racking/scondary fermentation

to rack or not to rack?
there is a lot of people who say to rack and a lot who say not to.
i'm brewing a coffee stout no longer than 1 month of fermentation no dry hoping or special friet beer. so should i rack or not?

It is ultimately your call......

Me personnally I leave nearly all my beers in primary for a month and then bottle and only use secondary, if I am lagering in the cold for several months, adding something like hops or fruit or oak to the beer to flavor it, have had a lot of fruit like pumpkin added to the boil that carried over into the fermentor, or if it is a huge beer that I feel benefits for months of bulk aging time.......

If my beer is NOT meeting any of the afore mentioned conditions, which is usually 95% of my beers...then it is long primary and then straight to bottle.

There is already a ton of info on here about this topic. Almost daily, but some of the older threads are more detailed, if you want to get deeper into the reasons why. You will find a lot of people may not answer since they have answered this questions several times already, and see it daily. BUT if you want to see some of the better discussions I suggest that you search for the terms "No Secondary" or "Long primary."

There have been some really in depth discussions on it, with some great info to help you make up your mind...but you will find it is really a matter of personal preference, usually based on anecdotal evidence. Me personally, I have noticed my beer tastes and looks better leaving it in primary for a month.

thank u very much.
so last question is if to rack it to a new fermenter before bottling for a clearer beer? or does it not metter?

yoavoren said:

thank u very much.
so last question is if to rack it to a new fermenter before bottling for a clearer beer? or does it not metter?

Click to expand...

Well that's what traditionally people used secondary for, that and the above methods, BUT over the last couple years in many brewing circles there has been a shift away from that into leaving it in primary longer to acheive the same, if not better result.

Like I said in my previous post, I have noticed that by leaving it in primary for a month, my beer looks clearer and tastes cleaner, then when I used to secondary at 2 weeks, for an extra two weeks.

Like so much in brewing there is no better way to do it, they both acheive the same gal. And the preffered methond is the one that works for YOU.

You can read all the debates and discussions on here....but ultimately all you need to do is try one method this time, and try another method the next time, and decide what you think works best for you process.

I rack into a secondary basically so I can free up a 6.5G carboy and now it's become a habit and I have a process down so I don't forget what is what. You will find that this is a 50/50 decision that has been discussed until people fall asleep.

It's all up to you - there is no right or better way.