I just transferred an Irish Red Ale into my secondary after 12 days in the primary and it has a light caramel almost straw color and it is very cloudy… This is my first Irish Red Ale is this normal? I am hoping that it will settle out in the secondary, could this be a sign of a stuck fermentation?
Don’t worry about color until the fermentation is totally done and it has dropped clear. Before then you can’t tell what color it will end up.
With regards to a stuck fermentation, what was the gravity reading when you transferred it? If you plan to rack to secondary, it should be done after the fermentation has gotten past the peak activity, but before it is close to FG. Racking too late can cause a stuck fermentation if there isn’t enough suspended yeast to get the job finished, and then there is no yeast cake source for more cells. Ideally, a rack to secondary should happen with the beer is 2/3 to 3/4 the way done. Or just avoid the whole issue by leaving it in primary until it is totally done. That’s my SOP.
The cloudy is actually good. That is a sign that you still have a lot of suspended yeast that should help get the job done.
All grain or extract?
Just curious. I brewed the Irish Red All Grain recipe from NB here and bottled it a few weeks ago. Tried it last week and still needed a little more carbonation, so a few times this week I have turned the bottles over once just to get some yeast back into suspension. I also cold crashed and used gelatin so the beer is super clear, but taking a little longer to carb up.
For what it’s worth, I left mine in the primary for 3 weeks and didn’t touch it, secondary wasn’t really needed. The best way to know if fermentation is over is to take gravity samples as mentioned above. Mine was lighter in color while fermentation was active but got a pretty nice amber/red color when it cleared.
It was the extract kit. I didn’t take a gravity reading dropped my hydrometer and it is no longer in one piece, the active fermentation seemed about done the krausen had fallen and there was a nice yeast cake on the bottom. The secondary is bubbling away now, I think my closet was a little cold (60deg) for the yeast and slowed them down I wrapped the carboy in a towel and placed it in a warmer spot. I think i just need a little more patience with this batch as it has been super cold lately. Will be getting another hydrometer soon!
Thanks for the help.
I hate to even mildy disagree with you rebuilt, as you are one of the heros of this forum. But… in my opinion, racking to a ‘secondary’ should happen after fermentation is complete. Unless new fermentables are being added at this stage, no new fermentation should be taking place. After all if we want additional fermentation, then why remove the majority of the yeast who are actually doing the work? I prefer to call it a ‘conditioning or bright’ vessel, as the few times I use one anymore is to help clear things up. Or usually because I really want to reuse that yeast cake.
All good. :cheers:
[quote=“JimRMaine”]racking to a ‘secondary’ should happen after fermentation is complete. Unless new fermentables are being added at this stage, no new fermentation should be taking place. After all if we want additional fermentation, then why remove the majority of the yeast who are actually doing the work? I prefer to call it a ‘conditioning or bright’ vessel, as the few times I use one anymore is to help clear things up. Or usually because I really want to reuse that yeast cake.
All good. :cheers: [/quote]
Hey, I’m still allowed to say dumb things too, aren’t I?
I see a difference in definitions. When I started brewing, the standard recommendation was to rack the beer to secondary as the fermentation slowed down to get it off the trub, most of which was break material and whatever else might have come over from the kettle when the wort was poured into the fermentor, as well as less active yeast which had already settled by that time. So I guess I just don’t think of a bright tank (which in my case is typically a keg) as being a secondary, as all the fermentation is fully done by the time you get it in there.
One of the better reasons someone might want to use a secondary (by my definition of secondary) is if they want to harvest a very clean yeast cake. If you wait till fermentation is fully complete before racking, most of the yeast will have already settled out and you won’t harvest as many cells from the secondary. By the time I rack from primary to keg (typically after 3-4 weeks), there is very little suspended yeast in the beer. Enough that bottle conditioning isn’t a problem, but not enough to make a mess on the bottom of a keg.
Regardless, you absolutely don’t want to rack when the beer is almost but not quite done fermenting. That is an invitation for it to get stuck.
rebuilt: Amen!
I was pretty sure I understood what you were getting at, but wasn’t sure it was apparent for a newbie.
:cheers:
