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Author Topic: Secondary Fermentation  (Read 1896 times)

Offline brewmandan

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Secondary Fermentation
« on: April 22, 2011, 11:12:16 pm »
Hey guys,

I have been brewing for about 8 months now, and gone through about 9 batches of beer.  I started out with extract brewing and moved my way up to all-grain (so far only 1 brew I wasnt blown away by!).  I am now fermenting a batch of "sour beer" or Berliner Weiss from a recipe I found in the March/April issue of Zymurgy magazine. 

Anyway, this is my first time attempting a sour beer and I just have one main question at this point.  Do I need to transfer this beer into a secondary fermenter and let it sit for a few months?  I do not quite understand the reason behind having a beer sit in a fermenter after it is done fermenting (which the process of fermentation has yet to take more than 2 weeks in my limited experience). 

What is the benefit of putting a beer into a secondary fermenter and letting it sit for several months?  Why is this process so important to sour beers?  And should I be incorporating this habit into my other brews?

Im sorry for such a novice question, but I just cant seem to find the answer in any of my books.

beveragebob

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Re: Secondary Fermentation
« Reply #1 on: April 23, 2011, 12:32:59 am »
Usually if you use a yeast or a sour bug strain along with a "regular" mash, it will take months for the bugs to sour the beer. If you did a sour mash procedure and are just using a regular strain of yeast, there would be no need to age in secondary being that you developed the flavor profile using a sour mash procedure.

Offline maxieboy

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Re: Secondary Fermentation
« Reply #2 on: April 23, 2011, 10:04:00 am »
beveragebob, plugged your city into the AR calculator: Las Cruces, NM = [1430.4, 248.7] Apparent Rennerian  The longitude figure needed has a - value.
A dog can show you more honest affection with a flick of his tail than a man can gather through a lifetime of handshakes." Gene Hill

[47.7, 310.8] AR

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Offline brewmandan

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Re: Secondary Fermentation
« Reply #3 on: April 23, 2011, 11:41:14 am »
Usually if you use a yeast or a sour bug strain along with a "regular" mash, it will take months for the bugs to sour the beer. If you did a sour mash procedure and are just using a regular strain of yeast, there would be no need to age in secondary being that you developed the flavor profile using a sour mash procedure.

I am using a sour mash procedure and regular strain of yeast.  So then in my case there is no benefit of letting this beer sit in a secondary fermenter?  Because the souring method happened before the boil, it will not sour any more than it is already.

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Secondary Fermentation
« Reply #4 on: April 23, 2011, 05:16:11 pm »
Usually if you use a yeast or a sour bug strain along with a "regular" mash, it will take months for the bugs to sour the beer. If you did a sour mash procedure and are just using a regular strain of yeast, there would be no need to age in secondary being that you developed the flavor profile using a sour mash procedure.

I am using a sour mash procedure and regular strain of yeast.  So then in my case there is no benefit of letting this beer sit in a secondary fermenter?  Because the souring method happened before the boil, it will not sour any more than it is already.

you got it.
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beveragebob

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Re: Secondary Fermentation
« Reply #5 on: April 23, 2011, 11:08:22 pm »
Thanks MB, I'll change it here pretty soon.