When to transfer from FV

[Lagrene]

Hello,

I've read a few posts on here saying leave the beer in the primary fermenter, in my case a Better Bottle, for up to two weeks, before bottling etc. In my case, after 5 days the head has nearly disappeared and I've put water in my airlock. My concern with leaving it in the Better Bottle is that the beer does not go right up to the bung, is it ok to do it in this case? I've got about 4 gals in there rather than capacity. I'm worried that it may not be good to leave the beer with no head covering and with this much headroom. Please advise.

Also, with my last batch I went straight from the FV to bottle. The beer tasted very good, the best I've made, but I've been looking through my Wheeler book etc. and it says transfer to a secondary before bottling. Some say with modern yeasts it's ok to bottle from FV (Alexander - Craft Brewing)? Any advice appreciated.

ps. I've just switched to the double insulated mash tun method a la Wheeler, and found it works really well - wish I'd done it earlier.

[OldSpeckledBadger]

Use the search function.

[crookedeyeboy]

Its what ever suits youre method. Personally I ferment for four to five days, add some auxiliary to a secondary vessel, fill with beer, throw in some isinglass, leave for 24 hours, then bottle with 1/2 tsp of castor sugar! Tis all working well so far, after 4 days in bottle ive got some lovely condition and a perfectly light dusting of yeast in the bottom of the bottle.

[escapizm]

I leave 10 days in primary then bottle...

[Capped]

Hello,

I've read a few posts on here saying leave the beer in the primary fermenter, in my case a Better Bottle, for up to two weeks, before bottling etc. In my case, after 5 days the head has nearly disappeared and I've put water in my airlock. My concern with leaving it in the Better Bottle is that the beer does not go right up to the bung, is it ok to do it in this case? I've got about 4 gals in there rather than capacity. I'm worried that it may not be good to leave the beer with no head covering and with this much headroom. Please advise.

If you haven't introduced air into the headspace,it'll be occupied by 100% CO2,so no problem,leave as long as you like (well,almost)!

[TheMumbler]

'm worried that it may not be good to leave the beer with no head covering and with this much headroom.

If you are using a better bottle won't it be full of CO2 kept in by the airlock?

The Wheeler book I have (Home Brewing) advises moving to a secondary in the first 24-48 hours after and dropping to aerate again. It is critical to do this in the early stage of fermentation as I understand it. Presumably while the yeast is still aerobic. However the practice may be based on older varieties on yeast which aren't widely used any more. Some people like to take the wort off the without aerating with the idea that it helps reduce off tastes, other people argue that leaving it on the trub is better...frankly I have no idea who is right.

Wheeler also advises leaving the beer to condition in a keg for a while to allow venting off of off-flavours produced in maturation. You bottle after the beer has cleared in cask and without priming, if I'm reading him correctly.

There is varied opinion on this and lots of posts. I'm not sure that there is an accepted best practice. It probably depends on the yeast and other factors. On the plus side the varied practices suggest that it isn't that crucial to getting perfectly drinkable beer. I couldn't comment on how it effects beer good enough to be put in competitions or given to a real connoisseur as I've only been doing this a short while

[196osh]

Carbon dioxide is heavier than air so it will just sit ontop of the beer.

[floydmeddler]

I do a week in primary, a week in secondary (better bottle) then bottle.

[Lagrene]

Thanks for the replies.

What's interesting in this case is that I made a brew a month ago and it turned out unusually good (I've just changed my mashing technique). I stuck it in a corny and am waiting for the four weeks to elapse before sampling - but I bottled some without priming and it was good. So, my current brew was intended to be a carbon copy of the first, the only difference being the yeast starter was 2 days old first time and 1 day old second...not sure which is advised. What I've found with the second brew is that there is v. little gas being given off...there is nothing coming through the airlock. I'm going to take a gravity reading...I'll also taste and post the results

[Lagrene]

Gravity is 1010 and tastes quite good. I'm thinking about bottling it tomorrow - it's been 7 days in FV...

[flything]

There's no rush, the yeast will mop up diacetyl and acetaldehyde so it's best to leave it long enough to do it's job? How long? Don't know, but I work on a couple of days after the gravity has stabilised for two days.

[Lagrene]

I took your advice flything and gave it 4 more days...the gravity was the same so I introduced 60g of dissolved spray malt and bottled. Will report back once it's cleared (if it does) and I've sampled...

[GeordieBrewer]

A rule of thumb for me :

7 days in the Primary,
Rack to Secondary with airlock on for further 7 days
Remove airlock and cap for further 2-3 weeks (depending on strength)
Then rack to bottling bin and bulk prime

Ta,

Martin