Fitz

Recipes 

ok,, so i just brewed my first batch yesterday,a pale ale, but unfortunatly i dont have a hydrometer so i couldnt take OG. hopefully i will get it in the mail before the secondary, but is a secondary a must? or can i just bottle after 10 or so? so far so good in the primary.. airlock is going crazy.. bubbles galore,

excited to see what my first batch will taste like.. and i cant wait to get started on my next batch

thanks to everyone here that helped me with my first batch

Revvy

Recipes 

Secondary's not a "must" if you leave your beer sitting for a couple weeks longer on the yeast cake...After fermentation the yeast will clean up after themselves.

I've started leaving the majority of my beers in the primary for a month, and they've come out cleaner, clearer and crisper tasting then when I rack them to secondary.

I've found that I only secondary if I'm using fruit, or am adding something to the secondary....

If you only have one primary, then moving it to secondary frees it up so you can brew more beer....I don't have that problem, I have 3 primarys, so I can leave them longer and not need the space.



I know you're excited to try your beer, but don't be in such a hurry to rush to bottle or rush to drink it when you bottle...the beer will taste better if you let it sit.

Here's some info about it,
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/558191-post101.html

Hint Hint, buy another bucket! That way you can brew again, and it'll take your mind of this batch so it can do it's thing...and you'll build up your pipeline faster.

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EvilTOJ

Recipes 

A secondary isn't a must-have thing, but it is nice to have. The most important reason being you can get another batch started right away! You can leave the beer in the fermenter as is and then rack it to the bottling bucket from there, if you want. I would leave it at LEAST two weeks though, just to make sure it clears a bunch. Then take your hydro readings when you get it.

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