BronxBrew

Recipes 

I notice most kits call for this. Is this a must do ? Or can i get by with just 1 carboy as a fermenter ?

OG2620

Recipes 

At this point, I think that the secondary fermenter is recommended due to an extended "aging" that would benefit the beer, mainly from a flavor standpoint, which would in turn free up your primary fermenter for a second brew. If it works for you, you can do all of the fermentation in one vessel.

It is what works for you.

amandabab

Recipes 

you can do it all with just a primary, but its not mandatory.

jetmac

Recipes 

I am surprised the kit directions these days still recommend secondary, although it does depend on your recipe, generally you can skip the secondary and the beer will actually benefit from being in the primary longer.

__________________
Wayne Gretzky-"100% of the shots you don't take, don't go in

Revvy>>You shouldn't worry about ANYTHING, you didn't hurt the yeast, they know what they need to do, they want to eat all that sugar they are swimming around in. They want to pee alcohol and fart co2, it's their nature.

Bobby_M>>I flood the keg with CO2 for one minute with the lid off, rack the beer in to the bottom gently, seal it, flood it, vent it. If there's still O2 in there after that, F it.

kh54s10

Recipes 

The answer really depends on 2 things. 1) What the beer is. If it is something huge like a Barleywine which will be in the fermenter for months, it is best to transfer to secondary. 2) If you don't have enough primary fermenters and do have a secondary go ahead and transfer.

For average beers there is no real need to use a secondary.

There are still some who feel they get a cleaner beer by doing a secondary.

MadMarty911

Recipes 

Is the point of doing a secondary to remove/filter some of the particulate. Just seems to me that you can ( if materials are available to you) to just leave what you have in the primary and leave it longer and do a different batch in another one. Or are the clearing properties worth doing a secondary? Thanks from a N00b!!

BronxBrew

Recipes 

Thanks guys for the replys. I'm just going to stick with 4 week extract kits for now. I figured if I was in dire need of a secondary I could use my bottling bucket in a pinch.

Justintoxicated

Recipes 

I'm wondering if I should move my beer into a secondary today. Being my first beer, I poured all of the break material hops etc into the primary (in my case a 6.5 gallon glass carboy). I read that this can caused off flavors if left too long, so I was thinking to transfer it into a secondary. It's been 8 days and I haven't seen any bubbling int he airlock for at least 3 days and the krausen layer has sunk back into the beer (although there is some thin foam on the top still). I was going to do a hydrometer check then more than likely transfer to a secondary glass carboy (5 gallon).

Would this be a good idea due to my error of leaving in the break material and hops in the primary?

I don't want to open the primary (well unplug the stopper anyways) for no reason.

tryder33

Recipes 

The are a couple main reasons for transferring into a secondary. The first thing is that it is recommended if it needs to sit for longer than 4 weeks. The trub in the bottom of the primary can lead to off flavors if sitting longer than a month. Another reason is, it should give you a clearer beer because when transferring you leave the trub in the primary and more particles will settle out in the secondary. I personally use a secondary to free up my primary, I have 2 secondaries which allows me to brew, wait a 12 days then transfer. I can start my next brew right away, another 12 days I will move that into my other secondary and then I can start my 3rd batch In 2 weeks and enjoy the fruits of 3 flavors of beer in a about a month after that.

evrose

Recipes 

According to many experienced brewers here, that's not necessarily true. Many people are having a lot of success with primaries lasting several months.