Secondary fermentation?

[Mishkin]

...I've never done it before. I know it involves transferring the beer to another barrel. Is it the same kind of barrel as the primary fermenter? like with an airlock and everything? Do you need more yeast? What does secondary fermentation achieve?
Thanks

 

[anthrobe]

...I've never done it before. I know it involves transferring the beer to another barrel. Is it the same kind of barrel as the primary fermenter? like with an airlock and everything? Do you need more yeast? What does secondary fermentation achieve?
Thanks

Yes, you want to transfer from your primary fermentation vessel to the secondary fermentation vessel. Most use a 5 gal glass carboy for the secondary but a bucket or 6.5 gal carboy will work just fine. You will need to treat is just like the primary with a airlock on top to keep nasties from getting in. You do not need to add any additional yeast. The secondary is used to achieve three things. 1. helps the beer clear 2. Removed the beer off of the yeast cake to so that you do not get a real yeasty flavor 3. Bulk aging of the beer.

 

[Passload]

Yes, you want to transfer from your primary fermentation vessel to the secondary fermentation vessel. Most use a 5 gal glass carboy for the secondary but a bucket or 6.5 gal carboy will work just fine. You will need to treat is just like the primary with a airlock on top to keep nasties from getting in. You do not need to add any additional yeast. The secondary is used to achieve three things. 1. helps the beer clear 2. Removed the beer off of the yeast cake to so that you do not get a real yeasty flavor 3. Bulk aging of the beer.

What he said... Although a secondary is a personal choice you can leave it in the primary until frementation is complete(hydrometer reading) then bottle.

 

[Mishkin]

I really want to do a secondary now just to see what it's like compared to my other brews i've done. But also i'm a real fan of clear beer so I think I should do it.
The problem is that I dont have a secondary fermenter yet. Is it possible to transfer all the beer to a big bucket, clean all the crap out of my primary fermenter and then just put the beer back in?

 

[dave-m]

I'd be hesitant to do that. The less you "jostle" your beer around the better it will turn out. Just leave it in the primary until you can get a secondary. If you can't get a glass carboy, a plastic pail will work as long as it has a lid that will seal tight and has a grommetted hole to accept an airlock. Te advantage to the glass is you can see when your beer has sufficiently cleared.