Questions on racking

[Pom]

I know the topic of racking has been cover over and over. (As I have been reading heaps of the old postings). Lots of people have different ideas and methods which all seem to work for them. As I have never racked a beer before and would like to rack a lager I have brewing at the moment, I have a few questions that I am hope someone can answer for me.

1) I have read some people add suger to the secondary fermenter before they syphone in the brew. Why is this do? Is it to help perge O2 from the secondary fermenter. And how much suger is used and what sort, just dex?

2) I have also read that It can be a good thing to allow a small amount of yeast to be syphoned into the secondary fermenter. Why?

3) On another website I read that when syphoning the brew from one fermenter to the next you should not suck the liquid through into the syphone as it will contaminate it. They suggested filling the syphone with sanitiser. This sounded a little risky to me aas I could see myself spilling sanitiser into the brew. How is it best done?

I have a lager that will have been down for two weeks on sunday Im unsure weather to rack after two week or wait till FG.

Sorry for all the questions
Thanks for any advice.
Rob

[warra48]

Racking a lager is essential if you want to lager it for any length of time. It helps to get it off the yeast cake and other debris in the primary fermenter.

When I rack (which I do rarely) I connect a hose from the primary tap onto the tap of my secondary vessel. I raise the primary higher than secondary, and gravity will start the flow without needing to suck hoses etc. It allows a transfer with the mimimum exposure to air.

The reason some brewers add some dex or sugar to secondary is to give the residual yeast in the beer something to feed on, and once it ferments the dex or sugar, it gives the beer a blanket of co². It is not really necessary to transfer any of the yeast cake as there will be sufficient residual yeast in suspension in the beer to ferment the added dex or sugar (it's just the same as bottle conditioning).

I'd suggest a hydro check of your beer. If you are within a few points of your predicted final gravity, go ahead and transfer.

[Chris]

As warra said- especially the racking prior to hitting FG. I really don't like the idea of adding extra 'sugar.' Granted I add a squirt of CO2 after racking. Generally speaking, racking will drop your FG a few points anyway, negating the need to add sugars to your brew.

[Pom]

Ok then.
So if I were to add suger, are we talking a couple of teaspoons or more?and should I disolve it in some hot water first.

Also this might be stupid but how do I work the FG out. I have just fermented the brew until the SG has stabalised and gives concecutive readings the same. Then I bottle. I have downloaded a copy of beer smith but its seems a little complicated for me just yet.

How long should I look at racking for?

If I rack the brew and want to bulk prime it before bottling, do I add the brew into a clean fermenter after racking and bottle from that. And how do I work out how much suger to use? I normally use carb drops.

Thanks guys
Rob

[Chris]

You wouldn't need all that much sugar (if any ) If you are going to add some, add it to boiling water.

You will not be able to get a completely accurate alcohol calculation, but consider that the sugar you add will be fermented completely.

Rack for around 7 days.

If you bulk prime, you'll need to transfer the beer into another fermenter with a sugar solution immediately before bottling. Use 180g per batch for higher carbonated beers, and work backward in 10g amounts for other less carbonated styles.