Noob question. Transferring wort to primary

Yeast & Fermentation
1

how big is this batch? if it’s 5 gallons, you’ll want a bigger primary vessel. I wouldn’t add the yeast until you’re ready to put the airlock/blow off on.

2

Thanks for the quick reply!

It is a 5 gallon batch, so maybe I will use a 6.5 gallon carboy instead. Thanks!

So would it be a good idea to pour the wort into the bucket, then into the carboy, then pitch the yeast?

Or do you think the batch will aerate enough from siphoning straight to the carboy?

Thanks!

3

what I’ve been doing for years is transferring to my primary, put my sanitized stopper on, and shake like hell. swirling hard will usually get enough O2 dissolved in as well. for my high gravity beers, I’ve been using an O2 tank (Bernz-o-matic) & diffusion stone. I do not recommend picking up a carboy & shaking. even plastic carboys can be damaged by dropping.

4

Awesome. Thanks so much for the pointers!!

5

no problem! let us know how it turns out! including the brew day!

6

I pour through one of those stainless steel kitchen strainer things from my brew kettle in to my primary. seems to swirl and aerate quite a bit. I still shake the heck out of the car boy too.

I’m not going to dirty any more containers than I need to.

7

The easiest way-and the way that makes you most confident you’re not contaminating-is to dump into the bucket and ferment in it. That’s what i used to do, and Ijust dumped the break material in-no problem. Now, though, i whirlpool during chilling and siphon into primary, leaving the cone behind.

8

I’ve taken a 1’ piece of copper and drilled several holes in one end of it. Put this on the end of a siphon tube. As the liquid passes the holes it draws air into the liquid.

Also, leave the tube high in the carboy/pail. Allow the wort to splash going in.

This should get you a good amount of O2 in the wort.

9

These are all great ideas and are extremely helpful thanks so much!

I’ll post an update after I brew.

Thanks!!

10

OK, So once again thanks for all of your replies.

I wanted to post an update and a little concern I had. I have uploaded an image of what my fermenting batch looks like on days 2,3 and 4.

My concern is with the yeast. Day 2, my batch was boiling slowly. Day 3, more aggressively causing the foam to come through the airlock. Day 4, extremely slow.

Should I be concerned that my yeast went from boiling rapidly to extremely slow in a day?

Thanks!

11

No. Its not uncommon for a beer to finish the primary stage of fermentation in 4-5 days. Just realize that its still working. Even though its not foaming. When the Krausen(foam) drops, the main portion of the fernmenting game is done. Now the beer needs to finish, and clean up. Leave it for another week and a half and start checking your gravity.

12

Thanks!!

I should not do any gravity tests while it is still working, correct?

13

Well, yes and no. Everybody has their own time lines they tend to stick to. You do need to take the gravity to know for certain if a beer is still fermenting, but you can usually be sure they are still working for at least two weeks in my opinion. So for example:

  1. I brew a pale ale. OG 1.050
  2. I wait a week. Krausen has fallen.
  3. I wait another week and take my gravity. Gravity is 1.020
  4. Lets say I know the yeast I used on this batch usually finishes lower than that, I would then,
  5. Give it two more days. Gravity reaches 1.015. I would
  6. Take another gravity sample the next day and day after. If all three samples are the same, I mark the beer as finished and either rack to secondary or leave it on the yeast untill bottling day.
14

i let it go 4 weeks, no checking of the gravity. Why take a chance with contamination? Then move it to the keg and get a gravity reading at that time.

Nice looking fermentation pics. :twisted:

15

i let it go 4 weeks, no checking of the gravity. Why take a chance with contamination? Then move it to the keg and get a gravity reading at that time.

Nice looking fermentation pics. :twisted: [/quote]

This works as well! Cheers! :slight_smile:

16

Thanks for all of your replies and help!

I will be sure to keep everyone updated in the next couple of weeks!

-Anthony

17

It it possible that you are too warm and it finished faster than it should have ideally. What is the ambient temp of the room you are fermenting in? What is the temp of the beer at the height of fermentation?

18

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for your replies and help!

I actually transferred to a secondary fermenter today. I was not going to do this, but a few days ago I decided that I wanted to test dry-hopping, so I transferred to a 5 gallon plastic carboy with 1oz of centennial hops.

My OG was 1.055 and today it was 1.014. Should I expect the FG to be lower than today’s gravity? if so, is that OK?

See picture below.

Thanks!

19

I’d say the room is around 60º

20

That is a LOT of foam! How did you transfer? Did you pour from bucket to carboy? I’d not, then no, fermentation is not done.