Is general consensus now to NOT use a secondary?

[ITV]

That's good to know, but that doesn't seem to be the case with the ones I have on hand now. While the labels do come off okay, the adhesive left behind makes them unusable unless you use something akin to paint thinner to get it off, cuz the Brewer's Edge did nothing for the adhesive.

I use a razor blade to remove the adhesive (along with PBW solution) but if your beer label will cover the adhesive it may be a wasted effort.

 

[InspectorJon]

I use a razor blade to remove the adhesive (along with PBW solution)

I found that a bit of cooking oil and a stainless steel scrub pad does the trick pretty quick to get that sticky residue off. The oil acts as a weak solvent and also keeps the freed goo from sticking back onto the bottle.

 

[corkybstewart]

I'm pretty new too and am still working on a couple of kits that I had laying around. Those did recommend siphoning to a glass carboy secondary. However, if I do anymore kits, I'll just use the glass carboy. The cool thing about that is you can actually see the bubbles and movement from the very active yeast. I missed that when I just did the plastic brew buckets. It is another step that exposes the beer to oxygen and potentially bacteria, if the secondary carboy hasn't been properly sanitized.

Somewhere on this site is a thread about serious injuries from glass carboys. Something to think about. I have 2 glass carboys I'm using to age vinegar, but they sit in one spot and once this batch of vinegar is done the glass carboys will be retired.

 

[corkybstewart]

Ya forgot about the fact that I can't use the 5 gal as primaries for beer, needs to be 6 or better. I did one batch of wine several years ago and it did not turn out good at all, so haven't tried another since. I would like to try a mead!

I do a cactus fruit mead every few years, but after initial fermentation I put it in a corny keg, stick it in the closet and leave it alone for 3-5 years minimum. After I had a glass carboy explode I've done almost all of my aging in corny kegs. The exception is 10 gallons of vinegar(5 apple cider, 5 red wine) and once I bottle that the glass carboys are gone forever.

 

[ncbrewer]

Why bother taking the labels off? Is it personal preference, or is there something that will affect the beer?

The last I knew, North Carolina requires home brewers to remove the commercial labels. Not like the label police are going to arrest you.

 

[eric_victor]

Personal preference so your labels tell you what beer is in the bottle (assuming you don't just always brew the same beer again and again.

You put new labels on each bottle every time? Round sticker label on the cap is way easier.

 

[Elric]

You put new labels on each bottle every time? Round sticker label on the cap is way easier.

I don't, but others do. go look in the general forum, there is a pinned thread of nothing but the homemade labels people make for each of their brews. I probably will start labelling bottles soon as my wife will never choose one of the homebrews in a bottle as she doesn't want to have to navigate the little tiny stickers I have on the caps, she would rather a big bold label she can easily see, and the fact that I have left the original labels on just makes it worse for her...

 

[bruce_the_loon]

I've got some bottles that were paint printed, not stuck on labels. Still trying to figure out how to strip that off. Tiny cap stickers for the batches so far, experimenting with paper labels and some water-based glues.

 

[theothermillion]

I've got some bottles that were paint printed, not stuck on labels. Still trying to figure out how to strip that off. Tiny cap stickers for the batches so far, experimenting with paper labels and some water-based glues.

A hot water soak followed by a green scrub pad and elbow grease should do the trick

 

[Toto's]

I do wine as well so I have:
4 carboys of 54L
5 carboy of 6G.
2 or 3 carboys of 18L.
Plus some of 10 and 5 liters
And few of 1G.

I like to do Lager beer so i use the 6 gallons to ferment and the 5 gallons to lager.
I do rack into bottles because i like to brew many differents beers..
Just brew 2 types of beer the 28th of October and will brew 4 more before the end of the year so for me kegging is not an option because i would have to have a 6 lines draft line lol.
I bottle 19 liters of beer per recipe and i can only drink so much and lately it's impossible to make a party so bottle all the way and preparing for next year

Up to now never had any problem with oxygenation with secondary or bottling ( knock on wood )

 

[NewJersey]

Don't do secondary or bottle.
Current consensus seems to bear that out along with closed transfers into purged kegs full of only co2

 

[Snuffy]

I have used both a secondary and a bottling bucket for years. I have also left the batch in the primary the entire time and then bottled directly from it using carb drops. I can't tell much difference between results of the two methods other than "primary only" causes a bit more bottle sludge in the last few bottles and it cuts down on the stuff you gotta wash. The air exposure may be noticeable if you did an" exbeeriment" to test the same exact beer with and w/o, but with the little bit of additional fermentation in the primed bottles and possibly the O2 absorbing caps, if used, I don't think it's a big deal. I do limit the exposure as much as possible and try and get transfers and bottling done with as little agitation as I can, but there's only so much that can be done without going all keg and closed transfers.
A secondary allows the beer to clear a bit and it gives you a less yeasty place to dry hop and add stuff. If you use a carboy as secondary, watching it clear is part of the fun IMO. I'm no master brewer, but I like the best beer I can create. If it made a noticeable difference in the final product, I would be firmly in the "no secondary" camp. I just haven't seen it.
I do find myself leaning toward brewing simple recipes that I can leave in the primary - but not because of off-flavors or poor shelf-life - mostly because it's just easier.

 

[odie]

I think idea of a "secondary" might have come from lagers or other styles that have a much longer fermentation period. Move the beer off the trub after a few days to let it finish fermenting without all the gunk in the bottom. Allows for bottling or kegging without the chance of stirring up all that gunk by accident and making the beer cloudy again.

Another way to look at it is maybe a secondary is just really a brite tank or bottling bucket in some sense.

Before I started using fermenters with a spigot, I always had issues with some of the trub getting disturbed when racking/siphoning. The secondary/bottling bucket removes most of the trub issues prior to bottling.