Secondary fermenter

[MidnightPoetry]

I bought a set of starting equipment that did not include a secondary fermenter. I was wondering: Should upgrading and buying a glass carboy for secondary fermentation be my top priority in upgrading my brew process? I don't have the ability to invest a lot in this at the moment and wanted to optimize any equipment purchases, i.e. buying a wort chiller vs secondary fermenter vs investing in higher quality recipes and calling it a day in terms of equipment for the time being.

 

[DaWhip]

Definitely skip the secondary in your situation. As you dig around threads on here you will see a lot of advice on skipping secondary as it is not really necessary on the homebrew scale. Personally I use them, but more as part of process to work around some system limitations to keep my pipeline going. Starting out with one brew at a time, no secondary needed. Your money will go towards better brews with something like a wort chiller or better recipes as you mentioned.

 

[flars]

I let my beer clear in the primary. Typically 3 weeks. Sometimes 4 weeks when dry hopping. Only plan to use a secondary for fruit or an addition like oak spirals. If you are using BeerSmith the default in the software is 4 days primary and 10 days secondary. That is not a brewing rule. This can be changed to anything you want.

 

[martiniw2olives]

I bought a set of starting equipment that did not include a secondary fermenter. I was wondering: Should upgrading and buying a glass carboy for secondary fermentation be my top priority in upgrading my brew process? I don't have the ability to invest a lot in this at the moment and wanted to optimize any equipment purchases, i.e. buying a wort chiller vs secondary fermenter vs investing in higher quality recipes and calling it a day in terms of equipment for the time being.

In my opinion secondary fermenters are a complete waste of time and effort. I recommend keeping your processes simple and to an absolute minimum. Making truly great beer is much easier than you think regardless of experience.

 

[PADave]

In my opinion secondary fermenters are a complete waste of time and effort. I recommend keeping your processes simple and to an absolute minimum. Making truly great beer is much easier than you think regardless of experience.

Exactly. Instead of buying a secondary get yourself another fermenter. That way you can get another brew going and build up your pipeline.

 

[Gerry_P]

I stopped doing secondaries a while ago. I've left beer in the primary for as long as 6 weeks and didn't notice any of the off flavors that are supposed to be a sign of autolysis. However...if you feel you absolutely must do a secondary, use a corny keg if possible. Do your secondary as long as you want, force carb whenever you feel like it, no bottles to mess with, and you only have to transfer your beer once (moved to keg) as opposed to twice (moved to secondary, then moved to bottles/keg). Most of your sediment should be left behind in the primary. I recently started kegging after many years of bottling, and lemme tell ya it's the cat's pajamas.

 

[RM-MN]

Exactly. Instead of buying a secondary get yourself another fermenter. That way you can get another brew going and build up your pipeline.

Midwest Supplies lists a glass carboy at $50. You can have 3 bucket fermenters for that price (approximately). They are much more useful than a glass carboy and won't send you to the emergency room if dropped.

The biggest improvement in my beer came when I started with controlling fermentation temperature. That can be a cheap option as you can use a tub filled with water and use frozen bottles of water to control the temperature.

A wort chiller might be a good choice because late addition hops continue adding bitterness until the temperature is below 180 or so. However, it is pretty easy to get the temp to drop that far without the chiller and once that low, slow cooling doesn't hurt much. Some of us even go no-chill but we have to plan our recipes to account for the extra bittering from the extended time to cool.

I might suggest you invest in a Corona mill (about $30) and a paint strainer bag (about $4 for a pair) and going to all grain via BIAB. You'll discover that your costs for the premium recipes is much lower than for extract and if you buy grains in bulk instead of a kit the cost per batch is even lower. All grain via BIAB is really no more difficult than an extract beer.:rockin:

 

[PADave]

Midwest Supplies lists a glass carboy at $50. You can have 3 bucket fermenters for that price (approximately). They are much more useful than a glass carboy and won't send you to the emergency room if dropped.

The biggest improvement in my beer came when I started with controlling fermentation temperature. That can be a cheap option as you can use a tub filled with water and use frozen bottles of water to control the temperature.

A wort chiller might be a good choice because late addition hops continue adding bitterness until the temperature is below 180 or so. However, it is pretty easy to get the temp to drop that far without the chiller and once that low, slow cooling doesn't hurt much. Some of us even go no-chill but we have to plan our recipes to account for the extra bittering from the extended time to cool.

I might suggest you invest in a Corona mill (about $30) and a paint strainer bag (about $4 for a pair) and going to all grain via BIAB. You'll discover that your costs for the premium recipes is much lower than for extract and if you buy grains in bulk instead of a kit the cost per batch is even lower. All grain via BIAB is really no more difficult than an extract beer.:rockin:

I'll second all of this. The best bang for your buck is going to be some kind of fermentation temp. control. I wouldn't want to not have a wort chiller. Made my own for about $40. BIAB can be a super simple way to go AG. My latest improvement was buying my own grain mill, and my efficiency went from the mid 60's depending on where I bought the grains, to over 80%.