I brewed dead ringer a week ago exactly today. Just about all of the krausen has fallen and the bubbles are coming ever so slowly from the airlock…help please
Secondary really isn’t necessary. I know that’s it’s pretty common practice to just use primary for 2-3 weeks, then keg or bottle. Secondary adds another step in which you can expose your beer to air or infection, so it’s up to you to decide whether or not you want to use it, but it certainly isn’t a requirement. I haven’t used it in years.
I’d leave it alone for 2-3 weeks total (probably closer to 3) in primary, then package. Two weeks into primary, add the dry hops to the primary and let them sit for a week. If you’ve got the ability to cold crash, do so. If not, bottle/keg.
Rack to secondary when fermentation has finished. Hydrometer readings that are the same for a few days will tell you when it’s done.
Secondary really isn’t necessary. I know that’s it’s pretty common practice to just use primary for 2-3 weeks, then keg or bottle. Secondary adds another step in which you can expose your beer to air or infection, so it’s up to you to decide whether or not you want to use it, but it certainly isn’t a requirement. I haven’t used it in years.
I’d leave it alone for 2-3 weeks total (probably closer to 3) in primary, then package. Two weeks into primary, add the dry hops to the primary and let them sit for a week. If you’ve got the ability to cold crash, do so. If not, bottle/keg.[/quote]
+1 Secondary really isn’t necessary except for aging. The less you touch your beer the better.
Some are posting that they get a better product when the dry hop the beer after removing the majority of the yeast.
You will have to decide for yourself what works for you.
Like previously mentioned, fermentation should be complete before moving to a new vessel.
What is an easy way to take a hydrometer reading without a thief?
Pail: sanitize a cup and dip the beer out.
Carboy: sanitize a piece of tubing, place it in the beer, then cap the end with your finger. Trapping the beer inside and pulling it out.
[quote=“Nighthawk”]Pail: sanitize a cup and dip the beer out.
Carboy: sanitize a piece of tubing, place it in the beer, then cap the end with your finger. Trapping the beer inside and pulling it out.[/quote]
Or use a sanitized turkey baster.
Never.
Wait 10-12 days and move to secondary. At that time you can take a gravity reading. Leave in secondary 1-2 weeks, dry hop if needed and then bottle/keg. You may feel the need to test gravity again and match it against the pervious to see it’s about the same.
When to transfer to secondary depends on the beer, the fermentation conditions and what you are trying to achieve. A beer that is dry hopped like Dead Ringer should be allowed to get very close to completely fermented before the dry hops are added. There is some disagreement among brewers whether that is best done while still in the primary, in a secondary, or while in the keg. Based on that, it is unlikely that any of those methods results in a significantly better product than the others, and what is ‘best’ becomes what the brewer is best set up for.
Just make sure you let the fermentation finish before you rack the beer away or add the dry hops.
If it was me, I’d leave the beer for 2-3 weeks in the primary, make sure it was done, then rack to a keg with the dry hops in that.
