A phenomenon occurs when a beer is racked into the secondary (or some call it a bright tank) that almost immediately causes the beer to begin clearing. I racked a milky-looking Hefe yesterday into the bright tank and this morning, not even 24 hours later, the beer is no longer milky and is beginning to look like a Hefe. Can someone explain how and why this happens?
I’ve found this to be especially true when using US-05. Swirling in the primary will have a similar effect, without unnecessarily exposing the beer to oxygen or possible contaminants. My guess is that the agitation causes particles to come into contact with each other much more rapidly, causing quicker flocculation.
My guess is that there is small amounts CO2 being released from the the trub in the primary that keeps things pretty mixed. Transferring beer of it removes that as a cause.
Both hypotheses make perfect sense. Thanks!!
If you have a conical you can burp the yeast out of the fermenter. This is what I do and it helps with clarity (except for my Red IPA and I blame WY1084 for that). I do that before dry hopping and it works pretty well.
Burp? When? How often?
I do it several times during fermentation. Usually 5-7 days in, then before and after cold crashing
By saying “burp”, what exactly does that mean? I’m imagining simply removing and replacing the air lock???
I think he means a yeast “dump” or “drop”, just different terminology…
Understood.
It “burp” is a pro-brewer’s term. It means dumping the yeast out of the bottom of the conical. I pressurize the conical with about 3 PSI of CO2, open the valve at the bottom of the fermenter slowly and run out the yeast. You will know when you got most of it out becasue the beer will start to clear up. Like Denny, I may do this a couple times since some of the yeast will settle to the bottom of the cone from the sides but at least one time when the fermentation is done and I hvae reached terminal gravity.
I also use the same process to purge any dry hops from the conical so that I don’t clog my racking arm when kegging.
Sorry my response took so long, was busy with other things yesterday.
Interesting. Must be a regional thing. I’ve never brewed on that side of the country.