Fermenting without a secondary

I know that this question is semi-answered in the FAQ at the top of the page, but I heard that you can use the 5 gallon carboy for the entire fermentation process without racking to a secondary if you are brewing an ale and do not need a lengthy lagering period before bottling. I am about to brew my first batch in a few days and am planning on straining the wort directly into my carboy and attaching a blow-off tube. Should I reconsider using a primary? Is there that much of a difference in taste? Thanks

well i just finished my first batch a few days ago and i only used primary frementation due mostly because i was totally clueless when i started this but now i feel i have a pretty decent knowledge about how everything works and my beer turned out fine. it was a london brown ale and i left it in my glass carboy for 2 weeks before bottling. then let it sit another 10 days before trying one and i must say i was very suprise at how well it turned out. on the other hand secondary fermentation is much better i hear and i am going to use it on all my future batches from now on, including this weeks hefewiezen i'm brewing.

brew on!!

There are brewers that just do primary and leave it for 2-3 weeks. I think I would buy a plastice 6.5 gallon pail though as a 5 gallon carboy sounds a bit small.

go with the brew bucket you will have much better results and you can lager longer if something comes up and you cant bottle when you want. JMO
JJ

You CAN use the 5 gallon carboy for the whole fermentation, but you might lose some beer! Your carboy will be up to the very tippy top because of the volume. Then comes the krausen. Even with a blow off, you'll be losing some off the top. You'll also have a couple inches of trub, which takes up space. I usually end up with 5.25 gallons of "stuff" in my primary, and just about 5 gallons when I rack to secondary. My last brew was done on a yeast cake, and I ended up with 4.5 gallons to bottle, even though there was just over 5 gallons in primary. My second beer was 5 gallons and even in a 7.5 gallon bucket with a blow off, I lost some because of the violent fermentation.

I'd recommend a 6.5 gallon carboy for primary, or a regular brew bucket. You need the extra space.

Lorena

You don't need to use a secondary (there is actually good arguement against using one).

More of a concern is the 5g capacity. You will lose a lot out of the blow off. You might consider brewing a 4.5g batch (10% stronger), to give the .5g extra head space.

Catfish said:

You don't need to use a secondary (there is actually good arguement against using one).

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So what's the "good argument" against a secondary?

A good argument against a "secondary" or "clearing tank" is sanitation. By limiting the amount of times your beer is exposed to air, you limit the possibility of infection. It's also simpler to use just one container for everything. As long as you're not planning on leaving the beer in your primary fermenter for more than 4 weeks, you should not notice any ill effects or "off flavors." You may wind up with a less clear end product, but that is mostly aesthetic.

All that being said, I do prefer to finish my beer in a secondary container for clearing. I let the active fermentation settle down (usually 4 days to a week with ale), then finish fermentation and allow for clearing in another carboy.

Yuri_Rage said:

A good argument against a "secondary" or "clearing tank" is sanitation. By limiting the amount of times your beer is exposed to air, you limit the possibility of infection. It's also simpler to use just one container for everything. As long as you're not planning on leaving the beer in your primary fermenter for more than 4 weeks, you should not notice any ill effects or "off flavors." You may wind up with a less clear end product, but that is mostly aesthetic.

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Yep. Also the yeast will reabsorb some off flavors produced during fermentation. Another reason to be careful about racking to secondary before fermentation is completely finished.