Only 18% Of Homebrewers Rack To Secondary?

[Mad Alchemist]

I posted a poll up on my site to see who still racks to secondary. The current results, after 33 votes, are as follows:

• What does "secondary" mean? 3% (1 votes)
• Yes, I still rack to a secondary fermentor. 18% (6 votes)
• Only when I'm doing something special. 36% (12 votes)
• No, that's an antiquated practice. 42% (14 votes)

I actually thought more people still racked to secondary as a matter of course, but it would appear that many advanced homebrewers do not (I assume "advanced" because the people who visit a site about beer experiments when linked from fairly hardcore beer forums are probably comparatively advanced).

The poll is still open if you haven't voted yet or are interested in watching its progress: Mad Alchemist Poll: Do You Rack to Secondary?

 

[Pete2501]

Secondary = effort

If I understand correctly the main reason to use a secondary is to avoid autolysis when the yeast starts eating dead yeast cells to get num nums. If that's the case then why bother aging in a secondary when I age it or dry hop in a keg.

 

[wambesi]

Did it a few times when I first started then realised it was mostly unneeded.

The extra effort and potential risk of exposure/infection to me was not worth it - I could not taste and noticeable differences.
If doing something like fruit then a secondary can be good or extended aging maybe but I cold condition on the yeast cake for weeks with no problems.

 

[kegpig]

I secondary ferment mine in the fridge and you get alot clearer results

 

[Frag_Dog]

I rack all of my beers into secondary. This is where I add finings (gelatine) and crash cool it. I don't know if its nessary but I do it anyway.

 

[fraser_john]

secondary = effort, yes, but it can be worth it. As previously mentioned, using a secondary and placing in a fridge can be very useful for the fining process, finings typically work best at cold temperatures. Also cold conditioning in the secondary for an extended period can help the flavours develop and blend, its a good place to dry hop if not dry hoping in the keg.

 

[wambesi]

I rack all of my beers into secondary. This is where I add finings (gelatine) and crash cool it. I don't know if its nessary but I do it anyway.

I add my finings (sometimes) when CC'ing in the fridge still in the primary with fantastic results, very clear beer.
To be honest I haven't even added finings for a while either, I CC for a few up to several weeks and it goes a great job just like that.

Not saying any method in particular is right or wrong - everyone does things differently!

 

[Greg Lawrence]

secondary = effort, yes, but it can be worth it. As previously mentioned, using a secondary and placing in a fridge can be very useful for the fining process, finings typically work best at cold temperatures. Also cold conditioning in the secondary for an extended period can help the flavours develop and blend, its a good place to dry hop if not dry hoping in the keg.

I dont rack to a secondary, but crash chill to about 5 degrees in the primary for a day or 2 before kegging. Clears up just fine.
Clear beer looks good, but is there really any difference in the taste between clear & cloudy?

Gregor

 

[Fourstar]

What does "secondary" mean? 3% (1 votes)
Yes, I still rack to a secondary fermentor. 18% (6 votes)
Only when I'm doing something special. 36% (12 votes)
No, that's an antiquated practice. 42% (14 votes)

The way i see these days is "18% of brewers increase their chance of infection by racking unnecessarily." Unless you are doing something that is out of character for your standard brewing practice such as leaving the beer in its fermentation vessel for an extended period (months) or to try and increase fruit extraction in a fruit beer by getting the the bulk of the beer off the yeast there really is no need to transfer to secondary.

Some people transfer to cubes to cold condition as they fit neatly into a fridge. Again, this can be done in primary and then racked top down into a keg for long term storage or bottled direct from the primary with minimal yeast transfer, especially if you are incorporating gelatine in your cold conditioning phase.

The only time i now recommend secondary use is for fruit beer purposes or transferring to a keg that has been purged with CO2 as a 'bright tank. Then the bright beer is transferred again under the cover of CO2 to prevent oxidation into its dispensing vessel.

Oxidation is the biggest issue here closely followed by other long term storage issues by introducing wild yeast and bacteria. the low pH of the fermented beer inhibits them, but it doesn't stop them forever. I think this was one of my biggest issues when i was doing extract brewing by transferring to a secondary vessel to try and get it as bright as possible before bottling. Anything i had at 6 months and over would usually end in a gusher. 12 months would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack for a good beer in a case of 24.

 

[hazard]

I add my finings (sometimes) when CC'ing in the fridge still in the primary with fantastic results, very clear beer.
To be honest I haven't even added finings for a while either, I CC for a few up to several weeks and it goes a great job just like that.

Not saying any method in particular is right or wrong - everyone does things differently!

I agree, I was adding finings to secondary and CC in the fridge, this gave me very clear beer. Then, the first time I forgot to add finings - I still finished up with very clear beer. To me the learning is:
- if you can cold condition for a week before bottling, then this works well and it appears that finings don't add much more value
- if you haven't got a fridge for CC purposes, then you may want to copnsider finings.
Of course this is in context of bottling. Don't know what the best practice is for kegging, as I've never done it.

So then the next question is - do you really need to rack to a secondary before you CC the beer in the fridge? I made a stout recently, and I whacked the primary fermenter straight into the fridge after 2 weeks of fermentation, then bottled (note - I always rack and rack and bulk prime at bottling time). hard to tell though if its clear. At 90-odd EBC it all looks black to me. I need to try this with a pale ale.

 

[Mad Alchemist]

I no longer rack to secondary anymore unless I'm doing something special. There's risk of infection, and I really don't care that much about how my beer looks, just tastes. As long as I don't need to leave it there for more than a few weeks, it'll be in one fermentor.

 

[devo]

I used to rack to secondary for years but then found minimal to nil difference so I don't bother any more. I now chill the fermanter down to around 5c after primary has finished and let sit for a week before kegging/bottling. I tend to also dry hop in the keg from time to time.

 

[manticle]

Clear beer looks good, but is there really any difference in the taste between clear & cloudy?

If the cloudiness is caused by yeast then I would say yes.

I rack almost all beers to secondary. I started doing it when I brewed kits and extracts and noticed a huge difference in the amount of sediment in the bottles. Since then I have also started cc'ing every brew (I also fine) and now get absolutely minimal sediment in the bottles. Seeing as how it's now difficult to tell which has the biggest impact (although I've found the cold conditioning also makes a massive difference to flavour in even just a short time) I might fine and cc a few brews in the primary and see how different they are.

 

[Nick JD]

I rack to secondary and drink from the secondary vessel ... it's called a bottle.

 

[Fourstar]

I rack to secondary and drink from the secondary vessel ... it's called a bottle.

Correction... a keg! :lol:

 

[manticle]

I rack to secondary and drink from the secondary vessel ... it's called a bottle.

I pour my beer into a glass.

 

[Pete2501]

If the yeast is cold then you wouldn't need to worry about autolysis seeing as the yeast has gone dormant. Again I fail to see the need to rack to secondary. Once fermentation has finished I just CC in the fridge and leave it there at 0-5 degrees to clear things up.

As mentioned before unless you're leaving your beer to absorb flavours from fruit or age a dark beer then why would you be leaving it on the yeast cake? Get it in a bottle or keg. Autolysis isn't going to happen over night but it will happen.

 

[alford_j]

I have been racking all my beers for a while, but some of my more recent ones have had poor flavor stability. If you bulk prime too then that is 3 vessels before it even gets to the bottle. I'm still planning to bulk prime as I like the flexibility in carbing rates and avoiding bottling excessive polyclar/trub/yeast but I'm planning to have a break from racking to see what happens.

Alfie

 

[Snow]

The only time i now recommend secondary use is for fruit beer purposes or transferring to a keg that has been purged with CO2 as a 'bright tank. Then the bright beer is transferred again under the cover of CO2 to prevent oxidation into its dispensing vessel.

Hey Fourstar,

just wondering why you do this for fruit beers in particular? Wouldn't the fruit settle out in primary just as much as it would in secondary?

Personally, I rack to secondary if I am using a particularly un-flocculant strain of yeast, as I get too much sediment otherwise. I also rack if the beer is a lager, or a big beer that will spend a large amount of time conditioning before kegging/bottling.

- Snow

 

[peas_and_corn]

I only rack into secondary if I have no empty kegs left over.