Secondary is old school?

[mashtunmonk]

So I was listening to the brew strong archives and on the (I think) temperature control episode it was mentioned in passing that secondary fermentation is old school. Can anyone fill me in or at least point me in the right direction of where I can learn more about this? (I searched the forums for "secondary" and as you can imagine the results were too great to be of any help so I manually scrolled back through all of '09 and didn't notice anything on the subject.)

thanks for any help/info

[Brandon]

What exactly is it you want to know?

Secondary fermentation (unless for sours, fruit, spice etc) is generally not needed anymore. The yeast and malts are much better than they were a few years ago when secondary fermentation was needed for the beer to finish. Now it is just another place to oxidize or infect your beer. Primary is what most people need now.

[mashtunmonk]

I guess the majority of brewers (at least the ones I have read, listened to, talked to etc) haven't fully adopted this view yet because I've only been brewing for about two or three years and have never heard of it before.

I was under the impression that secondary was to let beer condition, and give time to let yeast settle out for clarity. And the reason you transfer is to get the beer of the bulk of the dieing yeast.


So anyway I have ONLY ever heard of using secondary to get these effects. So when you say the ingredients are better does that mean it doesn't matter if I keep the beer on the yeast for 3 weeks straight, or does it mean that I can keg/bottle after a few days/a week of primary fermentation because I will have already reached the clarity I want? And as for the conditioning of the flavor, should I just add some time bottle/keg conditioning?

or am I completely wrong for the reasons to secondary in the first place?

[stadelman]

Going to a secondary usually isn't needed and does not help. Generally, leave it in the primary until it's done, 4 weeks is fine.

I think a secondary is appropriate when you're adding fruit, souring a beer or when you want to age a big beer for an extended time and you don't keg. You could make an argument for using a secondary when dry hopping, but you can do this is the primary too.

[alan_marks]

Check out a lot of what Jamil has been saying on past episodes of the Jamil Show and Brew Strong. He has stated in the past that he generally goes from primary to keg to carbonate.

Alan

[mashtunmonk]

well I suppose as I catch up on episodes I should hear more. just found the podcasts and I'm starting with old episodes and trying to catch up.

But I guess to sum it up it seems the transfer to secondary is a needless risk and the negative impacts of leaving a beer on yeast/autolysis is not as worrisome as once believed/once was. So just keep your beer in the same carboy for the time you would normally primary and secondary ferment.

Sound about right?

[Blowmax10]

well I suppose as I catch up on episodes I should hear more. just found the podcasts and I'm starting with old episodes and trying to catch up.

But I guess to sum it up it seems the transfer to secondary is a needless risk and the negative impacts of leaving a beer on yeast/autolysis is not as worrisome as once believed/once was. So just keep your beer in the same carboy for the time you would normally primary and secondary ferment.

Sound about right?

yes, unless you are talking about an extended time - four weeks is fine

If I'm going to age something for four months then I will through it into a secondary vessel

[mordantly]

every single ale i make spends 7-10days in the primary then 3-4months in the secondary. the only reasons i utilize a secondary is to get the beer off the bulk of the yeast and trub that carried over. my beer sits on at least a liter of yeast cake that whole time and tasts great and is damn clear when it hits the keg. what makes it taste the best to you? we can't decide how you drink your beer.

and to the sanitation factor: think before you dip.