Altering Muntons Yorkshire Bitter

[monk]

Been looking around the web a bit to see the different opinions regarding using a secondary or not. Very interesting, because there is definitely no consensus. Among the big names in the US, Papazian (who's not known for being a super expert on technique, actually) goes for only primary fermenter use, unless lagering or making a high gravity ale; Palmer (howtobrew) seems to advocate the use of the secondary, but in a recent interview said he's been using just a primary fermenter and leaving it on the cake for up to 3 weeks with no ill effect. ?

Just thought I'd report on my findings.

monk

[niall]

lets hope he ammends his much quoted book

Wonder if his later print edition makes any changes to address this?

I saw this on another forum

Some of the people we all learned from - John Palmer etc have gone back on their long held belief in racking of the yeast cake.
John Palmer states on a Basic Brewing Radio podcast that he never racks for most beers, and leaves the beer in primary for up to 6 weeks with no detrimental effects.
Jamil Zainasheff states on a Brewing Network podcast that he no longer racks at all, not even for lagers. Leaves 4 weeks ("or whatever") and then straight into the keg.
Name dropping a bit I know, and I know brewing is all about your experience, your understanding and your enjoyment. And its you that has to drink it.
But most if not all serious homebrewers would have been indoctrinated to rack to secondary by howtobrew(.com) and now John Palmer himself says he never does and no longer recommends it.

Both Jamil and Palmer mention that the yeast cake will continue to do a lot of work, cleaning up, consuming stuff that shouldn't be in your finished beer, and that you should just let it.

I'm all for that, you don't have to sanitise another fermenter, don't have to worry about cleanliness or oxidation.
Bulk priming is a reason I'd consider racking, but I've never had any carbonation problems to date simply sticking a teaspoon of sugar in each bottle as I go.

As you can tell from my posts I'm no expert and I'm not advocating racking/not racking, but I've seen a lot of debate on the web recently about this (some of it quite heated ). I think I'll try both approaches for a few batches and see what works for me.

[monk]

What I find so annoying is the blind faith of most US brewers to follow this mystical 1-2-3 rule like it was some sort of religious mantra. I noticed on another forum when a brewer suggested a different approach, backed by sensible reasoning he was mocked by the other members.

I agree with this statement completely. I try hard not to deride my countrymen publicly, but this is one of the main reasons I looked for a homebrewing forum abroad and found Jim's Forum. It seems that certain practices very quickly have become dogma for US homebrewers, using a secondary fermenter being one of them. Another is that you should never follow the directions a kit beer comes with (or admit you made beer with a kit, for that matter!). If you "stoop" to using a kit, you need to boil it for an hour and add all sorts of hops and extra DME. I don't know how many times I've heard people talking trash about such and such a "canned kit" and how it tasted horrible. After some explanation you find out they didn't follow the directions at all. ???

Experience is the best teacher. Unfortunately, we often ask advice of others and take the consensus opinion as truth, especially when we feel inexperienced ourselves.

(As an aside, I'd like to say thanks to all of you for making this site what it is, i.e. a group of unpretensious guys sharing a love for brewing and drinking beer. And as an American, thanks for putting up with me and my occasional pounds and ounces! )

monk