Secondary Fermentation for Home-brewed Ale
Each phase that is actually involved in the functional production of home-brewed ale is as vital as the other in yielding home-brewed ale of the highest quality. With this, you should identify the most important aspects to focus in terms of the actual production of home-brewed ale.
First, the finest malt grains should always be used in the actual production of malt extracts and the subsequent home-brewed ale. In doing so, you are assured of high-quality home-brewed ale. But there are other strategies and aspects involved in assuring the overall quality of your home-brewed ale. You should also use the most appropriate equipment for the functional production of home-brewed ale. In using cost-effective tools, you are assured of efficiently producing home-brewed ale that is of the highest quality
After the malt extracts are boiled, it is then cooled so as to prepare it for actual fermentation. The process of fermentation can be divided in two phases, called the primary fermentation phase, and the secondary fermentation process.
Secondary fermentation is usually used to produce premium gold home-brewed ale. When you reach the secondary stage of fermentation there would be no much of an activity since the heat is of a high temperature. The usual ending gravity of home-brewed ales is around 1.06. You can pitch the yeast up to 70? degrees Fahrenheit. If you want a more distinctive taste, you can try to put both of the primary and secondary set of vats in a refridge and brew them at about 45? degress Fahrenheit. With this process, you can take 5-6 months before they can be ready for bottling. But as always, the end result has a very unique taste.
Most experienced home brewers consider the secondary fermentation process unnecessary to actually produce high-quality home-brewed ale. This is because, in siphoning the home-brewed ale that has completely gone through the primary phase of the process of fermentation, it can be exposed to air and subsequently affect its overall quality. The actual production of simple yet high-quality home-brewed ale can be attained by just filtering the home-brewed ale after it has completely gone through the first phase of the fermentation process.
But, in the case of complex home-brewed ale, the secondary filtration phase should always be done on the home-brewed ale. This would assure the overall quality of the home-brewed ale, not to mention the standardization of its actual alcohol content.