Fine Vine Wines - Home Winemaking Tutorial Lesson 5 - Winemaking kits, concentrates, equipment, supplies, advice, recipes, and tutorials

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Home brewing Tutorial - Step Five

Two-stage Fermentation:

Picking a good place for your fermenter is the key to the success of the fermentation!

Place your primary fermenter on a raised level so when it is time to transfer to the secondary fermenter you don’t need to move it and disturb the trub.

Place the primary fermenter in a dark and warm area at a temperature of 65 to 75 degrees. Keep the fermenter away from sunlight and fluorescent lights.
You should notice bubbling in the airlock within 24 hours and then it will pick up rapidly when the fermentation really gets going.
When the bubbling in the airlock slows, which should take 3-7 days depending on the kit, it is time to transfer the beer to the secondary fermenter.
Sanitize your racking cane, tubing and your 5 gallon (6 gallon for Baron’s Kit) glass carboy. If your primary has a spigot you can use it to transfer to the glass carboy for the secondary fermentation.
Carefully rack/transfer the beer into the glass carboy and try to leave all the solids behind in the primary. Avoid splashing of the beer from this point forward since the oxygen in the air can cause problems with off flavors.
Even though most of the fermentation is complete at this time, the action of transferring the beer will allow the yeast to complete its fermentation. Your carboy should be full at this point to reduce air space. Add a stopper and airlock filled halfway with water.
Let the beer sit in the secondary for at least 2 weeks before bottling. Having it in a glass carboy allows you to see the beer clear and make sure the fermentation is complete by looking for bubbles rising to the top.

Using the two-stage fermentation will produce a better quality beer. The extra time the beer sits in the secondary carboy will allow the most of the solids to settle out producing a much clearer beer when you are ready to bottle. It also prevents any problems with letting the beer sit on all the dead yeast in the primary which can give the finished beer a harsh yeasty “bite”.

Like with the primary fermenter place the secondary carboy in a warm (65-75 degree) and dark place. It is important it is placed on a raised level so that when it is time to bottle you don’t disturb the sentiment in the bottom of the carboy by having to move it!

Now it is time to prime and bottle your beer!

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