To Secondary or Not? John Palmer and Jamil Zainasheff Weigh In

[IslandLizard]

I have growlers that I bought beer in from micro-breweries... am I safe to carbonate in these?

I wouldn't.
Use proper bottles (glass or plastic) made to endure the pressure of carbonation.
Or keg it.

@Denny can you elaborate which growlers can be safely used for bottle carbonation?

 

[Denny]

I wouldn't.
Use proper bottles (glass or plastic) made to endure the pressure of carbonation.
Or keg it.

@Denny can you elaborate which growlers can be safely used for bottle carbonation?

Heavy ones! Ones that look like large Grolsch bottles are what Ive used with success.

 

[IslandLizard]

Heavy ones! Ones that look like large Grolsch bottles are what Ive used with success.

Ah, those heavy ones with the metal handles and the wide mouth with the gasketed Grolsch-like lid/stopper. That makes sense. Thanks!

The "cheap" ones with the screw lids you buy at most microbreweries and growler fill places are definitely not safe for bottle conditioning/carbonating. I had one of those explode in a cooler I had left in the car overnight. It was no warmer than 60-70F.

 

[coonmanx]

Well, I use my fruit in the primary after it has already crashed. Then I go to secondary. Maybe secondary is not necessary but I like the way it turns out. Why fix it if it aint broken? I'm going to continue doing things the way I have been because I sure do get a lot of compliments on my beer. One of the compliments I got on my Old Peculiar clone keg was "You should bottle and sell this stuff". And I live in Colorado where there are tons of microbreweries. So there is that.

 

[Denny]

Well, I use my fruit in the primary after it has already crashed. Then I go to secondary. Maybe secondary is not necessary but I like the way it turns out. Why fix it if it aint broken? I'm going to continue doing things the way I have been because I sure do get a lot of compliments on my beer. One of the compliments I got on my Old Peculiar clone keg was "You should bottle and sell this stuff". And I live in Colorado where there are tons of microbreweries. So there is that.

Adding more fermentables is one of the few situations where a secondary can be a good idea.

 

[IslandLizard]

Adding more fermentables is one of the few situations where a secondary can be a good idea.

That!^

The newly added fermentables will kick up fermentation, so the yeast can scavenge any O2 that got unintentionally or inevitably incorporated during the transfer. Best is performing "closed" (O2 free) transfers or as close to that as possible. Then the following CO2 production will push out whatever air is in the headspace. Therefore, secondary headspace should always be kept as small as possible.

Except, that's not what @coonmanx is doing. He racks/transfers to a secondary after the fruit was added to the primary, and already crashed:

Well, I use my fruit in the primary after it has already crashed. Then I go to secondary.

 

[bwible]

I brew 3 gallons at a time. I use 5 gallon carboys for primary, 3 gallon carboys for secondary. I pretty much secondary everything, but I don’t think of it as a secondary fermentation. Because fermentation is pretty much finished before I transfer. I think of the extra step as a settling tank or clearing tank. I notice there is still plenty of junk that settles out to the bottom of the 3 gallon after transfer. So if I didn’t do this step, all that junk that settled out after transfer would still be in my beer, right? I guess I’m “old school”.

 

[IslandLizard]

I brew 3 gallons at a time. I use 5 gallon carboys for primary, 3 gallon carboys for secondary. I pretty much secondary everything, but I don’t think of it as a secondary fermentation. Because fermentation is pretty much finished before I transfer. I think of the extra step as a settling tank or clearing tank. I notice there is still plenty of junk that settles out to the bottom of the 3 gallon after transfer. So if I didn’t do this step, all that junk that settled out after transfer would still be in my beer, right? I guess I’m “old school”.

Next time you brew, leave the beer in the primary for the same time as you would normally leave it in the secondary. Why would you think it's going to be any less clear? Whatever sediments out will be the same, provided you don't rouse the yeast/trub cake, no?

That brings me to the 2nd part.
When siphoning from your (now) primary into your keg or bottling bucket, don't stick that siphon all the way down into the trub! Start halfway between the trub layer and the beer surface, then lower the siphon/cane as the level drops, tilting the fermenter toward the end to keep the well of beer you're siphoning from as deep as possible. As soon as you're starting to suck up trub, stop the transfer, without sucking air by pinching the racking hose or pulling it off your keg or out of the bucket.

Make sure to use one of those "flow inverter" tippies on the bottom of the siphon/cane.