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Been racking for several months now and the results have been fantastic with the only drawback being required to wait 6 weeks for carbonation through bottles. But I'm content to wait.

In my last lager I racked twice, and plan to do so in the next few megabrews, does anyone else follow this practice? Would there be any potential negatives from racking twice other than that of infection and oxidation?

Trizza.

Trizza wrote:Been racking for several months now and the results have been fantastic with the only drawback being required to wait 6 weeks for carbonation through bottles. But I'm content to wait.

In my last lager I racked twice, and plan to do so in the next few megabrews, does anyone else follow this practice? Would there be any potential negatives from racking twice other than that of infection and oxidation?

Trizza.

All the beeer you lose each time you do it...

quite a serious issue

on a serious note, the benefit will be much less than what you get from the first racking.

I wouldn't bother

Cheers

Cortez The Killer wrote:I wouldn't bother

Cheers

Me either unless the brew is cloudy after the 2nd Rack, which would be a worry anyway .

I lose bugger all when I rack once, as I tip the fermenter. It would be less than a 1/2 a stubbie as the rest is trub. On the 2nd rack it would be more.

unless it is just for bulk priming, there's not much point

I do rack a second time to bulk prime myself, but that is different than what Trizza is asking I think.

Even when lagering I don't think there would be much benefit to a second racking, lagering in secondary is easier and just as effective.

Unless you want to fit more than one in the fridge at once

I rack a second time into water containers for lagering which means i can have up to four brews lagering at once, but thats the only reason if your not lagering then i wouldnt bother

Kevnlis wrote:

Trizza wrote:Been racking for several months now and the results have been fantastic with the only drawback being required to wait 6 weeks for carbonation through bottles. But I'm content to wait.

In my last lager I racked twice, and plan to do so in the next few megabrews, does anyone else follow this practice? Would there be any potential negatives from racking twice other than that of infection and oxidation?

Trizza.

All the beeer you lose each time you do it...

Hey why dont you try tipping the fermentor up untill all the beer is gone and only the trub left. You shouldnt lose any beer.

morgs wrote:

Kevnlis wrote:

Trizza wrote:Been racking for several months now and the results have been fantastic with the only drawback being required to wait 6 weeks for carbonation through bottles. But I'm content to wait.

In my last lager I racked twice, and plan to do so in the next few megabrews, does anyone else follow this practice? Would there be any potential negatives from racking twice other than that of infection and oxidation?

Trizza.

All the beeer you lose each time you do it...

Hey why dont you try tipping the fermentor up untill all the beer is gone and only the trub left. You shouldnt lose any beer.

Because the current of the beer flowing over the top of the trub picks things up on it's way by, not to mention there is beer in the trub

I always tip the fermenter when getting the last of the beer out off the trub. On my last brew, I somehow managed to get 30 740ml bottles out of a 21.2L brew. I had racked twice, so managed to lose the 1.8L through the racking, but still got 30 full bottles out of the brew. There wasn't any sediment being picked up either as I tipped the fermenter.

I'll only rack twice when it seems necessary, most of the time you barely need it. That said, a great number of my brews are still cloudy after the first racking so another one is deemed necessary.

Trizza.

Hi. New to brewing. So whats the benefits of racking? I have just purchased a 2nd fermenter. Ive been brewing ( Rapid Creek Lager, 1.5l Light liquid malt, Munich grain, Saaz standard, Tattanger dry and Saflager S23) for 1 week. If i rack this will it improve it? When you rack you put the bottler in 1st fermenter and connect hose to it but how do you keep valve open so beer flows? Are the suger drops you put in bootle for priming OK for a Guiness clone and current brew? Is it worth getting a Brita water filter? I live in Sydney.Thanks


Cheers Damo

damian,

racking will generally give you a clearer beer that is more stable as a final product. It will also resolve some flavour issues. It is also good in that it means that you can leave it a while if you don't have the time (or inclination) to bottle, but don't want to worry about potential autolysis of yeast.

I think that racking always improves beer no matter what it is, but some will tell you it is unnecessary in their opinions. The best idea is to try it and compare.

As for the racking process, you attach the hose to the fermenter tap directly (shove it up inside or over the outside- depending on hose diameter). If this is physically impossible, cut a small piece of your bottling valve off and stick it in the tap, putting the hose over that.

Try option one first though, as it is a lot less hassle, and should work.

The carbonation drops are fine, but seeing you have two fermenters now, consider bulk-priming- there are a million posts on here on how to do that. I'm sure rwh will help us out here...

And filters can work well, but to be honest, just giving Sydney water a good boil generally gets rid of the chlorine and bicarbonates.

...

I'm fairly sure we've been through this before.

...

Helps get rid of that 'home brew' yeast taste many people don't like when they first drink it.
The less yeast and less cloudy the beer is, the better it tastes if you ask me.

Yeah what flavour issue? Im dead curios. In recipes if it says boil cascade for 15min could i just steep a 12g bag and get something similar? Thanks again.



Cheers Damo

^^ agreed, depending on the style.

Chris wrote:damian,

As for the racking process, you attach the hose to the fermenter tap directly (shove it up inside or over the outside- depending on hose diameter). If this is physically impossible, cut a small piece of your bottling valve off and stick it in the tap, putting the hose over that.

What I do I'd remove the little bottler from the bottom of the pipe and connect a 10mm hose to it, which you can buy at Bunnings. The hose I use is about 3 metres long.

Hard to explain but the bulbous part at the bottom of the "little bottler" just pulls off. Attach the hose to it, the pipe to the fermenter and ensure that the fermenter is above the new "racking" vessel. The residual hose you have left over, make it so that it is in a circle at the bottom of the racking vessel so that it does not bubble everywhere, to reduce oxidisation (IMO).

Pictures I posted a while ago.

http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/vi ... c&start=20

Cheers

Boonie

PS What's the Rapid Creek like anyone??