The Great Secondary Fermentation Debate Many homebrewers form very strong opinions regarding the secondary fermentor. For Those homebrewers who favor secondary fermentation offer some great reasons for racking to a carboy for bulk conditioning. Moving homebrew off the yeast reduces opportunities for yeasty off-flavors such as those associated with autolysis.
Aging in a secondary results in clearer brighter beer. Glass carboys are not oxygen permeable, making them the preferred vessels for long-term aging without oxidation. Against Naturally, those homebrewers who prefer not to bother with a secondary vessel have some good points as well.
Racking is just another opportunity to introduce oxygen. I was skeptical, but the results were spectacular. That temperature will work well in most cases, but keep in mind many other fermentation factors play a role in determining the final flavor profile of the beer. For example, increasing the ratio of glucose to maltose in the wort increases the production of isoamyl acetate banana flavor , but so does adjusting the pitching rate or other factors that affect growth.
Keep in mind that while yeast strain and temperature play a large role in fermentation character, growth rate, pitching rate and other factors all have a significant impact on the types and amounts of esters yeast produce. While some brewers like to pitch a reduced cell count to increase fermentation characteristics, I am not a big fan of this technique for homebrewing as it can also result in under-attenuation when temperature, oxygen or yeast viability is not carefully controlled.
An under-attenuated hefeweizen is far worse than one with a slightly less than ideal ester profile. You want a certain amount of growth to develop the ideal flavor profile. Do not be afraid to experiment with different pitching rates and oxygen levels, but only experiment with one parameter at a time, until you get the right fermentation character for your brewery.
One last piece of advice is to consume hefeweizen fresh. When your beer lacks that character, be happy and drink lots. Ingredients 4. Step by Step Mill the grains and dough-in targeting a mash of around 1. The total wort boil time is 90 minutes, which helps reduce the S-Methyl Methiomine SMM present in the lightly kilned pilsner malt and results in less Dimethyl sulfide DMS in the finished beer.
Add the bittering hops with 60 minutes remaining in the boil. I skip using kettle finings in this beer, unless making a kristallweizen. The proper pitch rate is 1. With healthy yeast, fermentation should be complete in a week, but do not rush it. The cooler than average ale fermentation temperature can extend the time it takes for complete attenuation. Rack to a keg and force carbonate or rack to a bottling bucket, add priming sugar, and bottle.
Target a carbonation level of 2. Step by Step I have used a number of wheat extracts with good results. The type my homebrew shop carries is a private label made for them. Feel free to use whatever your shop recommends. Always choose the freshest extract that fits the beer style.
Sounds great for this hot weather, doesn't it? A lot of commercial breweries brew a Hefeweizen of their own this time of year, and there's many German examples that are widely available You'd be surprised how much they can differ. For my money, you really can't get much better than Weihenstephaner 's Hefe Weissbier. I brewed a Hefeweizen my first two summers of being a homebrewer; in fact, my second beer was an all-extract Hefeweizen that somehow won a gold medal in the German Wheat and Rye Beer category in the ALES competition in The past two years, however, I concentrated on another great summer style, Witbier like this one from last year , hopped with Belma.
As much as I love a good Witbier, I thought it was definitely time to revisit the Hefeweizen style. Hefeweizen is a beer style that has a deceptively-simple recipe, yet can be difficult to brew a great example. And that's usually it. You don't want Crystal malt in there, or anything else, really. If you're feeling ambitious and nostalgic for the old ways, you can do a decoction mash; for me, I only have so much time to brew, and I've had good luck with a single infusion mash as usual, so that's what I'll be doing here.
For hops, I'm aiming for a classic Hefeweizen, which means basically no hop aroma or flavor. So, a simple light addition of a noble variety e. Hallertauer, Tettnanger early on in the boil to add a bit of bitterness, and that's all. What really makes or breaks a good Hefeweizen is the fermentation of the beer; while a Belgian Witbier relies on the addition of coriander and citrus peel to provide at least some of its spice and fruit character, Hefeweizen gets all of the banana and clove components from yeast.
Yeast strain, yeast health, and fermentation temperature are extremely important. Yes, they're ALWAYS important in any beer style, but given that the overall recipe is usually so simple for Hefeweizen, they're even more important than usual. Let's dissect each component Despite the arguments presented by many naysayers, I like the bucket for primary, but I do concede that it may not be the best for long term aging of imperial stout, especially with that large head space.
Yes, some gunk makes its way the carboy, but whoopty do. Regardless, my guess is the quality is more a function of the brewer, not the fermentor, though I still have a bucket vs.
Possible exceptions being when planning to store it for a long period before bottling or whatever, or for bulk priming. I transfer to a secondary at bottling time, as I bulk prime, i. Way easier than messing around measuring out sugar for each individual bottle. Nothing to do with clarity or setting shit out or anything as I also cold crash my beers for about a week or so before I bottle them.
More like a mini bright tank — but the trend had been slow. I currently know more brewers who do NOT perform a transfer to a minibright secondary. But if using a secondary causes a difference in clarity, I would guess that a cold crash would even out the clarity of both beers. For brewers without a temperature controlled fermentation chamber, a secondary may still be a good option. It depends on the beer.
For high-gravity Belgians, meads, or highly-hopped beers, I do it. But the primary vs. Question: Given your results, when doing a secondary fermentation with fruit, honey, maple syrup, etc. I have never ever used secondary but always have a twinge of guilt for not doing so-almost everyone says it should be done. I am just basically lazy and although I enjoy brewday I hate the tedious bits like cleaning and transferring.
No secondary for a while now for me. On top of that, the keg is definitely air tight and oxygen gets pushed out when you carbonate and let some go out and not a photon gets through.
One can leave the keg a weeks for the beer to mature and voila. Hey guys thanks for all your efforts. I believe you have satisfied my questions. One sort of related question. If I am going to save my yeast cake at the bottom of the primary vessel? The down and dirty way, just scoping it into mason jars with a couple inches of beer on top, trub and all and putting it into the reffer.
Do you think it would be better if I kept my dry hops in a hop bag? I think there may be a couple of exbeeriments above? Also related. To squeeze the hop bag or not? Both in the wort and prior to kegging.
Thanks again. I transfer wort to secondary fermentor for the first time and put in second fermenter dry hopper cylinder of stainless mash with hop pallets. Do I need to to stir up wort to give hop better extraction? Second, on force carbonating you set pressure to 30psi and it drop down to 12psi. Do you reduced pressure on regulator or it drop becouse co2 was desolve in beer? To burst carbonate, set pressure to 30 psi and leave it on the keg for a day before actually purging the keg and turning the psi down to Great write-up.
I close up the collecting jar at the bottom and remove the trub. But before having the conical, I did just eat up what the local homebrew shop said about transferring, but never did the comparison. Great read. I will continue to use a secondary carboy but for other reasons.
Firstly, I like to primary in my ale pale bucket. The larger headspace makes it less likely to have blowouts and its easy to carry. Thirdly, since I like to do primary in a bucket, it frees my bucket up so I can get a second beer going and frees up my main vessel.
But for me and my operation it makes it easier for me to make better beer and allows me to make more beer the way I like to make beer. I know this is an old experiment, but I just finished listening to the podcast on this. In that podcast, you ask why the advice of using a secondary is usually given.
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