Is it necessary to rack into a secondary?

[Fighting_sin]

This past Saturday I brewed an experimental Chocolate Ale I came up with that has an original gravity of 1.080. Is it necessary to rack it into a secondary fermenter? I only have one, and I'm just wondering if I should go buy a second one for this batch. Here are the ingredients if it helps:

7lbs 4 ounces Dark malt extract (it's the amount I had left and wanted to use it)
1 lb chocolate malt
1 lb crystal malt
8 ounces unsweetened chocolate squares
3 ounces unsweetened cocoa powder
1 lb dark brown sugar
12 ounces unsulphured molasses
1/3 ounce Burton Water salts
2 ounces Glacier hops 5.8% alpha (boiling)
1 ounce Kent golding hops 4.5% alpha (finishing)
1 vial White Labs liquid English Ale Yeast

To keep a long thread short, after sparging the grains immediately after bringing to a boil, I boiled the wort and the Glacier hops for a total of 60 minutes. I added 4 oz of chocolate squares for last 30 minutes of the boil and the Kent goldings hops for last 15 minutes. The brown sugar, molasses and rest of the chocolate squares and cocoa powder were thrown in for final 5 minutes of the boil.

This was a thick, thick wort. The unsweetened chocolate has no fermentable sugars and I believe the molasses has little, if any fermentable sugars, so I think I won't have as strong of a brew as the O.G. may initially lead one to think. I brewed this Saturday and pitched the yeast around 7:00 PM. The fermentation was well underway by the next morning. The fermentation appeared to have reached its peak and die down a bit last night (Tuesday). It is still going strong, however (today, Wednesday evening).
But the question is, how necessary do you think it is to rack it. I do not want to keep it in the primary for any longer than 2 weeks, and even that seems a bit too long. What's your opinion?
the chad

 

[brewmasterpa]

i always go to a secondary for clarification of the brew and to keep the yeast and other trub from going into the kegs. thats realistically the only reason to go to a secondary.

 

[llazy_llama]

Also for dry hopping, extended bulk aging, adding fruit, introducing souring cultures, or to free up a fermenter. Other than that, there's no real benefit to secondary as opposed to a longer primary.

Since this beer of yours is going to be dark, I see no reason to secondary and risk oxidation, contamination, and just plain do more work than is necessary. I say leave it be in the primary for a month, check the FG, then bottle.

Edited: Just to clarify, I've never noticed a clarity difference in beers left in the primary for 4-6 weeks as opposed to beers racked to primary after fermentation was finished. If anything, I think the extended primary brews tasted better, but no big difference in clarity.

And yes, I have done side by side comparisons.

 

[brewmasterpa]

yeah if you leave it in the primary for extended periods of time, it wouldnt really matter, but thats if youre careful not to disturb your trub when going to the keg, or bottling bucket. the secondary is useful if dry hopping or adding fruit or other flavoring components as well, i neglected that point.

 

[michaelm]

But the question is, how necessary do you think it is to rack it. I do not want to keep it in the primary for any longer than 2 weeks, and even that seems a bit too long. What's your opinion?
the chad

Why would you NOT want to keep it in a primary for 2 weeks???

Personally its a stout who cares about how clear it is you cant see through it anyways LOL racking it to a secondary container is just giving another chance for things to get infected....

With ALL those flavors you have added to it I would leave it in the primary for atleast 4 weeks probably closer to 6 to give it time for the flavors to combine and smooth out.... then bottle

If you do it much sooner then that your not going to get much flavor from all that stuff you added in there..... ALOT of people that add chocolate to the brew will wait till after pimary fermentation is done and then rack to a secondary and THEN add the chocolates and such and let it secondary ferment then age..... then bottle...

I wont go into all the other reasons why lol.... revvy will post soon with his copy pasted response for just such threads and it has it all in there much better then I could say it.....

 

[homebeerbrewer]

I leave my heavier/darker beers in the primary for at least a month. I'll rack to a secondary a week or so before kegging, just to keep from getting a lot of trub in the kegs. Why are you so anxious to get it out of the primary?

 

[Fighting_sin]

I thought 2 weeks in the primary was the max due to what I read in the New Complete Joy of Homebrewing where Papazian said 2 weeks max is often a good rule of thumb. It was toward the front of the book dealing with beginners recipes--makes sense. He might not have had a brew like this in mind when giving that advice (awesome book by the way). The feedback you guys gave is just what I was looking for. Thanks! Looks like I'm going to buy another glass carboy so I can brew another batch and let the Chocolate Ale sit in the primary!

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

I don't use no stinking secondary. I have aged in the primary for over a year.

 

[ifishsum]

I do not want to keep it in the primary for any longer than 2 weeks, and even that seems a bit too long. What's your opinion?
the chad

10 days is my absolute minimum for primary (usually it goes 2 weeks), and I usually secondary for 2 more. Why would that be too long? A beer like that I'd keep on the yeast cake for at least 3 weeks...

It's never really necessary to rack into secondary. I usually do, but only after I'm absolutely sure it's reached it's FG plus a few days.

 

[michaelm]

Thanks! Looks like I'm going to buy another glass carboy so I can brew another batch and let the Chocolate Ale sit in the primary!

Look into better bottles as well instead of glass (here goes a another glass vs BB debate...) I have a couple glass carboys for doing meads and stuff that will be sitting around for MONTHS other then that its BB's for me... dont waste your money on the ported ones just regular 6 gallon BB's and have fun!!!

 

[MikeG]

...
To keep a long thread short, after sparging the grains immediately after bringing to a boil...

I know this isn't directed at your question but your grains should never be in water over 170F, even your specialty grains that you have.

 

[Revvy]

You will find that many of us leave our beers in primary for 3-4 weeks, skip secondary and bottle. Just search for the 10,000 threads under "long Primary" or "no secondary" and you will see all the resaons why we do it, and the explanations behind...There's at least one thread a day on the topic, so it's really not hard to find the discussion pretty much hashed to death....There's at least 5 threads a day asking the same question....

Even Palmer recommends not rushing the beer out of primary.

From How to Brew;
Leaving an ale beer in the primary fermentor for a total of 2-3 weeks (instead of just the one week most canned kits recommend), will provide time for the conditioning reactions and improve the beer. This extra time will also let more sediment settle out before bottling, resulting in a clearer beer and easier pouring. And, three weeks in the primary fermentor is usually not enough time for off-flavors to occur....

Basically don't be too much in a hurry to move your beer....you wil find that your beer will benefit from increased time in primary....many of us believe, even better than using a secondary...

And he also says this..

Palmer sums it up pretty well in How to brew...

As a final note on this subject, I should mention that by brewing with healthy yeast in a well-prepared wort, many experienced brewers, myself included, have been able to leave a beer in the primary fermenter for several months without any evidence of autolysis.

 

[syd138]

I think 1 month is the max you want to leave in the primary. If you want to let it sit in the secondary after that, you can do it as long as you want.

 

[Revvy]

I think 1 month is the max you want to leave in the primary. If you want to let it sit in the secondary after that, you can do it as long as you want.

John Palmer believes differently.

As a final note on this subject, I should mention that by brewing with healthy yeast in a well-prepared wort, many experienced brewers, myself included, have been able to leave a beer in the primary fermenter for several months without any evidence of autolysis.

We've had people on here who have done 3-5 months with no ill effect. I personally would go beyond 6 weeks, but the beer's not going to instantly go bad on the 31st day....it's not like a carton of milk that will spoil.

And if it's a normal strength beer, if you've primaried for a month, there's really no need to rack to secondary at all.....If it were a high grav beer and you want to bulk age it then that's a different story. But if you've already let your beer clear in primary, then secondary serves no further purpose.

 

[Fighting_sin]

Look into better bottles as well instead of glass (here goes a another glass vs BB debate...) I have a couple glass carboys for doing meads and stuff that will be sitting around for MONTHS other then that its BB's for me... dont waste your money on the ported ones just regular 6 gallon BB's and have fun!!!

What do you mean by better bottles rather than glass carboy? I never heard of better bottles. Or am I overlooking the obvious. I just got back into this after nine years off, so I know I have some things to learn.

 

[Fighting_sin]

I know this isn't directed at your question but your grains should never be in water over 170F, even your specialty grains that you have.

Thank you for the advice. I will remember that! One step closer to that perfect beer!

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I think it depends on what you are brewing. I brew bitter. I have found secondary helpful in clearing the beer for bottling at a younger age. I tried leaving it in primary for 3 weeks, it just didn't work out as well for me. I like to be able to get the trub out and have less muck to deal with at bottling time.

This is not a popular opinion though

 

[Revvy]

I think it depends on what you are brewing. I brew bitter. I have found secondary helpful in clearing the beer for bottling at a younger age. I tried leaving it in primary for 3 weeks, it just didn't work out as well for me. I like to be able to get the trub out and have less muck to deal with at bottling time.

This is not a popular opinion though

Yeah, I've found that there is actually LESS muck at bottling time, that after a month in primary the trub is nice and compacted at the bottom of the primary and I don't rack that much over.....

 

[tonyf]

What do you mean by better bottles rather than glass carboy? I never heard of better bottles. Or am I overlooking the obvious. I just got back into this after nine years off, so I know I have some things to learn.

Better bottles are a polymer carboy impermeable to oxygen through-flow. This makes them better on that front than the ol' polyethylene bucket and cheaper than glass carboys - a good alternative (some would say better) to glass carboys.

 

[Whiskey]

I've had great luck with the lighter, clearer beers by leaving it in the primary for at least 2 weeks, then going to secondary for another week at least; some times I get lazy, or do not have any 5 gallon betterbottles free and leave it in the primary for the whole time. Porters and Stouts etc, I leave in Primary for 3 weeks. I've brewed the exact same recipe and used both methods and tasted no difference.

Racking to a secondary is not bad, it just gives another chance of contamination, oxidation etc. Your equipment may also dictate what you do, I started out with 1 six gallon and 2 five gallon betterbottles. My first 10 batches or so I racked to secondary, otherwise I was waiting 3 weeks between batches. It is all technique. Taking either method as fact or "the right way" is not necessarily correct. Just do what works for you.

 

[Fighting_sin]

You guys are all awesome, and extremely helpful!

 

[syd138]

I generally do 3-1-3

3 weeks in the primary.. or some times 4
and 1 week in the secondary to get the junk out. Especially if Im doing heavier or darker beers.

Weisses I do for 3 weeks then bottle.. I want a lot of yeast in there.

 

[michaelm]

What do you mean by better bottles rather than glass carboy? I never heard of better bottles. Or am I overlooking the obvious. I just got back into this after nine years off, so I know I have some things to learn.

Better bottles are a polymer carboy impermeable to oxygen through-flow. This makes them better on that front than the ol' polyethylene bucket and cheaper than glass carboys - a good alternative (some would say better) to glass carboys.

AND they dont break if you knock it around on accident LOL

 

[Tenchiro]

I have been having a lot of luck with an extended secondary. Generally I primary for 10-14 days then secondary for a month or so. It gives everything more than enough time to clean up and to clarify nicely.