Secondary Or Not?

[Stuster]

Like most people, I started out with one fermenter and didn't rack. I found there was loads of sediment in my bottled beer so after doing some reading I started racking to a secondary. Beers much clearer. Happy brewer.

Then, more reading suggested that there was no need for a secondary with ales, and there wouldn't be too much sediment as long as the beer is left on the yeast for a couple of weeks. Also, seems that the dangers of autolysis has been exaggerated and this length of time on the primary yeast cake is no problem.

I've been doing only primaries for the last few months and it seems to be producing clear, clean beers. It seems others have been using this technique and I was wondering how people have found it.

 

[Airgead]

I rack, partly for the clarity but also to move my beer from a fermenter (which I only have a couple of) to a jerry can (which I have plenty of) so I can make more beer.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Beerpig]

Don't rack, have never tried it ................ not planning to at the moment

Maybe I'm just lazy

Cheers

 

[Jye]

I used to but dont any more, its one less thing I have to do and eliminates the chance of infection and oxidation. I wasnt getting any increase in clarity and I can always run it through a filter if needed.

If I had another fridge I would use secondary for storage.

 

[Jerry]

Never used to rack but after finding AHB I started doing it. I certainly find the beer is clearer and I think after a week in primary followed by a week in secondary fermentation is well and truely complete.

Cheers
Scott

 

[normell]

Always rack, and sometimes even filter

Normell

 

[razz]

G'day Stuster. I always used racked to secondary and put the fermenter in the fridge and slowly manipulated the temp down to cc. Sometime ago I purchased a conical.After primary, removed the sludge and then lowered temp to cc. The difference is there is always some residual sediment in the conical, even during cc. The beer still tastes good.
My point is, worry more about the temp of your fermenter more so than the yeast sediment. The colder the beer is, the clearer it will be.

John :chug:

 

[Ross]

I only rack to a cube if I haven't a spare keg to transfer to - 90% of the time, straight from primary fermenter to keg, via a filter. Whether it be lagers or ales I find they condition better once carbonated. Once there's a spare tap, it goes straight on :chug:

cheers Ross...

 

[Malnourished]

filter

filter

filter

I had no idea so many homebrewers filtered. But the question is, why?

 

[Ross]

I had no idea so many homebrewers filtered. What do you gain from it? Just clarity?

[post="119484"][/post]​

Clarity, taste & a less active bowel to name 3... also means I can take kegs to party's etc without the worry of stirring up settled yeast.

If your beer is hazy, how do you know if you have a protien problem or just suspended yeast.? Protien haze can have a dramatic effect on the shelf life of your beer. Not a problem if you drink it within a week, but I have some on tap for quite a while.

But at the end of the day it's personal choice & I get a lot of pleasure holding my glass to the light & seeing a perfect pint. Going by comments made by many visitors to my little drinking hole here, it's an opinion shared by many...

cheers Ross...

 

[muga]

When I first started brewing I didn't rack, was getting cloudy beers and I wanted to make a clear one and I did a search on it and that is how I came across AHB and since then I have always racked and get great results.

I don't see the need for a filter as the results have always been good, and even better after cold conditioning.

 

[Malnourished]

If your beer is hazy, how do you know if you have a protien problem or just suspended yeast.? Protien haze can have a dramatic effect on the shelf life of your beer. Not a problem if you drink it within a week, but I have some on tap for quite a while.

[post="119490"][/post]​

Thanks for the reply. Obviously it's a case of each to his own (such is the advantage of homebrewing,) but there's just no way I'd ever filter my beer (sorry, just had to throw that in there. ) But I digress...

I'm interested in what you say above, though. What kind of time frames are we talking here? Have you ever done a side-by-side comparison? My point is that I can see the advantage of filtering to a commercial operation who can't control the handling of the product once it's out the front gate, but we have way more control over the handling of our own beers.

And what size filter are you using? From what I've read it seems like you need to be one micron or less to get most of the protein, at which point you are (potentially/allegedly/etc.) compromising body and mouthfeel.

 

[Asher]

There's no option for people who have never done it, and don't intend to start doing it....
I'm with Dr Chris White on this one

Asher for now

 

[Gough]

That was fairly cryptic Asher... What did Dr Chris White have to say for those of us that weren't lucky enough to hear/read his thoughts?

Shawn. (The happy secondary using, non-filtering homebrewer...)

 

[warrenlw63]

Hey! I love my filter... 12 Months old and still in the wrapper. It's not suffering from depreciation ATM. :lol:

Warren -

 

[Steve]

7 days primary and 7 days secondary for me (ales, that is). :beer:
Cheers
Steve

 

[Steve]

p.s. reason: clearer beer and I ALWAYS dry hop in secondary
Cheers
Steve

 

[Ross]

And what size filter are you using? From what I've read it seems like you need to be one micron or less to get most of the protein, at which point you are (potentially/allegedly/etc.) compromising body and mouthfeel.

[post="119600"][/post]​

I use a 1 micron filter to remove the yeast. This removes most of the yeast leaving a clear beer, but there's enough yeast left (like in a long CC beer) to still prime & bottle if you so desire. The 1 micron will not remove protien haze, I use polyclar for this, but only when necessary. I run the first little bit into a glass from the filter & if still hazy I add the polyclar - 10 minutes later I filter a bright beer.

No loss of beer flavour & certainly doesn't compromise body or mouthfeel.

If you get served a cloudy ale in Britain, you hand it back - The difference in taste can be quite dramatic - This is not in the imagination, as my local beers were drunk out of a pewter mug & I would invariably know on the first mouthfull if poured a cloudy pint.

Info on polyclar related products & shelf life here. View attachment Polyclar_Products_for_Beer.pdf

Sorry for the thread hijack here, but I guess it's related...

cheers Ross

 

[Jye]

There is a nice little segment on secondaries in the latest Jamil Show on APAs at 38mins.

 

[warrenlw63]

There is a nice little segment on secondaries in the latest Jamil Show on APAs at 38mins.

[post="119631"][/post]​

Listening to that ATM coincidentally Jye. The segment is a good insight on APAs.

I think he's a bit of a case of I've got the ribbons so I'm right if you catch my drift. (there's a lot of 'em around). I'm not slagging either method as they'd work.

My personal take on it is it's yeast strain/flocculation dependant... High floccers straight to the keg/bottle. Low floccers go to the 2ndary for a bit of clearing.

Warren -