Wort not strained before primary, advantage to racking to secondary?

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br3wme

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Hey guys,

I brewed a Belgian Style Ale over the weekend and didn't strain any of my hops and cold/hot break...it all got dumped into my carboy. :drunk:

I read the forum discussing that the transfer into secondary really isn't necessary and that many people find a clearer beer by keeping their beer in primary until bottling.
(https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/secondary-not-john-palmer-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-176837/)

I'd like to keep my beer in primary if possible and I certainly would if I would have strained before transferring. However I'm concerned about an overly hoppy beer or off flavors from all the break and hops sitting on the bottom of my carboy.

Is this something I should be concerned about? Am I better off racking into the secondary or just continue letting my yeast throw their party in my primary for the next few weeks?

Thanks in advance for any/all comments or suggestions!
Cheers! :mug:
 
Nothing to worry about. Your hops gave up the "hoppiness" when you boiled them, they have nothing more to give in the fermenter. I've never had off flavors sitting from a beer sitting in the primary with all that junk either and I've left one for 9 weeks. You risk oxidation or infection when using a secondary that you don't while the beer stays in the primary. I'd leave it where it is.
 
Also,the amount of trub will compact down,leaving more clear beer to siphon off. I always strain going into primary to aerate & get more gunk out so the trub compacts down even further. I get about 3/8" of trub,1/2" tops.
 
I always transfer most of the break material to primary. No issues at all, and I end up with nice, clear beer.

Do you have an autosiphon? Just carefully rack from the primary to the bottling bucket or keg when it's time and leave the trub behind.
 
Thanks for the quick responses!

I'm going to go ahead and leave it all in the primary for the next few weeks and just be as careful as possible when autosiphoning into my bottling bucket. I'll probably put some cheesecloth over the end of the siphon to avoid sucking up any of the trub.
 
98% of what is in my brew kettle goes into my primary. I leave just the very end which is all break/hops. Tried straining once and whirlpooling twice. The only difference I noted was the time invested.
 
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