Beer forums seem to revolve around the action happening in the fermenter and recipes.
Nothing much is discussed about secondary fermentation. My first two brews were done simultaneously. Due to things that happened in the secondary stage I've ended up with 4 different beers. All of them behave well in the glass...good head fine bubbles but I have 4 different and distinct flavours.
The difference, I think, is that I stored them in different places with different temperatures during the week after bottling.
What I am realising is that the secondary fermentation has a lot to do with the final outcome.
With brews 3 and 4 I was very aware of keeping all of the little blighters in the same place and monitoring them with an indoor/outdoor thermometer. It was like I was brewing from the start again.
What have other people experienced?
Cheers
Secondary fermentation
Secondary fermentation
"In the beginning was the wort..."
Re: Secondary fermentation
That's a fair topic to raise mate. Good one.
I imagine one is better off storing lagers in a cooler environment than one would for ales, but I would like to know exactly how flavour is affected by variations in storage during secondary.
I generally keep mine in a kitchen cupboard till they are ready, but would be happy to put a few in the beer fridge (or somewhere cool) to see the difference.
Do beers take longer to complete secondary in a cooler environment?
How hot is too hot? How cold is too cold?
Cheers,
Throsby
I imagine one is better off storing lagers in a cooler environment than one would for ales, but I would like to know exactly how flavour is affected by variations in storage during secondary.
I generally keep mine in a kitchen cupboard till they are ready, but would be happy to put a few in the beer fridge (or somewhere cool) to see the difference.
Do beers take longer to complete secondary in a cooler environment?
How hot is too hot? How cold is too cold?
Cheers,
Throsby
Re: Secondary fermentation
What you are talking about is not secondary fermentation, but the carbonation fermentation after bottling.
Current ambient room temperatures are probably best to achieve that in about 1 to 2 weeks post bottling.
As a general suggestion, try to keep them somewhere reasonably stable in the 20 to 25ºC range.
Secondary fermentation is usually carried out in bulk. It is achieved by racking out of the primary fermenter into another bulk container, usually after about a week in primary.
For ales, it can then be left to carry on at original fermentation temperature for another week or two before bottling.
Alternatively, once you are sure fermentation is complete, then some will chill the secondary container for cold conditioning for about a week to clear the beer, prior to bottling.
Lagers can be racked after 2 or 3 weeks in primary, and then stored in bulk at about 0 to2ºC for lagering for as long as you can stand it, before bottling.
4 weeks to anything up to 3 months is OK.
Can't say I've ever experienced the taste differences in my brews you are talking about.
Current ambient room temperatures are probably best to achieve that in about 1 to 2 weeks post bottling.
As a general suggestion, try to keep them somewhere reasonably stable in the 20 to 25ºC range.
Secondary fermentation is usually carried out in bulk. It is achieved by racking out of the primary fermenter into another bulk container, usually after about a week in primary.
For ales, it can then be left to carry on at original fermentation temperature for another week or two before bottling.
Alternatively, once you are sure fermentation is complete, then some will chill the secondary container for cold conditioning for about a week to clear the beer, prior to bottling.
Lagers can be racked after 2 or 3 weeks in primary, and then stored in bulk at about 0 to2ºC for lagering for as long as you can stand it, before bottling.
4 weeks to anything up to 3 months is OK.
Can't say I've ever experienced the taste differences in my brews you are talking about.
Re: Secondary fermentation
My apologies on the terminology, Warra.
Maybe we could call this process "bottle carbonation" or BC.
Here's the potted history.
1) two brews... Coopers microbrew kits...did one from the box and the other as a lager with saflager yeast.
2) stored all in the same cupboard.
3) 1 week later tasted the lager...great...the ale was flat as a tack..yuck.
4) Revived ale by turning the bottles and pumping the temp up to mid 20's for a few days, (ouch on the electricity bill) result great beer considering what went in it.
5) At the same time I split the lagers for some stupid reason...put half into a warmer room.
6) 3 days later put some lager from both rooms..(marked the bottles)into a fridge for about 4 weeks.
7) Tasted all 4...Cool room...tastes best but not much difference from the warm room.
Warm room from fridge...Very different...tangy and a crisp astringency at the back of the palate...probably great on a hot day, not as smooth as the cupboard (cool room) guys.
BUT!!! the cool room from fridge...I wouldn't serve to anyone!Hard to describe the flavour...not awful but ...gee I've forgotten what VB tastes like...could probably be closer to XXXX in a bad mood.
To me it seems that beers can do some right angle turns depending on how they are treated in BC.
Somewhere in the forum someone posted that two guys split a batch...two different BC situations...one lot turned out great and the other didn't score much at all.
For my next double batch I kept all in the same room...some on open shelves, others on the floor, others in a cupboard...my thermometer showed that there was as much as 5 degrees difference (on average) between ambient room temp and the cupboard. I rotated heavily, pumped up the temp on cold days and Have got two good and even batches at the 7 day tasting. (At one stage ambient room temp was 42C while the cupboard was 22C)
This why I am having a serious think about how I do bottle carbonation.
Cheers
Maybe we could call this process "bottle carbonation" or BC.
Here's the potted history.
1) two brews... Coopers microbrew kits...did one from the box and the other as a lager with saflager yeast.
2) stored all in the same cupboard.
3) 1 week later tasted the lager...great...the ale was flat as a tack..yuck.
4) Revived ale by turning the bottles and pumping the temp up to mid 20's for a few days, (ouch on the electricity bill) result great beer considering what went in it.
5) At the same time I split the lagers for some stupid reason...put half into a warmer room.
6) 3 days later put some lager from both rooms..(marked the bottles)into a fridge for about 4 weeks.
7) Tasted all 4...Cool room...tastes best but not much difference from the warm room.
Warm room from fridge...Very different...tangy and a crisp astringency at the back of the palate...probably great on a hot day, not as smooth as the cupboard (cool room) guys.
BUT!!! the cool room from fridge...I wouldn't serve to anyone!Hard to describe the flavour...not awful but ...gee I've forgotten what VB tastes like...could probably be closer to XXXX in a bad mood.
To me it seems that beers can do some right angle turns depending on how they are treated in BC.
Somewhere in the forum someone posted that two guys split a batch...two different BC situations...one lot turned out great and the other didn't score much at all.
For my next double batch I kept all in the same room...some on open shelves, others on the floor, others in a cupboard...my thermometer showed that there was as much as 5 degrees difference (on average) between ambient room temp and the cupboard. I rotated heavily, pumped up the temp on cold days and Have got two good and even batches at the 7 day tasting. (At one stage ambient room temp was 42C while the cupboard was 22C)
This why I am having a serious think about how I do bottle carbonation.
Cheers
"In the beginning was the wort..."