Primary Vs. Secondary?

Ive been reading alot of posts about primary and secondary. I pursched a kit from a local brew store and there cheapest kit came with a carboy. All there instructions called for a secondary but after all the reading ive been doing it seems easyier and almost better to just let it ferment in primary for 3-4 weeks. Just want some oponions on this decision

There is plenty of reading around here on the subject, and you're sure to get conflicting opnions. IMHO it's mostly about personal preference. I say try both and decide for yourself.

Actually, this topic has been discussed to death around here. There are proponents for both sides. I personally prefer to secondary my beers but it's not written in stone. I use pails for my primary because they're easier to clean and I like to rack to carboys for aging and clearing. There are several reasons I do this:

Carboys that are used for secondary only are easier to clean than those that are used as a primary.

All my beers tend to age for 3 to 4 months. I don't like leaving them in a pail for that long. Once they're in the carboy I can forget about them until they're ready to drink.

I could secondary in the keg, but the first pint or two will be cloudy with sediment.

I have eight good carboys and only two good pails (two others that are functional but only if it's too early to rack out the batch in the good pails.)

I can see the beer so I know if there are any nasties forming on the top. It's never happened to me yet, but I have had a few pellicles form.

Lined up carboys full of beer look very, very cool.

None of these reasons are strong enough by themselves or even collectively to completely dismiss primary-only brewing and as such I may find myself switching in the future. I have the ability to cold crash large volumes so that would help with the sediment issue. In the end, I think the choice is really a personal one.

Personaly i have done both ways...Just useing primary and also useing a secondary.
A lot of it is personal prefrence. There is upside and downsides to both.

Useing just primary only is fine as long as you dont let it sit on the yeast/trub for a long time. 3-4 weeks would be the most i would do...But again personal prefrence again on that. As for bottleing/kegging you might pick up some trub or little bits the first couple brews till you get that hang of it. Personaly i stuck a airlock bung under 1 side and siphoned that way till i got the hang of it.

Secondary: I used to do this with every batch of beer i made, Till i got tired of cleaning all the time Personaly when i was brewing every weekend, I would let it ferment for a week, Move to a secondary and wash yeast..repeat.

I quit doing that for a few reasons. One i dont like clean 2 carboys from 1 batch....Its sadly enough my least favorite part of brewing. I also am not "showing" off my beer to anyone. So if my beer has bits in it... It dont matter to me. If i was going to show off my beer or have it judged, I would use a seconadary for a few weeks just to help clarify and make sure there is nothing left behind. Cold crashing the beer will also help.

As for ageing beer, I dont age very long. 1 week ferment 1 week age..Keg.
I allways make 10 gal so the 2nd keg gets to age 1-2 weeks before i drink it dry. But the last glass allways does taste the best....

Hope that helps out some.
If i was you, I would try out both and play around with it.
The thing about brewing beer, Is there is lots of ways of doing the same thing, Doesnt mean its right or wrong...its just personal prefrence.

If you've been reading the multiple posts on the subject, then you've read the debates and discussions. Do you really want to beat the dead horse on this? The info is here in volumes, with all of our reasons, the passages we use to rationalize why we do it, and our results.

Half the folks at this point aren't going to EVEN post their opinions, because they have already.

Just choose a way and do it. And on the next do it a different way.

It like so much in brewing, just comes down to what works for you.

In the words of Megaforce, it's time for "Deeds not Words."



Or like Nike,

I have done both, and I now only use a secondary to bulk condition or lager. I have now shifted my dry hopping to the primary vessel as well. Since I made the change my beers have been much clearer and don't have that typical green homebrew "tang" by the time they get to the bottle. 2-3 weeks in primary, 3 weeks in the bottle and you can have a really tasty ale.