To rack or not to rack

RichardC · Post by **RichardC** » Monday Jul 02, 2007 9:46 pm

Being fairly new to homebrew I have found this website and forum to be an excellent source of information. On the weekend I bottled a Coopers Sparkling Ale and noticed it was incredibly cloudy; more so than any other malt extract that I have brewed this year. I would like to know if racking my beer in future will improve the end result in terms of clarity and or taste. Any thoughts?

Does any one know of H/B shops in Geraldton W.A?

NB: All other brews have been nice and clear after being in the fermenter for between 7-14 days. The Sparkling Ale was fermented for only five days at 22 degrees as I am moving house and needed to bottle the beer for the move.

Boonie · Post by **Boonie** » Monday Jul 02, 2007 9:48 pm

The debate continues......

FWIW, racking improves my beer for 2 reasons.
1. Clearer beer and less sludge
2. I can dry hop for aroma at that time

Cheers

Boonie

rwh · Post by **rwh** » Monday Jul 02, 2007 9:50 pm

The clarity of your beer won't really be increased, though the amount of sediment will be decreased. Most yeasts (and the coopers, certainly) will sediment out quite strongly onto the bottom of your bottles.

Just removing a glass of beer before you bottle is a good way to improve things, as this will have a charge of yeast from around the tap. Apart from that, if your beer is super coudy, I'd be guessing it's either not completed fermenting, or is infected.

Um... having said all that, I rack pretty much all my beers.

Aussie Claret · Post by **Aussie Claret** » Tuesday Jul 03, 2007 8:38 am

I used to rack religously and thought that it did more good than bad; now I very rarely rack, (exception to this is if I want to dry hop and re-use the yeast in primary).

The advantage of not racking IMHO is that you have less possibility of causing an infection (two or three reasons why, possible air contact and micro organisms in the air, if your sanitiation isn't spot on and lastly if racking at the end of fermentation you may not have sufficient CO2 in the secondary vessel head space), leaving the beer in the primary for a couple of weeks ensures that fermentation is finished (less chance of bottling or kegging prematurely) and if you increase the temperature a little toward the end of fermentation the yeast has the opportunity to clean any diacetyl that has been produced. When fermentation has finished I chill and CC for a few weeks (still in primary) and have never had any off flavour develop. The CCing also helps drop the yeast out of suspension and dependent on the yeast strain (the yeast can form a compact layer on the bottom of the fermenter) resulting in less transfer when bottling or kegging.

I also filter so I'm not that fussy if a little yeast is transferred as it is filtered out anyway.

Cheers
AC

shane_vor · Post by **shane_vor** » Tuesday Jul 03, 2007 6:58 pm

What are you using as a filter?

erik · Post by **erik** » Tuesday Jul 03, 2007 7:29 pm

Richard,
Don't know of any HBS in Gero but having lived further away from Perth than you (ie 700km) I've internet orders to be my friend. There is some WA based ones or awesome Eastern states one if you don't mind the postage.

RichardC · Post by **RichardC** » Tuesday Jul 03, 2007 8:46 pm

erik wrote:Richard,
Don't know of any HBS in Gero but having lived further away from Perth than you (ie 700km) I've internet orders to be my friend. There is some WA based ones or awesome Eastern states one if you don't mind the postage.

Hi Erik,

What are the E/S web sites?
Cheers
Richard

pacman · Post by **pacman** » Tuesday Jul 03, 2007 8:58 pm

RichardC,

You have answered your own question. You bottled after 5 days, albeit out of necessity due to your move. If you had been able to follow your normal routine of 7-14 days, doubtless you would have been satisfied. That shortfall of 2 days was probably critical.

As Boonie posted, the debate regarding "To rack, or not to rack, that is the question" continues. I will side with Aussie Claret, probably because my second attempt at racking was an abject failure - infection infection! Have not bothered again. 14 days in primary gives me a clear brew.

James L · Post by **James L** » Wednesday Jul 04, 2007 9:28 am

Richard,

I know of two HBS shops in Perth that do freight in WA (and elsewhere)

http://www.westbrew.com.au

and

http://www.malthouse.com.au

They are fairly generic HBS with kits and malt extracts, dry yeasts and hops and stuff like that, but do the job...

Unfortunately the best HB shop (that i know of in WA) that has all the liquid yeast, specialty grains and country of origin hops (TWOC) in bibra lake dont send anything anywhere....

The eastern states HB shop that i've dealt with a few times without hassle is Craftbrewer in QLD

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au

There are a few others, but i havent used them yet... someone else from the eastern states might know a few...

You should be able to get most of the stuff you need from these places.

See how you go.... Good Luck

James

Ash · Post by **Ash** » Wednesday Jul 04, 2007 10:27 am

pacman wrote:As Boonie posted, the debate regarding "To rack, or not to rack, that is the question" continues. I will side with Aussie Claret, probably because my second attempt at racking was an abject failure - infection infection! Have not bothered again. 14 days in primary gives me a clear brew.

*nods* I don't bother either, same reason.

Aussie Claret · Post by **Aussie Claret** » Wednesday Jul 04, 2007 4:27 pm

Sorry to answer your question I got all my stuff for filtering from craftbrewer, Ross is very helpful. Link below (if you are doing AG then get some Polyclar otherwise K&K this isn't needed).
http://craftbrewer.com.au/index.php?pag ... &Itemid=29

Cheers
AC