clearing and secondary

I'm trying to wrap my mind around why I would need a secondary in order to get the beer to clear? Would I not get the same result just letting it in the primary for an equal period of time?

I do understand that for extended periods it is best to not be in a bucket but say I'm letting it for 3 weeks what changes by using the secondary?

I don't want a debate of what I should do, I'm trying to understand the process better.

Todd

What a secondary vessel allows is for you to rack the beer off of the yeast, so that it has time to clarify in the absence of the trub/yeast cake. And even though autolysis is not a worry if you leave it for 3 weeks, there is always the chance of the trub giving off-flavors, regardless. And finally, when you're racking to your bottling bucket, there's less of a chance of you disturbing a huge-ass trub with your racking wand.

Evan! said:

What a secondary vessel allows is for you to rack the beer off of the yeast, so that it has time to clarify in the absence of the trub/yeast cake. And even though autolysis is not a worry if you leave it for 3 weeks, there is always the chance of the trub giving off-flavors, regardless. And finally, when you're racking to your bottling bucket, there's less of a chance of you disturbing a huge-ass trub with your racking wand.

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I still get a large yeast layer in the secondary so would it be more beneficial to leave in primary for 2 weeks and secondary 1?

I'm still unclear as to how this really effects the process.

Our primary has a spigot so disturbing the trub is a non issue when transfering to bottle. Also we do a good job of separating the trub in the boil kettle, there are almost no hops or other junk in the fermentor.

I know there are some others here who just primary then keg, do you find your beer is clearing well and tasting good?

I think what I really want to know is, will being on top of the yeast cake in some way prevent the yeast from settling out of solution? Does the process of racking encourage clarity in some fashion?

Todd

Racking will....

a.) get it of the trub as said (can only be a good thing)
b.) can give the yeast a kick up the bump to start again which would help with clarity, all that trub in the secondary may stay in the brew if it's left in primary.

I'm sure there may be other reasons.

But if you really want to then go primary to keg. It's your beer and if you're happy with the clarity and taste than there's no need to change.

Howdy...1st post around here.

I would say I have had two benefits from using a secondary in my case...clearer beer from the settling & extra racking and more discipline in my brewing schedule

A. You don't have to rack to a clearing tank.
B. Yes, it would clear just as much.
C. There's less stuff to stir up it a clearing tank when you rack to the bottling bucket. If you can avoid stirring the trub, you're fine.

It's just easier to have a clear beer if you rack twice, that is all there is to it. And it frees up the fermenter for the next batch.

I go from the fermenter to kegs, generally after two weeks and clarity has never been an issue.