To sedcondary ferment or not to secondary ferment

[Old Bloater]

Hi
I've been brewing on and off for many years now and recently got back into it with a vengeance!
I was always under the impression that after the yeast head had subsided that the next stage was to carry on fermentation in an airtight vessel to allow further clearing before racking into a barrel.
However, I seem to be reading that the practice of 2ndry fermentation isn't necessarily required. Is that correct? Does this not leave a greater depth of yeast and other particles at the bottom with the risk of imparting off flavours?
Any views would be gratefully received.
Many thanks
OB

[Jim]

Hi OB. Many people (including myself) don't use a secondary fermentation vessel. The beer is only on the yeast for about a fortnight anyway before it's ready to bottle or keg, so there's no chance of developing off-flavours in that time.

If you're brewing lager, that's different, as the fermentation process is much longer.

[Old Bloater]

The beer is only on the yeast for about a fortnight anyway before it's ready to bottle or keg

Thanks for that.
Does that mean you pitch yeast and leave for up to 2 weeks from that point! Blimey, I'd have none left - and need to get the septic tank emptied!!
OB

[mattfuzzy]

personaly i prefer clear booze, i dont like bits flowing around in the glass (90% of commercial brews dont have it, so why make a mess?)

i ferment for 10 days then rack to a secondary for around a month to clear, secondary has a tap so i can take taste tests, by the time my 23L brew has taken a month to clear theres around 18L left which i put into my corni keg (holds around 18L)

mabe when i get my brew shed ill test clearing with that clearing stuff daab's usually banging on about isinglass? or something.

i just prefer a clearer brew because iv noticed people think the cleaner the brew the more commercial like it is, till they taste it aswell.
-matt

[RabMaxwell]

I also prefer clear booze but never use a secondary anymore for running beers. If i am using a yeast strain like US 56 that's not a good clearer i crash cool & fine in the primary. I have left beers in the primary for 4-5 weeks at 5oc under airlock with no problems.

[johnmac]

Cornie keg - use secondary, pressure barrel - don't bother?

[Old Bloater]

Ok well it seems that "2ndry fermentation" in a separate vessel is not really worth doing as long as it's left significantly longer in primary bucket.
I will just ask, however, at what point do you now dry hop? As it goes into the barrel or is that left out as well? I notice one person uses muslin wrapped around a pingpong ball to stop the tap blocking.
Many thanks for your time so far.
OB

[Wez]

I also prefer clear booze but never use a secondary anymore for running beers. If i am using a yeast strain like US 56 that's not a good clearer i crash cool & fine in the primary. I have left beers in the primary for 4-5 weeks at 5oc under airlock with no problems.

Glad I found this thread, I have a beer sat in teh fridge at 5 deg C that I added Aux Finings to 5 days ago so it's ready for Isinglass about now, am I best adding the IG straight into the fermentor now letting it dop bright and then transferring to keg or transfer to keg with the IG. One problem I can see is if there isn't enough yeast in suspension when I keg i won't get a secondary fermentation.

So..

When should I add IG and how should I prime ?

It will be going into a KK not a corny.

Wez

[RabMaxwell]

Hello Wez i never use Aux finnings anymore get some triple strength issinglass from Hop & grape (it' the bollocks). I always prefer to transfer clear beer to my cornies i feel it tastes cleaner without a yeast load siting on the bottom. I artificially carbonate but there should still be sufficient yeast left in fined beer to carbonate with priming.When using a yeast like safale 04 i don't bother with finings crash cooling is enough to drop the yeast

[mysterio]

I do the same as Rab. Give it plenty of time in the primary vessel, use finings if need be then straight to the keg. No point risking oxidation by transferring to a secondary vessel.

[Hammerhead]

I prefer to transfer to a secondary vessel after a few days as I tend to primary ferment in an open bucket with a lid and not an airlock.

I prefer the beer to be under an airlock once it has stopped forming a head.

Much of the time I serve the beer from a polypin so I am quite happy for it to wait in the secondary vessel until I am ready for it. I do not prime the polypin.

[mattfuzzy]

was gona say, why does anyone say to use secondary int he first place then? y's it not common practice to just add finings and rack from primary?
saves time after all (effort more like)
-matt

[Aleman]

why does anyone say to use secondary int he first place then?

Removing the green beer from the bulk of the yeast, trub and break proteins will produce a cleaner tasting beer. Is it questionable that this is noticeable in the homebrew environment? The jury is out on that one, given the yeast load in the primary I would suspect that a larger amount of primings has to be added to be effective, (I don't do it so I cant say for certain).

Another benefit of a secondary is that it is less damaging to leave the beer there for an extended period of time should real life interfere with the brewing schedule . . . Which seems to happen with regular monotony round here

Yes there is effort involved in racking from primary to secondary, plus sanitising the receiving vessel, plus the worry of oxygen pickup. With care these factors can be much reduced. I'm looking at putting a rotating racking arm in my 100L stainless primary - with a 1/2" bore that should make transfers rapid, I tend to run CO2 from the cylinder into the receiving vessel during the transfer to reduce O2 pickup, Transferring the beer just before the yeast stops working means that any O2 exposure will be mopped up by the yeast.

I think its a case of finding what works for you, I've been brewing this way for almost 30 years, and it works, I will only change when I get my Stainless Conical, which will achieve the same result without shifting all the beer about

[mattfuzzy]

cool, thanks for the info on that one everyone
guess ill still keep racking to secondary... habbit now i guess, on another note... my meads making loads of sediment.....
-matt

[Madbrewer]

... guess ill still keep racking to secondary... habbit now

same here- I see nothing wrong with spending extra effort trying to improve the quality of my beer