RACKING FROM SECONDARY TO CORNY

time to rack to the corny

my strong brown ale/stout has been in its secondary fermentation for 10 days now and tis time it moved on again.

when your beer is made it has the yeast added, then goes into a bucket for primary fermentation , this is where the sugar is turned to alcohol.

after ten days it should have stopped fermenting and it can be racked off. now this is where you have a choice, you can go straight into a barrel or bottles where it remains until it is drunk , you add a little sugar to create some Co2 which not only protects the brew from nasties it adds the fizz. Gelatin is also added to clear the beer.

Or you can go into the barrel for another ten days then rack off again when the beer is clear into your final barrel. if you are using a corny keg this is the best option as you dont get the sediment at the bottom of the barrel where the beer is drawn from via a long tube.

I was told of a method of drawing off the beer into the corny without letting any nasty air in to contaminate my precious beer. A chap on the jimsbeerkit forum explained how to do it so i gave it a try.

firstly everything was steralised as usual , then i added a squirt of Co2 to the empty corny. Co2 is heavier than air so a protective blanket is laid on the bottom of the keg where the beer is going to come in.

I connect the out disconnect to a length of hose and leave the grey in disconnect off for the moment.

once the beer starts to come in i add the grey disconnect to allow the air to escape as it is pushed to the top.

the hose is connected to the barrel thus;

i then crack open the tap of the barrel and the beer runs down through the "out" connect to the bottom of the barrel. this beer is then under the Co2 and as it rises it forces the air out of the grey "in " disconnect i have now connected. if you have a purge ring you can use that but you will be stood there holding it open like a wally for a while.

obviously at some stage the pressure in the top barrel will be negative and you will have to crack open the lid to let some air in to replace the escaping beer.

once all the beer is in leaving the sediment in the bottom of the barrel you can shut the tap off and remove both the connectors.

my corny has an S30 valve in the top instead of a purge valve so i then pump Co2 in until the safety valve expels the remaining air leaving pure Co2 at the top of the keg. if you have a purge valve you just pump in the Co2 then gently let the air that has been forced to the top escape.

there you have it! this will sit now till christmas day when i will hopefully pour out some clear sparkling beer from it. my cresta pale ale is still in primary and that will go into the secondary barrel on saturday .

till then happy drinking :-)