I’m still pretty new at this, but it seems like I’m finding that I get the best settling immediately after racking off to a new container.
Yesterday morning I racked to secondary. There wasn’t much sediment on the bottom of the primary vessels, maybe a half inch or so. This morning I went down to add fruit, and there was an inch of sediment on the bottom. I recall the same thing on my previous brews as well. I even noticed it going into tertiary, the one time I did so.
Can someone tell me why this seems to be so?
Am I just racking to secondary too quickly? (These were started 1/14, and appeared to be finished fermenting about a week ago, although they’re still a bit gassy)
The yeast strain is a big factor. A strain like Wyeast ESB 1968 will flocculate and drop extremely quickly leaving a pretty clear beer. Others like wyeast 3068 weihenstephan weizen take months of cold storage to drop out. Of course, with a wheat yeast you most likely WANT the cloudiness, but I use that yeast to prove a point.
Yeast strain, grist makeup, time, temperature, even your brewing process will all contribute to clearing up a beer.
“still a bit gassy” might be the key. You don’t get as much clarifying for mead or wine when there is still gas present as you do after. By racking, you are knocking some gas out of suspension, and allowing the fine lees to settle better. Try actively degassing the mead immediately after racking, and you might get even more out, though I suspect you’ll still need a third racking.
