Secondary Fermenter?

Is a secondary fermenter a must? Is it always better to use one? What are the drawbacks to not using one?

John

No it not an absolute must, but certainly it's always better to use one. Here's a good read on the value of secondary fermentation.

Nope. Not a must, but certainly does help the beer clear a bit. I started without one but added a secondary just to see if it would make a diffeence. I believe it did so when I rebought equipment(been out of the hobby for a bit), I got a secondary too. The important thing is to make sure you dont have the beer in the primary for a long time so that it gets off tastes. If you dont have a lot of time for instance... you rack to the secondary and then bottle when you get the time without worring about off tastes. As with everything time is always on your side

In all my years of brewing I have only done 1 batch without a secondary and I was very disappointed in the outcome.