second fermentation

[Novice]

So currently I am boiling my wort and then allowing it to cool overnight. I then pitch the yeast and leave in a bucket a week/10 days checking the gravity. When happy I bottle in primed bottles.

Should I do second fermentation and if so what in and for how long? How do you know it is time to I've from first to second and then to bottling?

Also I never get a head on my beers tried bitter and lager - any tips?

[Jim]

The term 'secondary fermentation' can be used to mean two different things.

After you bottle or keg your brew, the priming sugar you add ferments to create condition (gassiness) in the beer, and that is commonly referred to as the 'secondary fermentation'.

However, I think you're picking up on the alternative definition of secondary fermentation, which is used to describe transferring the beer from the primary into a second fermenter and leaving it there to finish off and clear down. This is considered by some people to be desirable as it gets the beer off the yeast deposit quickly, while giving it some time to clear, but most brewers (myself included) don't think it's worth the bother.

[jug55]

Hi Jim
on a similar question. It seemed that my beer had stopped fermenting after a month. So I transferred it to my bottling bucket with 100 gram of sugar and by next morning it had started bubbling again. Is it safe to bottle or should I leave it longer?

[Fil]

oil, grease, soap and detergents are all head killers so if using fairyliquid to clean think about 5x rinsing to remove residues.. fwiw most of us use laundry oxi as a soap/detergent free cleaner.

AG fermentation seems to be much quicker than kit or extract brews, so may be finished in a week or so,,

you should bottle straight after adding the priming charge, as now some but an unknown amount of the charge has been consumed, so the beer will be underconditioned, best leave a day or two add another priming charge and bottle without hanging about.

[jug55]

Cheers Fil