Secondary Fermentation with UK-05

[towser]

Hi all,

I am thinking of secondary fermenting using Safale UK(US)-05. I loved the results of this yeast in my last summer ale. The beer cleared beautifully in the bottle and the taste was lovely and crisp - perfect. The yeast does however leave quite a decent amount of sediment in the bottles though, meaning quite a bit of care is needed when pouring plus the fact you lose a bit of beer if you want it to remain clear in the glass.

I'm wondering if secondary fermentation would help this however I have a few questions:
Normally I simply stick the beer in the FV for 10 days, then bottle, adding 2ml of sugar in each bottle.

If I secondary ferment, would the primary fermentation still be the same? Bearing in mind the swampwater characteristics of UK05 out of the FV.

How many days would a secondary fermentation take? I hear differences from 4 days up to 14 days.

Would I need to add finings or gelatine to the secondary fermentation?

When you bottle from a secondary fermentation, will the beer still self-carbonate?

At what point do you add the sugar? - in the secondary FV or a separate bottling barrel?

[mysterio]

Hi towser,

Yes, you're thinking is correct, racking off to a secondary fermenter is not a bad idea with this yeast before you bottle. Another option is to crash cool the primary for 48 hours then straight to the bottling bucket.

As for the specifics, trust your own judgement. Do you have a glass carboy or something see-through to do your secondary? If so, just wait until the beer becomes see-through until you bottle. Could be a week or up to a month. No harm leaving it to mature. If you don't have something see-through, two weeks is a good rough figure. Cooler temps will help the clarification and purging with CO2 before you rack (if you can) will help, if not be extra careful not to splash and fill from the bottom. You should be fine to bottle here without any extra yeast. If you are worried about oxygen pick up to the secondary, for example if you do not have any CO2, then there is no harm in leaving it in the primary for an extra week or two.

Finings, you could, but you run the risk of stripping out too much yeast and not leaving enough to carbonate

[Whorst]

Glad to see someone refer to it using the correct terminology. I think if I were going to bottle it, I'd crash cool for a few days.

[Whorst]

I prefer it over Nottingham, which is of course English.

[Whorst]

True. I don't know what the original Ringwood yeast tasted like, but I love White Labs British Ale, WLP-005. I use it for the majority of my beers now.

[towser]

I think if I were going to bottle it, I'd crash cool for a few days.

That's two suggestions to crash-cool. How do you crash cool 26 litres in a FV when the ambient temperature in the coolest room in the house is approx 20-21C?

[steve_flack]

Either you have your FV kitted out with a cooling loop attached to a beer cooler... or bung the whole FV in a fridge. It's around 20C in my brewery at the moment but I have a 40L batch chilling at around 5-6C right now using a cooling loop.

[towser]

Cheers for that. I'm off to check-out the cooling loop option!

[towser]

Brew day tomorrow
I have finally decided to secondary ferment mainly due to the fact I will dry hop.

Does 10 days in the primary followed by 2 weeks in the secondary, dry hopping with 30 grams Hallertau per 25 litres sound about right?
I will then bottle after the secondary.

[JammyBStard]

Brew day tomorrow
I have finally decided to secondary ferment mainly due to the fact I will dry hop.

Does 10 days in the primary followed by 2 weeks in the secondary, dry hopping with 30 grams Hallertau per 25 litres sound about right?
I will then bottle after the secondary.

That will probably be fine, I always secondary my beer and i find it's the easiest way of getting a clear beer; no mucking around with temperature etc.

I usually primary for 7 days and secondary untill the bubbles stop comming through the airlock + a week.