The overlooked secondary FV?

[McMullan]

Traditionally, racking from the primary (off the yeast) to a secondary FV was considered 'best practice'. Nowadays, the practice doesn't seem all that popular. I know one or two very experienced home brewers who insist on transferring green beer to a secondary FV. Is the practice being overlooked these days?

[Rookie]

Not so much overlooked as simply not necessary in most cases.

[McMullan]

That seems to be the general impression, Rookie. So why all the excitement for conical FVs?

[Clibit]

That seems to be the general impression, Rookie. So why all the excitement for conical FVs?

Cos they look 'serious'? Cos they have a yeast tap?

[McMullan]

They do, Clibit, but so do my bog standard FVs. The main advantage of the conical is that it's both a primary and a secondary vessel.

[Andy]

I still use a secondary FV*, lets me rack off from the yeast/trub and give the beer time to clear prior to transferring to a cornie.

* So I guess not so much a FV but more a conditioning tank.

[AnthonyUK]

With temp control within easy reach of homebrewers I don't think it is needed so for me it isn't so much overlooked as a considered choice.

[Aleman]

One issue I noticed with the use of a secondary, was that you removed the bulk of the yeast from the beer, with the result that the fermentation slowed or stalled completely. It's not too bad if you did it early (say 24 hours after pitching, and not much later), but the advice to do so after 3 days or more did lead to a lot of issues.

Of course with the conical, I just dump the settled trub after 24 hours

[MTW]

Conicals aside, I find the remaining visible yeast drops out quicker after a racking than before. Whether through some degassing, agitation promoting any tiny bit of fermentation left or what, I'm not sure, but it seems to help.

In a similar way, I often get a few bits of hop pellet carry over to the bottling bucket after a dry hop. They settle hard to the bottom within minutes and are no problem. Stuff seem to just drop better after racking to me. YMMV, as they say.

It also gives a second chance to eliminate any accidentally-roused yeast during transfer, some of which is inevitable with less flocculant strains.

Un-roused dry hops apparently miss at least 25% of their effect vs those that are roused at least once. I don't want to be rousing up the bulk yeast with the hops.

I often look to commercial practices as a guide, but this is an area where I think yeast in their large vessels perform differently, and I've heard one pro brewer say as much. Trial and error in ours.

[Jim]

I view it as an unnecessary complication without any clear benefit, and, as Aleman says, even possibly harmful to fermentation and absorption of unwanted by-products.

[chris2012]

How about with fruit additions, do you guys add them in the primary fermenter, or transfer to secondary and add there?

[Clibit]

How about with fruit additions, do you guys add them in the primary fermenter, or transfer to secondary and add there?

I don't do fruit but a secondary is useful for yeast harvesting at an early stage, presumably gets you the more active yeast? Also, if you want to dry hop, the hops can then go in the secondary, keeping your yeast cleaner.

[McMullan]

How about with fruit additions, do you guys add them in the primary fermenter, or transfer to secondary and add there?

I use 'Funkin' purees occasionally. Rack the beer on top of the fruit in a secondary after hitting or getting close to FG (for primary fermentation). Leave it for about 10 days then rack off again to a tertiary 'FV' or final packaging, keg or bottles.

Edit: note these purees are pasteurised

[Rookie]

How about with fruit additions, do you guys add them in the primary fermenter, or transfer to secondary and add there?

The few fruit beers I brew are about the only time I go to secondary, and the occasional BIG beer that I give additional aging before bottling.

[Matt in Birdham]

I view it as an unnecessary complication without any clear benefit, and, as Aleman says, even possibly harmful to fermentation and absorption of unwanted by-products.

Exactly this. I also used to do it (haven't for a few years), as it was common practice, but really what does it give you? We know now that even a number of weeks on the yeast/trub doesn't negatively impact the beer (and actually helps with cleaning up the beer), and any transfer increases risk of contamination and, crucially, oxidation - especially so if the beer has finished fermenting, so you lose your CO2 headspace and have no active fermentation left to help mop up oxygen. My process now is 7-10 days at (or around) ferment temps, a couple of days at most at cooler temps to drop the bulk of the yeast and then into a keg (and away from oxygen) to finish conditioning.