The Secondary Myth

[Luckbad]

http://www.madalchemist.com/archives/th ... dary-myth/

Should you rack your beer to a secondary fermentor after primary fermentation is complete? When is it appropriate to rack to secondary? How long can you leave beer in a fermentor on the yeast cake before all hell breaks loose?

These questions are commonly asked, and there are people in both camps, but one of the camps is wrong. Traditional homebrewing literature posits that racking to secondary is vital if you wish to make the best possible homebrewed beer. Modern techniques and ingredients suggests that racking to secondary is a practice of the past, with an asterisk.

If you don’t want to read a bunch of text, stop after this paragraph. John Palmer, author of the seminal How to Brew, espoused the need to rack to a secondary fermentation vessel. In subsequent revisions of his book and in current conversations, he believes racking to secondary is rarely necessary (and wishes people would just buy his new revision rather than using the free first edition online to get old information). The only time racking to a secondary is advised is when actually performing a secondary fermentation (e.g. when adding fruit or souring the beer).

Quick review of racking to secondary: This is the practice of siphoning or otherwise transferring finished beer out of the primary fermentation vessel into a new one. It was done to allow the beer to condition and prevent autolysis (and its associated off-flavors) in the process. Autolysis is most likely to occur if the brewer uses unhealthy yeast or does not pitch enough yeast for the batch.

What are the risks associated with transferring to a secondary vessel? The two main risks are oxidation and infection. Oxidation can occur due to oxygen exposure during the transfer, which will cause the beer to stale sooner (as will warmer storage conditions, but that is not part of this discussion). You can mitigate oxidation by ensuring that the siphon does not get bubbles in it and that you prevent splashing during the transfer. Infection can come from a number of directions, but can be avoided with relative confidence with good sanitation practices (which you should already have), and isn’t a significant risk anyway given the alcohol content in the beer being transferred.

The alternative to racking to secondary is leaving the beer in the primary fermentor until you bottle or keg. What has changed since traditional homebrewing literature advised racking to secondary? Two main things have changed.

First, the yeast we have access to is worlds better than it used to be. There are multiple excellent sources for great yeast. In fact, it’s the same stuff that actual breweries use. Because we have access to healthy, viable yeast, we don’t have to worry much about autolysis.

The second factor is knowledge. We now know what proper pitching rates are for different gravities of wort. Since we know how much we need to pitch (and how to handle yeast), we can avoid the risk of autolysis by pitching at a proper rate (often a vial of White Labs or packet of Wyeast is enough for a standard/low gravity wort, but creating a starter is often advised for higher gravities or if you are obsessive like me).

It is now safe when utilizing healthy yeast a proper pitching rates to leave your beer on the yeast cake for several weeks, and even up to a couple of months in my experience. Leave it in your primary fermentor and it will condition properly, cleaning up acetaldehyde and diacetyl. Don’t risk oxidation and infection for no reason! This applies both to ales and lagers.

As I mentioned before, racking to secondary is sometimes necessary. However, it is only necessary when a secondary fermentation takes place. The two most common examples would be adding fruit (due to the sugars in the fruit) or souring the beer intentionally. The only other time I do it is if I want to free up my primary fermentor for a new beer.

Some of those who are firmly planted in the secondary camp also believe that the clarity of the beer is improved in a secondary vessel or that tradition is worth preserving. I’m happy to let those folks keep doing what they’re doing. The clarity argument might be true, but I don’t feel the risk of oxidation or effort involved are worth it, and I cold crash my beer for a week before bottling anyway, which completely negates that benefit in my process.

Final words: White Labs, Wyeast, John Palmer (author of How to Brew), and Jamil Zainasheff (author of Yeast) all recommend against racking to secondary. They are all more experienced and knowledgeable than we are; listen to them.

[hjw]

Dont forget dry hopping.

[Luckbad]

There's actually no need to rack to secondary for dry hopping in most cases (trying to find where I heard that, but it was probably from Brew Strong). If you want to harvest from the yeast cake, you might want to transfer first. But, if you have the necessary equipment to dry hop in primary, you can just wait for primary fermentation to complete and add it to the primary. I just wait for the krausen layer to be gone and most of the yeast to flocculate. I also usually cold crash before adding the hops for a day or so, but I don't think that is absolutely necessary.

[brahn]

I agree. I typically dry hop in the keg, but in primary would be my second choice.

[bwarbiany]

I also usually cold crash before adding the hops for a day or so, but I don't think that is absolutely necessary.

Not sure why it'd be necessary before hopping, unless you're worried that the yeast will "stick" to the hops... Either way, I leave it at fermentation temp during dry-hopping, as the flavor extraction occurs more quickly at 72 than 35, and then after ~3 days dry-hopping [in the primary] I just crash-cool and keg it.

[JonW]

Ditto what Brad does. Better hop characters pulled out at ferm temps.

I usually ferment for 2 weeks, then dry hop, then crash cool for about 4 days. I almost always keg at the 3 week mark. Sometimes 2, sometimes 4, but usually 3 weeks. Most of my beers are very clear without any further steps.

[brahn]

I also usually cold crash before adding the hops for a day or so, but I don't think that is absolutely necessary.

Not sure why it'd be necessary before hopping, unless you're worried that the yeast will "stick" to the hops... Either way, I leave it at fermentation temp during dry-hopping, as the flavor extraction occurs more quickly at 72 than 35, and then after ~3 days dry-hopping [in the primary] I just crash-cool and keg it.

I must have glossed over that. +1 to dry hopping at fermentation temp.

[Luckbad]

My completely-untested theory (why I sometimes cold crash before dry hopping for ~1 week) is that with fewer things in suspension, the hop oils have more room to get into the beer, and bacteria has a harder time being a bastard at lower temperatures (although alcohol + pH tends to take care of that anyway). That said, the temperature thing makes a lot of sense.

I actually finally picked up the Hops book by Stan Hieronymus and it probably covers it in there.

So there's an entire chapter on dry hopping. Here's a little information:

- Dry hopping warmer speeds extraction but increases the chances for extracting vegetal or fishy odor compounds.
- Most commercial breweries seem to start dry hopping shortly before primary fermentation is complete so there's yeast left to consume the oxygen you introduce with the hop addition (in the bags etc.). Basically after vigorous fermentation is over but they're still getting bubbling.
- There's a wide range of temperatures that places appear to use: Stone @ 62, Lagunitas @ 70, New Belgium @ 54, Sierra Nevada starts @ 68 and lowers it over the course of two weeks.
- Interestingly, it seems that most use 0.33 -1 lb of hops per barrel. That translates to a little less than an ounce to 2.5 ounces in a 5 gallon batch (more than that and you don't get anything else out of it). This contrasts with some of what I've seen done (e.g. throwing 4-5 oz of hops into the carboy) by others.

Another cool things that I started doing for tastings of some beers is something I stole from Bull & Bush pub in Colorado (and apparently they stole it from Dogfish who now sells a Randall Jr.).

I get a few varieties of whole hops and french press a bottle of beer at a time with the hops. It's a great way to get a ton of flavor and aroma. It also tends to knock out a lot of the carbonation, but it's fun to do with friends.

[hjw]

Interesting, I guess I'am just to old school but if it makes the brew day faster and easier without any downsides I will give it a go.