How to Condition Homebrewed Beer

• Reduce off-flavors: By moving the beer into a new fermenter, you remove your brew from the presence of the spent yeast on the bottom of the old fermenter and the hoppy foam on the top, reducing the risk of adding sulphury flavors or rubbery odors to your beer.
• Enable dry hopping: A method for adding hop aroma to a brew without creating too much bitterness, dry hopping involves adding dry hops to your secondary fermenter. A half ounce of hops per 5 gallons is typical.
• Create a true lager: Lagers require a secondary aging period of 3–8 weeks at 32–45°F to achieve proper clarity. Transferring your brew into a secondary fermenter is a crucial step in making a true lager.

Secondary Fermentation Equipment

• 5-gallon glass carboy: A large glass container similar to those used by bottled spring water companies. The carboy’s glass walls and narrow neck limit exposure to oxygen, which is crucial at this stage of fermentation. Look for a carboy with a handle attached to the neck. Approximate cost: $15–18.
   
  
• Carboy brush: A brush with an L-shaped end designed to help you clean and sanitize hard-to-reach corners of your carboy. Approximate cost: $3–5.
   
  
• Racking cane: A straight glass, plastic, or stainless-steel tube with a curved end that allows you to siphon beer out of your secondary fermenter. The curved end should attach snugly to your plastic hose. Some racking canes have fittings at the straight end to filter out sediment. Approximate cost: $2–4.
   
  
• Bottling bucket: A bucket just like a primary fermentation bucket—if you want, you can just use your primary fermenter instead of buying a separate bottling bucket. After secondary fermentation in the carboy, the beer is siphoned into the bottling bucket for transferring into bottles. Approximate cost: $10–14.
• Drilled rubber stopper: A rubber stopper that fits snugly into the opening of your carboy and has a drilled hole for your airlock. Approximate cost: $1.

The Secondary Fermentation Process

Transferring Beer to the Glass Carboy

• If your primary fermenter has a spigot: You can transfer your beer to the secondary fermenter by placing the mouth of the glass carboy underneath the spigot and then draining the beer.
• If your primary fermenter doesn’t have a spigot: Use a siphon to transfer your beer to the secondary fermenter.

Siphoning Beer

1. Place the primary fermenter on a table or countertop and the sanitized secondary fermenter on a surface directly below it, such as a chair.
2. Attach your sanitized plastic hose to the curved end of a sanitized racking cane.
3. Fill the hose and cane with boiled and cooled water. Squeeze the end of the hose to prevent the water from flowing out, then submerge the straight end of the racking cane into the primary fermenter. Be careful not to touch the part of the fermenter that will be inserted into the beer.
    
   
4. Position the hose end into the mouth of the secondary fermenter. Loosen your grip on the hose. The water should flow from the hose into the secondary fermenter and draw the brew out of the primary fermenter. Keep the flow slow and steady and avoid splashing.
    
   

Storing During Secondary Fermentation