When to move to secondary fermenter

I am a total newb, and this is my first batch. I am brewing an IPA from a kit (I know, but its a good place to start).

The directions suggest moving to the secondary after 5-7 days or when fermentation is almost complete.

In Palmer's How to Brew book he says:
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Allow the Primary Fermentation stage to wind down. This will be 2 - 6 days (4 - 10 days for lagers) after pitching when the bubbling rate drops off dramatically to about 1-5 per minute. The krausen will have started to settle back into the beer.
Using a sanitized siphon (no sucking or splashing!), rack the beer off the trub into a another clean fermentor and affix an airlock. The beer should still be fairly cloudy with suspended yeast.
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My airlock is producing about 3 bubbles per minute, but it has only been in the primary for 4 days.

I have read numerous posts on this site where people suggest leaving the beer in the primary until fermentation is completely finished and then waiting another week or two to allow the yeast to clean up after themselves.

My question is what should I do? It is tough when I am seeing answers ranging from moving the beer now, to waiting 3 weeks, to never moving it. There are obviously many schools of thought and I am grateful for any clarification.


Thanks for all the help guys.

Sorry, but you will ultimately have to make a choice, there isalready plenty of in formation on here to give you a clue, but ultimately it IS going to be up to you...We really don;t need to beat a dead horse on this topic...as you already know it has been thoroughly covered ad nauseuem.

But don't forget, ideas have evolved since Palmer wrote what he wrote in how to brew...even he has changed his view.

Here's some reading for you. Everything you need to answer your questions without re-inventing the wheel or beating anymore horse's to death.

The "when" discussion is thoroughly covered in the two threads below.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/second-ferm-racking-128440/#post1438252

And the discussion here, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/multiple-questions-about-secondary-fermentation-140978/#post1601829

The "why bother" question is aptly discussed here....

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/secondary-not-john-palmer-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-176837/

And you'll find that more and more recipes these days do not advocate moving to a secondary at all, but mention primary for a month, which is starting to reflect the shift in brewing culture that has occurred in the last 4 years, MOSTLY because of many of us on here, skipping secondary, opting for longer primaries, and writing about it. Recipes in BYO have begun stating that in their magazine. I remember the "scandal" it caused i the letters to the editor's section a month later, it was just like how it was here when we began discussing it, except a lot more civil than it was here. But after the Byo/Basic brewing experiment, they started reflecting it in their recipes.

And when I do rack, as shown in the above threads, I wait 14 days to allow the beer to finish fermenting, and then to give another few days of contact with the strongest yeast to clean up any off flavors.

Where fermentation is concerned, If you arbitrarily move your beer, like to follow the silly 1-2-3 rule (or instructions that say move after a week or when bubbles slow down), you will often interrupt fermentation. Because sometimes the yeast won't even begin to ferment your beer until 72 hours after yeast pitch, so if you rush the beer off the yeast on day 7 then you are only allowing the yeast a few days to work.

This often leads to stuck fermentation because you have removed the beer from the very stuff you need to ferment your beer. The yeast....It can often lead to the same off flavors one gets if they undrpitch their yeast.

Besides, fermenting the beer is just a part of what the yeast do. If you leave the beer alone, they will go back and clean up the byproducts of fermentation that often lead to off flavors. That's why many brewers skip secondary and leave our beers alone in primary for a month. It leaves plenty of time for the yeast to ferment, clean up after themselves and then fall out, leveing our beers crystal clear, with a tight yeast cake.

No need to use secondary for your batch. Give it 2 weeks in primary and check the gravity. Depending on your gravity reading you can choose to bottle or keep it in primary longer. That's just my opnion.

One problem with doing a search for an answer in a forum is when ideas develop or change.

Palmer himself now says to wait. His first edition (the one online) was written back before good yeast was available.

Other topics can be subject to change also. Look at the date of the posts whenever there is conflicting information. Also, look at the Post count and Join Date of the poster.

I racked my first few batches based on this old info too. Now I wait at least 2 weeks and do it ONLY because I want to wash and save the yeast for future brews. I figure there are plenty of yeasties floating around to keep cleaning up. Plus the ones stuck under an inch of trub are not going to be missed.

Considering what you are brewing (IPA) I would wait at least a week and a half to two weeks before I move it to the secondary to clear it up and dryhop it. Your going to dry hop it right? Then from there you will want to leave it for a week to no more than a week and a half in the secondary while its being dryhoped. Then its bottling time, but that a whole different thread. Good luck and be patient.

Question for those of you who keep it in Primary for a month. Do you whirlpool the wort to remove the trub prior to transferring your beer to the primary after cooling?

I am ~10 (extract) batches in, and still getting the hang of things obviously. I have yet to whirlpool. I transfer the wort through a strainer or colander after cooling. Just curious if that would make a difference. My latest batch is an English Old Ale which is the highest gravity I've done to date (1086). Plan is to keep it in primary a month and then bottle. Just got Irish Moss but forgot to add it, which I suspect will often be the case.

I will have 3 options for primary, so don't know how often I'll secondary going forward, but like the option for a couple of the brews I have in mind that will need to be aged - barley wine, strong golden ale, etc.

The best answer is to try it several different ways in your upcoming batches and determine for yourself what you think is best. This is what makes this a fun and interesting hobbie. Experiment and take good notes!

I read through that long thread about how the secondary isn't necessary, and it was very interesting, although also very exasperating, since i realized i wasted a bunch of money buying carboys.

in order to try to find some kind of use for the carboy, i was thinking of making an imperial stout, since that supposedly requires it to sit in the secondary for 6+ months. what is the current wisdom of that move? i know having the beer sit in the primary for a month is perfectly ok (and even preferred), but what about a beer that is supposed to sit for several months?

johnnyt471 said:

I read through that long thread about how the secondary isn't necessary, and it was very interesting, although also very exasperating, since i realized i wasted a bunch of money buying carboys.

in order to try to find some kind of use for the carboy, i was thinking of making an imperial stout, since that supposedly requires it to sit in the secondary for 6+ months. what is the current wisdom of that move? i know having the beer sit in the primary for a month is perfectly ok (and even preferred), but what about a beer that is supposed to sit for several months?

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For extended bulk aging I move mine to secondary after a month in primary. And that is regardless of if it is a big ale for bulk aging or a lager for extended cold conditioning.

I wish that I had an extra carboy, I would do a flanders red for a year with a oak dowel.

Frank99 said:

…take good notes!

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Not to overstate it but… TAKE GOOD NOTES!!! I mean GOOD notes. After my first few batches I went back to see how I did such and such. NOTHING!!!! It is like starting over, so TAKE GOOD NOTES!!!

BTW; I just ordered a couple of new carboys just so I can brew my Imperial Bourbon Barrel Stout recipe. OG should be around 1.090+ on this one.