"Secondary fermentation" question, when using single carboy

[Joey_G]

Hi there,

New to the boards and new to home brewing. Excited to get started!

I've seen a lot of pros and cons regarding using a single carboy during the whole fermentation process. I understand the main point of a secondary fermentation is for beer clarity. But seeing as I'm just starting out, and plan on making a few dark porters/stouts to start (and not necessarily need a lot of clarity), I figured I'd keep things simple and stick with just a single carboy for now.

However, there is one suggestion I see pop up often that I plan to implement - "add during secondary fermentation" - and I'm wondering how to handle it in a single carboy scenario.

Example: if I wanted to add some bourbon to a stout I was brewing, and the suggestion was to "add it during secondary fermentation", would I simply wait a couple weeks after initial fermentation and just pour it into my main bucket?

Thanks for any tips, tricks, and info you might be able to provide!

 

[RM-MN]

Hi there,

New to the boards and new to home brewing. Excited to get started!

I've seen a lot of pros and cons regarding using a single carboy during the whole fermentation process. I understand the main point of a secondary fermentation is for beer clarity. But seeing as I'm just starting out, and plan on making a few dark porters/stouts to start (and not necessarily need a lot of clarity), I figured I'd keep things simple and stick with just a single carboy for now.

However, there is one suggestion I see pop up often that I plan to implement - "add during secondary fermentation" - and I'm wondering how to handle it in a single carboy scenario.

Example: if I wanted to add some bourbon to a stout I was brewing, and the suggestion was to "add it during secondary fermentation", would I simply wait a couple weeks after initial fermentation and just pour it into my main bucket?

Thanks for any tips, tricks, and info you might be able to provide!

The main idea of a second carboy is to sell more carboys. It has nothing to do with clarity. I would only use a secondary if I was going to have a second ferment like I would if I added fruit or if I expected to leave the beer for an extended period of time like I might for a very high gravity beer where it might need aged over 3 months.

With something like an addition of bourbon or a flavoring extract, I would add it to the bottling bucket when I was ready to bottle.

 

[ncbrewer]

Transferring to secondary is an opportunity for oxidation or infection. I haven't done it in many years. (I agree with the exceptions noted by RM-MN.)

 

[BrewinBromanite]

Also agree with RM-MN. Adding bourbon (or any non-fermentable flavoring really) would be fine at bottling. Or, as you mentioned, it would be perfectly fine to add to your fermenter after fermentation has settled after a week or two. If adding something fermentable, such as fruit, I might consider a secondary for that, but even then I don't really see harm in just adding to the primary. IMO, better to get acquainted with the whole brewing process if you're new to this hobby than worry about things like a secondary.