Simple Question - When to move into Secondary?

[fluketamer]

very old thread but for homebrewers - never is the answer . well almost never . see above.

 

[jdauria]

Never.

 

[redrocker652002]

I've said it before, and will probably say it again, but patience is the one ingredient that is rarely listed in homebrew recipes; but it's way up there on the necessary list.

This is one piece of advice I would say is important. I am the least patient guy I know, so this took me a while to get. Having never done a secondary I cannot answer whether it is right or wrong. I think in this hobby there is no real right or wrong, just what works for you. I have left my Ale's in the primary bucket for 3 to 4 weeks sometimes as life gets in the way. I have not tasted anything off with the longer wait time, but will premise that by saying my taste buds may not be what they used to be. LOL. The only thing I try and do is limit my dry hop time by making sure I am able to bottle or keg within 3 to 4 days of dry hopping. Other than that, patience has always been my challenge.

 

[bwible]

Let me ask this - what if you’re bottling?

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

If you rack to a bottling bucket to add priming sugar and fill bottles you got the oxidation threat.

If you bottle out of the closed fermenter you have to individually dose bottles and hope you get it right, then your sugar is not boiled and sanitized.

Keg every batch and fill out of a counter pressure filler? Makes bottling more of a pita than it already is, still a risk of oxidation and contamination.

 

[fluketamer]

you dont have to boil and sanitize your priming sugar.

 

[Broken Crow]

Let me ask this - what if you’re bottling?

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

If you rack to a bottling bucket to add priming sugar and fill bottles you got the oxidation threat.

If you bottle out of the closed fermenter you have to individually dose bottles and hope you get it right, then your sugar is not boiled and sanitized.

Keg every batch and fill out of a counter pressure filler? Makes bottling more of a pita than it already is, still a risk of oxidation and contamination.

The whole reason I moved to kegging was originally a stepping stone toward O2-reduction....I wasn't in a position to eliminate it entirely, but a keg that I could fill to overflowing with Star San then purge with CO2 before transfering with a couple psi from a carboy then having a keg I could force-carb before bottling with a beergun in which most of the O2 exposure happened to foam that was capped on...for me it seemed obvious and the beer tasted so much better just for the reduction. I've since moved on to total O2-free transfers and a kegerator, but really: Even minimizing O2 exposure makes a huge difference.