Secondary Needed?

I have completed my first 2 Brews and they are on day 4 in the fermenter. Everything looks good so far.

I have read a lot and it seems that the general consensus is you don't need a secondary unless it is a big beer.

The two beers I brewed are a Double IPA OG of 1.08 and a Porter OG 1.056.

Are either of these big beers that need to be racked to a secondary?

TIA

dchayer said:

I have completed my first 2 Brews and they are on day 4 in the fermenter. Everything looks good so far.

I have read a lot and it seems that the general consensus is you don't need a secondary unless it is a big beer.

The two beers I brewed are a Double IPA OG of 1.08 and a Porter OG 1.056.

Are either of these big beers that need to be racked to a secondary?

TIA

Click to expand...

IMHO no. You have at least 2 1/2 weeks to worry about it.

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The two beers I brewed are a Double IPA OG of 1.08 and a Porter OG 1.056.

Are either of these big beers that need to be racked to a secondary?

TIA[/QUOTE]

There is a lot of debate about secondaries however in my personal and non professional opinion they are not necessary. I have brewed somewhere in the ball park of 200 batches and I can count on two hands how many times I used secondaries.
That being said I do re rack into a secondary container when I want better clarity out of my beers. I do this so I can cold crash ( chill the beer to cause the yeast to settle to the bottom) before I bottle/keg. Additionally when I brew beers that use additional adjuncts such as a peach Hef I use the secondary to steep peach pulp in. Or I brewed a barley wine which is a big beer 1.110 OG and requires aging I will use a secondary. Honestly I believe it's personal preference. I have had great home brew done either way.
Good luck on future brews.
Ryan

Probably the only time I would use a secondary would be for bulk aging or harvesting yeast.

Only time I move the beer to a vessel other than a serving keg (or bottling bucket when I started out) is for aging over a longer period (like months) on something like oak. Otherwise, just go for time in primary and don't worry about it. I would also go 4-6 weeks for the DIPA batch, so that it has time to mellow a bit. Taste it at 4 weeks from pitching the yeast and see how it is. If it's hot, or has any 'off' flavors, give it another couple of weeks and pull another taste sample.

Once you get enough batches under (or over) your belt, with the same yeasts, you'll learn how they work in such batches. Using starters with liquid yeasts, and infusing bigger beers with pure O2, will also help things out in ways you probably haven't even thought of yet.