a week so I cut the heat. After checking back a couple of days later the cloudiness had returned at the lower ambient temperature (6-8C).
I watched it for a further few days with no improvement (sampled a bottle and it tastes fine - just cloudy).
Decided to put the heat back on the bottled batch at 18C and cloudiness disappeared after 24 hours????
I cut the heat back to 10C yesterday and will check progress to see if cloudiness has returned.
Can anyone explain why the cloudiness returned to the bottles as the temperature dropped?
Thanks for looking.

 

[thehaze]

That is a classic case of chill haze. Too late to do naything now.

But cloudiness is not an issue, if the beer is fine.

 

[Edan Z]

Can anyone explain why the cloudiness returned to the bottles as the temperature dropped?

Keep the bottles cold. Cold conditioning the bottles in a fridge will eventually clear most beers. Some of mine have taken a few days, some a week, some up to three weeks. The chill haze will eventually settle out on top of the yeast and the beer will be crystal clear.

If the bottles are allowed to warm up again, the chill haze proteins will dissolve in the beer again, and the chill haze will return when the beer is chilled again. Just keep them at serving temperature until you are ready to drink them.

 

[ACBEV]

I agree with what Edan Z said. I've brewed blonde ale in the past and fridged them, until they become clear. Normally I store and drink my beer at a proper temp. 10-12c

 

[Brewer #90001]

Thanks for your helpful comments, I'm going to store bottles close to drinking temperature and sit it out.

The chill haze appeared with the ED brew, but not - as far as I'm aware - with a Coopers IPA kit completed during the summer.
Clearly ambient temperatures were higher, but when refrigerated prior to drinking no haze was seen - I assume this means different recipes/ingredients are susceptible depending on their makeup. Are there any kit/beer types that would be easily identifiable as more prone to the haze?

Next up is Thor's Hammer - so will look to modify process to avoid the haze for appearance sakes, but there are worse things that can happen to your brew, I can live with chill haze.

Bob

 

[Edan Z]

Are there any kit/beer types that would be easily identifiable as more prone to the haze?

I don't know about kits, as I have never used one so far. In reality, any beer that is not fined in some fashion will exhibit some haze when initially chilled, that is normal. That said, beers prone to having persistent chill haze usually have some wheat, flaked oats or flaked non-malted barley, among other things.

One simple thing you can do, regardless of the beer/recipe you are brewing, is to chill the fermenter (cold crashing) until the beer clears, after you hit your final gravity. Since the haze causing proteins will have settled on the yeast at that point, you will end up with clearer beer when you bottle.

After that, you can look up fining beer with other things such as gelatin. Since all my batches typically clear in the bottles after a few days in the fridge, I haven't yet felt compelled to get into any of that.

Some beer styles, however, are meant to be hazy. New England IPA's, Belgian Trippels, Witbier, Hefeweizen come to mind.

 

[FPMBomb]

Greetings!
I'm pretty new to brewing and I need your help. I also apologise, if I'm asking question, that has already been asked.
So my problem is that when I transferred my worth form primary fermentor to the secondary, I carefully siphoned it, so I didn't transfer yeast bed at all (or very little of it). So now I'm worried, that by beer in bottles won't carbonate properly because the lack of yeast.
If I'm wrong, correct me, but if not, is there anything I can do?

Thank you for your answer,
LM

Check out Brulosophy.com...they'll answer all your questions. No need for 2ndry, fine with gelatin and/or cold crash before bottling.

 

[Brewer #90001]

Thanks for all the advice guys - current temperatures at around 0 degrees would make cold crashing a doddle - better get that next brew started!!