Is secondary fermentation necessary with cloudy beers?

Hi All,

I am new to brewing and new to this forum. My first brew is a dunkelweizen. I am using a bucket for primary fermentation and a glass Carboy for the 2nd. With a cloudy beer like a dunkelweizen is it necessary to utilize secondary fermentation? I was told that it is primarily to help clear up the cloudiness in the beer. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Many people on here don't think secondary is necessary on any beer.Some only secondary when dry hopping or adding fruit. Personally, I haven't used a secondary in probably ten batches, and I get clear beer if I'm patient enough. But to answer your original question, def not necessary on a cloudy beer.

Nope....no beer requires secondary fermentation. Even beer requiring clarity can obtain it with a good, long primary!!!!

I personally never use one I did one time and felt it was a waist of time but that's my 2 cents

Thanks for all the responses. So my only question is, What is the minimum/maximum primary fermentation time period. A little background, It has been fermenting since Sunday. Within 24 hours I had a lot of activity noticeable in the airlock, which lasted 24 hours. I no longer have activity int he airlock and my instructions say 3 days after no activity I should transfer to secondary fermentation container. Thanks for all the help.

For what I brew, I go 4-8 weeks on the yeast before it goes to bottle/keg or for extended aging or aging on elements.For bigger brews (above ~10%) it will go longer in primary.

I'm fermenting in stainless steel U9sanke kegs, NOT under pressure) so I have zero concerns about light and air getting to my brews.

Hefanatic said:

Thanks for all the responses. So my only question is, What is the minimum/maximum primary fermentation time period. A little background, It has been fermenting since Sunday. Within 24 hours I had a lot of activity noticeable in the airlock, which lasted 24 hours. I no longer have activity int he airlock and my instructions say 3 days after no activity I should transfer to secondary fermentation container. Thanks for all the help.

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I let it sit at least 4 weeks. My buddy thinks his is ok after 10 days and then wonders why his beer is so cloudy . I've told him a dozen times to let it relax. This isn't a rush hobby. until you create a pipe line . As soon as I'm done fermenting I'm on my next batch . I have a steady stream of brew. And and steady stream of parties!

I would not secondary a German weiss beer. Those beers can be ready with a week in primary and a week in the bottle. No special tricks are needed.

I can't think of a good reason a beer would ever need more than a month in primary.

I have a American rye beer that I'm dry hopping but I don't have enough free secondaries. I dropped the hops into the primaries. Dry hopping works better in secondary. The yeast cake soaks up some of the hop goodness. I wish I had a few more secondaries. I used WLP320 and with the rye this beer will be cloudy no matter what.

Two weeks ago I brewed an extract w/grain Old Speckled Hen clone. We just got back from a week's vacation last night and though the airlock is silent, it is still quite hazy. It will be sitting there for a few more weeks at least until it clears. If I get to September and it is STILL hazy (though I doubt it) I'll go ahead and keg it and refrigerate it so that the cooler temps will clarify it more.

I'm not worried and you shouldn't be, either.

B

Do you own a hydrometer? Fermentation is not done just because the airlock stops bubbling. All the airlock shows is that the yeast are producing more CO2 than the airlock can hold back. Far after the airlock stops, there is still a little bit of fermentation and lots of yeast activity still. Yeast will clean up byproducts and help reduce off flavors if you let them stay active for about a week after the end of fermentation.

Fermentation is over when you get a stable hydrometer reading for an extended period of time (typically three days in a row).

For average gravity beers (less than 1.050 OG), a full fermentation and yeast clean up cycle takes about 2-3 weeks in the primary. That's the MINIMUM I would primary. My current rule is that I just leave everything in the primary for at least 4 weeks, no secondary.

Patience is rewarded with better beer in this hobby!

Thanks for all the great responses. I decided to follow the directions that this kit came with considering it is my first real brew and there seems to be a really big difference in opinion overall. I figured this would give me a good referencing point as long as I follow the directions exactly in the event I screw up the taste all together. It is very interesting to read the dichotomy of ideology when it comes to secondary fermentation.

Malticulous, it seems as though this is the directive of this particular kit. It is very elementary at best, and it seems like a very quick turn around from start to finish. I transferred to secondary yesterday, per the directions. I don't think I will ever do it this way again as it proved to be a real pain. Although it did give me an excellent opportunity to see the color of the brew and get a really good whiff. If the smell and color is any indication this will be a great brew. I will try and post a picture soon.

I am really excited to get to the point where I have built a decent stockpile of home brew. I think this will help my lack of patience considering I will have delicious home brew in the fridge waiting so there really will be no rush. I think I might have to stick to the blue Jean lab coat style recipes for a couple months before I get buck wild with changing things. Thanks again everyone for your help.

TopherM said:

Do you own a hydrometer? Fermentation is not done just because the airlock stops bubbling. All the airlock shows is that the yeast are producing more CO2 than the airlock can hold back. Far after the airlock stops, there is still a little bit of fermentation and lots of yeast activity still. Yeast will clean up byproducts and help reduce off flavors if you let them stay active for about a week after the end of fermentation.

Fermentation is over when you get a stable hydrometer reading for an extended period of time (typically three days in a row).

For average gravity beers (less than 1.050 OG), a full fermentation and yeast clean up cycle takes about 2-3 weeks in the primary. That's the MINIMUM I would primary. My current rule is that I just leave everything in the primary for at least 4 weeks, no secondary.

Patience is rewarded with better beer in this hobby!

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With most things laziness has hindered my ambitions...it seems with beer the longer I've left things the better they turned out! I'm sure there is a limit to the madness, don't go 3 months into primary...but let it be, words of wisdom

One thing about beers that should be served cloudy is they are best young and don't get better with age.