Moving to secondary

I'm about to move my first attempt at beer to the carboy for secondary fermentation, and I had a few questions.

I noticed that during the primary, the volume of beer has gone down in the bucket, so am I supposed to add extra water to the secondary to bring it back to 5 gallons, or do I just leave it as is?
Am I supposed to add yeast again or just leave it as is, or add anything for that matter?
Do I want to avoid getting any sediment from the primary into the secondary?

Thanks!

how long has it been in primary? What makes you think the volume has gone down, is the bucket leaking, or are you basing that on the ring of gunk that is higher than the current level?

Leave it in primary for 2 - 4 weeks, then if it needs more bulk aging, or you need to free up the primary, then transfer. Leave as much of the sediment behind as possible. Ig you get some, it will just re-settle. Do not add anything at this point (yeast/water) unless you are adding fruit or dry hops.

Nope. Just use clean equipment and transfer as is.
No new yeast is needed there is plenty in the beer.
You don't want a lot of stuff in the bottom to transfer but don't give up a lot of beer either. Makes sure you get the good stuff. You get another crack at reducing sediment at bottling.
You can read about whether or not to secondary here too.
I use a secondary every time. Many don't.

Either way your beer will turn out fine.
Regards

I have noticed that when I go into the secondary that some of the beer ferments out. I have added a gallon to the secondary before and the beer came out great (add it first to the secondary because if you let it splash it will aerate adding oxygen potentially causing "off flavors"). as posted before, many people dont use a secondary. I always do, it looks so nice in the secondary, with the fat yeast cake at the bottom. leave about a quarter inch above the trub, you will have nice and clear beer. An auto-syphon is worth its weight in gold.

RGH it is interesting that you addwater. Doesn't that dilute things?
Sometimes when there is lots of trub I've been tempted.

No leakage, the level of liquid was lower than it was when I started. Not that much but enough for me to wonder whether or not to add a splash of water to the carboy, and there was definitely a lot of tasty trub at the bottom. Pretty cool that this stuff actually works. Thanks for the help.

I would never add water. Who cares if you have exactly 5 gallons? Rack what you can, and be glad you have made 4.5 gallons of good beer.

beersydoesit said:

RGH it is interesting that you addwater. Doesn't that dilute things?
Sometimes when there is lots of trub I've been tempted.

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I didnt do it until my seasoned brewer buddy at the LHBS told me about "topping up". It doesnt dilute any taste out of it, and my beer always has come out great. your just putting back what has evaporated out, in fact I think that it probably is better to top up a gallon or so, but no more. To each his own, I know that I still enjoy a full 5 gallons everytime and its delicious. If you have never done it maybe you should try it. Home brewing is all about experimenting right? Just like I would NEVER leave a beer in the primary for 4 weeks (again), thats just my style. I am a firm believer in the 1-2-3 rule, one in the primary, two in the secondary, three in the bottle. I took this advise and it works, and all of my beers have been awesome since I started doing it. :rockin: Its good, I have done both ways, I prefer having a full five gallons and I was worried at first but it came out great. I will even top up my apfelwein with a gallon of juice if need be.