Secondary?

Hi,

After getting some tips from here, and getting my equipment from Home Sweet Homebrew in Philly, I brewed up my first batch yesterday - I knew what to expect and it went pretty much according to plan.

Now I've been reading howtobrew.com and The Complete Joy of Homebrewing and they seem to be saying that a secondary is not absolutely necessary for most brews. The people at the store recommended it, but I'm wondering if I can go straight from primary to bottles? Does anyone have any thoughts?

Remember - I'm a total beginner - my thinking was the less steps to the process, the less chance there is of me messing them up.

I'm making a west coast pale ale, from LME, if that affects the situation.

Appreciate all your input, on my threads and others - I don't think I've come across a forum with so much constructive and encouraging input, I'll be upgrading my account in due course!

When going to bottles, the main thing is to get all sediments from the primary out. I've done it before, you just have to pay attention to detail. I'd let the primary sit for two weeks and then rack to bottling bucket and priming sugar solution. Make sure the bottom of the racking cane does not accidentally get dunked in the bottom of the primary. That will stir up the sediments and it will show up in your bottles. Your going to get some sediment in the bottles because of the nature of things, but a little is normal.

I'd recommend leaving beer in secondary for about 14 days.

Sure you can go primary -> bottles.

In general, the length of time is the key...you would be leaving the beer in the primary to condition and clear beyond the point that fermentation has completed. 3 weeks in the primary is basically going to net you the same basic thing as 1 in the primary and 2 in the secondary.

To secondary or not to secondary is a source of some debate around here. Secondary is not absolutely necessary so you can leave it in primary for 2 weeks, then bottle (if fermentation is complete) or you can rack it to secondary after a week, it is up to you. There are some specialty styles that do need time in a secondary to age or clear, and lagers need to be put into secondary to lager; for most ales the only real benefit is a clearer finished product.

Personally I don't think you should bother, since it's your first batch. Most of us make some minor (and maybe some not-so-minor) mistakes on our first batches, and using a secondary isn't going to correct any of those issues. On one of my first few batches I started using a secondary, and it was frustrating to wait an extra week or more (expecting a very clean/clear beer), only to find out at the end that I had made other mistakes, so all I got for all my waiting and extra effort was a somewhat clearer, but still not very tasty, beer. I would have been much better off doing only a primary and then brewing another batch sooner so I could learn from my mistakes faster.

Besides, since it's your first brew, I imagine you're probably pretty anxious to taste it. I think higher throughput is pretty important when you're first starting out, as getting more practice/experience with the brewing process in general will make a bigger difference than using a secondary. Once you're confident in your brewing process and your beers are reliably coming out very well, then you can start using a secondary (among other things) for more quality gains.

With that said, as TheJadedDog points out, secondaries are a source of debate anyway - a lot of experienced brewers don't use them much, or at all. You can make very good beer with only a primary. Personally I do not use a secondary (though I do keg, netting some of the gains of secondary if I condition them long enough) for most of my medium or low-gravity beers - there just isn't that much trub that needs to be cleared out - whereas anything relatively high-gravity tends to end up with a lot of trub and a secondary really helps get rid of a lot of it.

I would give your beer probably a solid 2 weeks in primary, then straight into a bottling bucket to bottle it.

Even if you don't secondary I would still transfer your beer to a bottling bucket and stir in your priming sugar in there.

Piggy-backing on the original question here. I'm about to make a British Bitter (NB extract kit) for my first solo batch (caught the bug from brewbuddies past). I've got a secondary and I'm not worried about messing up at that point in the process, but I've heard Jamil and others suggest not using it on such a low-gravity beer. So does that mean 2 weeks in the primary and then to bottles? I'm determined to be patient and wait for the beer to really be ready; just trying to figure out the best fermentation strategy.

Tenchiro said:

Even if you don't secondary I would still transfer your beer to a bottling bucket and stir in your priming sugar in there.

Click to expand...

didn't know the bottling bucket was up for elimination too.....in that case, I agree with the above.

Thanks for everyone's input.

I wasn't going to eliminate the bottling bucket, just the X days sitting in secondary.

Totally agree with a comment above - I'm itching to get my first batch tasted, I'm sure there will have been serious errors which the extra time in secondary are not going to correct. Also wanting to brew another batch so I can try and improve overall brew process.

Try a secondary once and look at all the sediment on the bottom. If you can live with it in your brew, then use your secondary as a new primary.

cd2448 said:

Thanks for everyone's input.

I wasn't going to eliminate the bottling bucket, just the X days sitting in secondary.

Totally agree with a comment above - I'm itching to get my first batch tasted, I'm sure there will have been serious errors which the extra time in secondary are not going to correct. Also wanting to brew another batch so I can try and improve overall brew process.

Click to expand...

IMHO patience will be more beneficial for you than a secondary right now...

@brewt00l

exactly!

now i'm thinking i'll do the first batch with no secondary, then a second batch of essentially the same beer, and that time use the secondary - then i can see for myself what the difference is.

So far I can't disagree with any of the above comments, but one MAJOR factor has not been discussed...clearing and aging, OK, two.

The term "secondary fermentation" is actually a misnomer, there is no such thing. It's actually called "two-stage" brewing.

The second stage is placing your brew in a clearing tank (the secondary).

Its purpose is to allow your brew to sit quietly in the corner where more of the yeast drops out of the liquid to produce a clear beer.

The additional time also allows the brew to age and mellow a bit.

Certainly, there are more than two ways to skin a cat, er, brew beer. It's all a matter of choice and what your intentions for the brew are.

If you will be entering contests you definitely don't want to enter an unclear on, unless it's a weizen. The intention here is to stick to the style as best you can.

If you are offering to friends who can overlook the murkiness of it then by all means pour away. As far as I can tell the intention here is to get drunk.

If your intention is to produce a very outstanding brew that you would be proud to share with others, or secretly don't want to share, then, you get my point....

@hb_99

it's not going to be entered in any competitions as it's my first attempt, but if the intention was *only* to get drunk, i wouldn't be home brewing!

i think as this is my first batch i'm taking the short route, but i appreciate everyone's input and i'm planning to use the secondary for the second batch i make, that way i'll see the diff between the two methods.

Just trying to help a brother out...some people are willing to waste brews in the learning process. I say that's wrong and one of the reasons we are here...to help you not make mistakes and brew great tasting beer.

Incidently, I'm originally from Camden, but I've lived in Woodlyn, Oaklyn, Atlantic City, Mt Holly, and Philly...still have relatives in Pennsauken, Cherry Hill, some died off in Haddenfield, Mantua, Williamstown, etc.

Welcome.

homebrewer_99 said:

So far I can't disagree with any of the above comments, but one MAJOR factor has not been discussed...clearing and aging, OK, two.

The term "secondary fermentation" is actually a misnomer, there is no such thing. It's actually called "two-stage" brewing.

The second stage is placing your brew in a clearing tank (the secondary).

Its purpose is to allow your brew to sit quietly in the corner where more of the yeast drops out of the liquid to produce a clear beer.

The additional time also allows the brew to age and mellow a bit.

Certainly, there are more than two ways to skin a cat, er, brew beer. It's all a matter of choice and what your intentions for the brew are.

Click to expand...

perhaps it has

brewt00l said:

Sure you can go primary -> bottles.

In general, the length of time is the key...you would be leaving the beer in the primary to condition and clear beyond the point that fermentation has completed. 3 weeks in the primary is basically going to net you the same basic thing as 1 in the primary and 2 in the secondary.

Click to expand...

homebrewer_99 said:

If you will be entering contests you definitely don't want to enter an unclear on, unless it's a weizen. The intention here is to stick to the style as best you can.

If you are offering to friends who can overlook the murkiness of it then by all means pour away. As far as I can tell the intention here is to get drunk.

If your intention is to produce a very outstanding brew that you would be proud to share with others, or secretly don't want to share, then, you get my point....

Click to expand...

ack...the Jamil can 'o worms!
http://homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=42507

The two newer NJ HBT members in this thread are invited to my teach a friend to brew day gathering (a week late on Nov 10th).

See https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=40346

@hb_99

i appreciate your comments. i'm impressed by the skills and experience i read about on this site, and i have to say just as impressed by the willingness to share this information around the group - as i said earlier in the thread - it's refreshing to see an internet forum that doesn't just conform to the usual ranting model.

@bobby_m

what time of day or night is your get together? i'd be interested but it's going to depend on the time of day etc.