Secondary Fermintation?

I have noticed that alot of beginner recipes don't include a secondary fermintation and that some of the more complex ones do. What is the benefit of secondary fermintation? Should I always consider it? Just curious as a beginning brewer.

Some brewers ALWAYS secondary, some NEVER secondary, and some, like me, only secondary if they think the recipe requires it -- bigger beers, certain yeasts, certain styles, dry hopping, extended aging time, etc.
Don't sweat it, probably best to keep it to primary only for first few batches, then step it up from there if you feel like it. The beer will all be great!

The search feature in this site is AWESOME, so give it a try, generally there are a lot of similar questions out there and a great base of knowledge -- I learned a ton from threads on this forum!

Welcome and happy brewing.

the primary use for a secondary is to clear the beer. getting it off the trub of the primary and allowing it to sit for a couple weeks in a secondary will get rid of cloudiness. this is undesired for some beers, such as hefeweizens.

but yeah, search "secondary fermentation" and you should find a ton of information on the subject.

Great info..I was wondering this exact thing

Yeah, it's really a misnomer. A secondary "fermentation" really doesn't exist on its own. I mean you can add more yeast and get one going, but that's deliberate.

Using a secondary is sometimes called "two-stage brewing". It's really for clearing (and mellowing).

Thanks for the info. This site rules.

I'd say always do a secondary until you have enough experience to decide the benefits for yourself.

OK, I'm confused. My set up is a plastic bucket primary and a glass carboy secondary. On the Northern Brewer website, they sell a kit with one bucket and two carboys. They say the advantage of this kit is that you can do a two-stage fermentation.

I want to make a barleywine next. I'm running across a lot of references to pitching yeast twice. So, is fermenting in the bucket, then racking to secondary, pitching more yeast and then racking to a third vessel two-stage fermentation?

I just racked into my secondary. What temp do i need to keep it at? Should i keep it in a water bath like the primary?

Yes, if you need to.

What's the right temp?

It depends on your yeast, but usually the same as primary. I like the 68 degree area but have done it colder with certain yeasts.