I’ve heard many people say to not use a secondary fermenter. As I’m new a few questions:
1. Yup, just keep in the "primary." When obvious signs of active fermentation have ceased (krausen has dropped, bubbling has stopped), the yeast is still working, slowly fermenting the last fermentable sugars, and conditioning, cleaning up byproducts. It depends on your beer how long that takes. 3 weeks is a good rule of thumb, some beers are done sooner, while others, such as higher gravity beers, may take longer. Especially when bottling you want the beer to have reached terminal gravity, or your bottles may over-carbonate or even burst/explode.
Definitely take 2 gravity readings (with a hydrometer) a few (3-5) days apart, before bottling. When both readings match and are
at or
close to your expected FG, it's generally safe to bottle.
2. The main reason was to remove the beer off the yeast cake, ASAP, to prevent potential off flavors and autolysis (yeast dying).
With modern day yeasts (and possibly with old age yeasts too) that's found not to be much of an issue. Beer can stay on the yeast cake for 4-8 weeks without much or any problems. The beer will clear on top of a whole yeast cake as well as in a secondary, while preventing possible oxidation and stalled fermentations.
If bulk aging for longer then 8-12 weeks, moving the beer to a true secondary, in a sanitary way, without oxidizing it, is recommended. To do that properly, without ruining the beer in the process, is not a casual task or for beginners. Access to CO2 (or using fermentation gases to purge secondaries) may be even needed. Yet, pretty much every kit instruction (still) includes instructions to rack to secondary after xx days.
Some now mention the secondary as an
optional step in their instructions.
I doubt I stand alone saying 99.99% of all homebrew beers, especially beers sold in kits, don't benefit from secondaries, and are likely harmed or compromised by using them, especially in novice hands.
3. On a bottling bucket, you attach your bottling wand to the spigot (with a piece of vinyl tubing). That way, you're draining the bucket by gravity, while filling bottles.
Use a bottling wand with a springy shut off valve on the bottom end. So the flow starts when the tippy is pressed against the bottom, then stops as soon as you lift it out of the bottle when full. It leaves just enough headspace when completely removed.
You could use a siphon or racking cane and bottle straight from your fermenter, or a regular bucket, in a similar way, but that takes a bit more involvement. If bottled directly from a fermenter, don't forget that each bottle needs to be primed separately.
