Getting clear beer takes a couple things that happens long before the choice to secondary or not becomes an issue. First, I use Irish Moss or Whifloc in the kettle. This goes along way to helping clear up the beer. Secondly, I employ a 75-90 minute boil. This ensures a really great and complete hot break to denature many haze forming proteins. Thirdly, I use a wort chiller. Getting a great chill on the beer helps to coagulate those proteins in what we call cold break. The combination of these techniques gets you pretty far in the quest for clearer beer.
But what about secondary and does it really help?
I normally ferment my beer for at least 2-3 weeks in primary. So by then… its done! And I think we can all agree that there is really no more fermentation going on in secondary. I hate to break it to you, but when you see a bubbling airlock in your secondary its just dissolved CO2 escaping from the beer…if you actually let the beer finish in the primary.
That said, when I am done with primary, I tend to transfer to a keg. Then I chill that keg down and start my carbonation process, with pressurized CO2. In a week or two I am drinking clear beer.
Now many “experts†do the same thing and say: “Hey, I don’t do secondary.†However, as I see it, my process (shared by many) is the same thing as a secondary but it’s done at colder temps and in the serving vessel! To me I would have to say, that I am employing a secondary in a way, but I prefer to look at it as a conditioning step rather than call it a secondary.
If you can’t chill your finished beer down with a fridge, or if you don’t have a kegging system, then I think a secondary “ferment†can help you out in most applications (whether you are brewing a 1038 OG Bitter or a 1065 IPA). Especially, as an extract brewer doing partial boils that extra step is quite useful for clarity. I think the last key to good clear beer is a cold conditioning step; whether it be in a glass carboy, a keg or in the bottle.
secondary fermentation
