Jared311

Recipes 

I personally like to use a secondary fermenter for all of my batches. For instance I am currently fermenting a batch of oatmeal stout and although its not necessary I think at minimum I can reduce the haze of the beer by reducing the amount of sediment. There is always a risk of contaminated the brew during this process, but I think if you use caution it is well worth it. Just curious if others feel the same way.

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Sláinte,
Jared311

Nurmey

Recipes 

I always use a clearing tank for two reasons. First, I like clear beer with only a tiny amount of sediment. Secondly, I usually bulk age my beer for a couple months because it just better tasting when you do.

I don't consider racking between carboys any more of a risk than any other process in beer making. Good sanitation methods are used for everything.

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Batch 1 Brewing
The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.

Pf Brew

Recipes 

I usually use a secondary as well for all batches. It seems to help reduce the amount of spent yeast and whatnot once I get to the bottom of the keg.

From what I understand though, and I may be wrong, chill haze is generally caused by an insufficient cold break.

Who knows, using a secondary gives me another step which keeps me from drinking it before it's ready. (I have patience issues)

Cheers!

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"And when I die don't bother me...just dig me a 6 foot hole, put a candle at my head and feet and a jar of alcohol"-Shane McGowan

Primary: AHS American Brown Ale
Secondary: AHS West Coast Pale Ale
Keg: AHS Cream Ale
Up next: ? Still thinking

malkore

Recipes 

most of mine get some kind of secondary. depends on the brew. i did a wit in secondary for only a week, just to get less bottle sediment, but not so long that I ended up with a clear wit.

if anything, secondary gives flavors time to start mellowing, and yeast time to clean up some diacetyl.

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Malkore
Primary: English Mild
On tap: Pale Ale, Lancelot's Wheat, English Brown Ale, Steam Beer, HoovNuts IPA
Bottled: MOAM, Braggot, Raspberry Melomel, Merlot, Apfelwein, Pyment, Sweet mead, Cabernet
Gal in 2009: 27, Gal in 2010: 34, Gal in 2011: 13, Gal in 2012: 10

Moonpile

Recipes 

I started out using a secondary almost all the time. Now that I'm brewing at a friend's house, I have tended to get lazier in my attitude and we've mostly been just letting it go in primary for a few weeks then bottling. It's been pretty clear by then and you're just going to get more yeast riled up by priming it for bottles anyway.

However, now that we're starting to keg, I think we'll probably start using secondaries to clear and age before force carbing since we have LOTS of 5 gal carboys and only a few corny kegs.

Denny's Evil Concoctions

Recipes 

I don't. With 10g at a time it became a pain in the rear. But I also filter my beer now. I just leave in the primary carboy for 4-6 weeks. Less chance of aeration during transfer, but I see nothing wrong with using a secondary.

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SteveM

Recipes 

I do only to serve some special purpose. For my "house beer" I just use the primary. I use Irish Moss and try to get a good solid cold break at the end of my boil and these steps seem to reduce haze.

sleepystevenson

Recipes 

I have always done the ole' 1, 2, 3 method....(1 wk primary, 2 weeks secondary, 3 weeks carbonating in the bottle)

However, after reading the results of a lot of board members here, I started switching it up a bit....

My last brew, a cream ale, I had in the (bucket) primary for about 2.5 weeks and then I put into the (glass) secondary, basically just for clearing purposes. Still in the secondary now, but I am thinking I will leave it there for less than a week.

homebrewer_99

Recipes 

I have done many experiments, but usually secondary everything including my Hefe Weizens.

Using a secondary for my wiezens allows me to rack a clear weizen into the bottling bucket then add just enough yeast to cloud it up again. This results in a very light cloudiness in the glass.

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HB Bill

sleepystevenson

Recipes 

yeah, at this point, I still plan on using secondary for everything. Basically just lengthening the primary and shortening the secondary. I have always had good luck when using a secondary.