This article discusses the process of secondary
fermentation and why it is a good thing for your beer. By
employing secondary fermentation into your brewing process,
you don't need to worry about unfinished primary
fermentation including the dreaded exploding bottles.
The purpose of secondary fermentation is to condition the
beer. One of the key reasons to get the beer into the
secondary fermenting vessel is to get it off the yeast bed.
Once the initial fermentation is over, the yeast that
sediments on the bottom of the primary fermenter will start
to decompose. This is known as yeast autolysis and if you
leave your new beer sitting on the yeast bed, it will start
to adversely affect the flavor of your beer. So by racking
the beer into the secondary fermenter will stop this from
happening. You could of course just bottle the beer at this
point but if you leave it for a secondary fermentation you
give the flavors more time to mature and mellow and the
improvement in the flavor of the finished beer will be
considerable.
Another benefit is to avoid that "homebrew" yeasty twang.
My wife reckons it tastes like marmite! This is caused by
too much yeast sediment in the bottle and by allowing the
secondary fermentation you will cut down on this. This is
because the yeast will have consumed most of the sugars
during the primary fermentation process and so you should
get very little yeast sediment.
You can also use the secondary fermentation time to add
many different flavorings to create your own unique beer.
Some things you can do include:
Dry Hopping. This will add more aroma to the beer - just
add an ounce of hops to the secondary fermenter.
Lagering. To make a proper lager you should age the beer
for at least a week at a cold temperature. The garden shed
in winter is a good place to keep the secondary fermenter
during this process.
Clarification. There are several additives you can use to
help clear your beer. The most typical are gelatin finings
that can be stirred gently into the beer during secondary
fermentation.
For secondary fermentation you must always use a glass or
stainless steel vessel. The most commonly used vessel is a
five gallon glass carboy. These are good because they have
a narrow neck which only presents a very small surface area
of beer when you have the stopper off and this cuts down
the risk of contamination. Plastic vessels should be
avoided because even if they are food grade (as in the
primary fermenter), because the beer will be conditioning
for extended periods you run the risk of having gases
penetrating the plastic and spoiling your beer.
It is important to make sure that the initial fermentation
which is usually quite vigorous has subsided. The easiest
way to to do this is to count the bubbles emerging from the
airlock. If they appear every thirty seconds or longer then
you can proceed with racking the beer into the secondary
fermenter.
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Patrick Attlee has been brewing for over ten years. His
latest website is on childrens party favors and supplies.
You can check it out at http://www.childrenspartyfavors.org
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