Before I forget to mention it altogether, I will be on vacation starting this Wednesday (9/23) through Sunday the 4th of October. I plan on doing my best to continue posting everyday, but there may be a day or two that it just doesn’t happen for whatever reason. It is a vacation after all and I do have some research to do for this site!
Per the recipe, I transferred my in process homebrew to a secondary fermenter Thursday (with a little help). The initial fermentation activity was no more so I siphoned the (soon to be) beer into a sanitized carboy and moved the (again sanitized) airlock over to continue its work. I am going through this step for the first time and I don’t know everything about it, but I will share with you what I think I know (as usual).
Chief of sanitation
Getting started
Secondary fermentation is a bit of a misnomer since most, if not all of the fermentation is already done by the time you make that move. It’s not a necessary step for many homebrews unless you are going to be leaving the (soon to be) beer in the fermenter for an extended period of time. That is basically because you want to avoid extended contact with the spent yeast at the bottom because they can impart flavors that you just don’t want (for more on that visit the master of yeast). Once the beer is moved into the secondary fermenter you can leave it there for longer without those worries.
A beautiful thing
Almost beer
This is your yeast on malt
This step also allows your beer to settle again with less stuff in the mix and leaves you with a clearer product in the end. That seems to make perfect sense to me. Though the yeast won’t hurt you if you ingest them (and I think they may even be good for you in a way), they can throw off the flavor of your beer. I want to take any precaution I can to ensure the best possible flavor at this point in my brewing experience.
Another thing is that doing this can help the beer finish fermenting. I read somewhere that the inactive (spent) yeast that has fallen to the bottom can hold back the still active yeast from finishing their job. When the contents are moved and the spent yeast is left behind, the mixture is also agitated which gets the still active yeast worked up, pushing them to complete fermentation (faster). If more of the little beasties finish their job and fall to the bottom then there are less still in the solution, meaning there are fewer that can have an effect on the flavor of the final product.
That is all that I think I know on this topic for now, though I will still be doing some research into the pros and cons knowing that many future batches will be made. Some of you may agree and some may argue against secondary fermentation for the beginner homebrewer. However, what I do know for sure is that my recipe called for it so I did it!
I should mention that I also poured some of the (almost) beer off into another container to give the hydrometer another crack at it. The reading was down to 1.016 which means that it currently is about 4.978% ABV. So it seems that I can at least make something that is alcoholic. Some of my friends would settle for that. I did taste what I kept aside for the hydrometer and it was not bad. The Wife didn’t recoil in horror or spit her sample out either, so it might just turn out OK after all!
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