Day 6: Siphoning the Beer for Second Stage Fermenting

So, after 5 days of bubbling away, the activity in the fermentation bucket has died down (i.e., CO2 is not constantly glugging out of the air lock as the yeast breaks down the sugars and the foam on top has settled) and it's time to transfer or "rack" the beer to a new vessel for secondary fermentation. To do this, you siphon the beer from the fermenting bucket to a plastic carboy.

Here's what we used for secondary fermentation:

• 5 gallon plastic carboy
• Large rubber stopper (to fit the airlock into the carboy)
• Racking cane (fits into the tubing for siphoning)
• Plastic tubing (for siphoning beer from bucket to carboy)
• Tube clip (for securing the tube to the lip of the bucket)
• Spring water (for starting the siphon)

Here's what we did:

1. Sanitize the carboy, stopper, racking cane, and tubing in an iodine solution and air dry.

2. Place the carboy hole-side-up on a level lower than the fermenting bucket (we put it on the floor beneath the table holding the bucket). We put a towel underneath it to catch any spillage.

3. Remove the lid from the fermenting bucket. The lid from our kit required the tab to be cut and pulled off with pliers.

4. Attach the short end of the racking cane to the plastic tubing; the other end of the racking cane has a little cap on it to keep yeast out. To make the tubing easier to attach, heat the end by holding it under hot tap water.

5. Prime the racking cane / tubing for siphoning by pouring spring water into the open end of the tubing until all the air is replaced. We just poured it into the tube over a sink; it wasn't hard. Hold the capped end of the racking cane upward to keep water from spilling out. When finished, place a finger over the open end of the tube to hold the water in.

6. Quickly place the capped end of the racking cane into the fermenting bucket and then stick the tubing into the bottom of the carboy. As you remove your finger from the end, the water, followed by beer, will siphon into the carboy. Use the tube clip to secure the tube to the lip of the bucket. Don't mess with the racking cane or you'll get yeast in your siphon.

7. When most of the beer is transferred and before you start to suck out the lake mud (illogically called a "cake") at the bottom of the bucket, pull up the racking cane to stop the siphon. Extract the tube from the carboy and insert the large rubber stopper and airlock into the hole.

The beer is now ready to sit and continue fermenting for another 1-2 weeks. Then, we'll start taking hydrometer readings; when they remain stable over a few days, the beer will be ready for bottling.