What does a secondary fermenter do?

[D.B.Moody]

When making an IPA that requires a dry hop addition do you dry hop on the primary and then transfer to a secondary for a few days and then package?

I can't answer your question because I don't do dry hopping, and, as I pointed out in post #87, my IPA recipe will be changed and it will not use a secondary. The extra exposure to oxygen mutes the happiness wanted in an IPA. Posts #81 and #82 were comparing my IPA with and without a secondary. In general we preferred the batch that went through a secondary, but, in the end, it lacked IPA happiness. So my advice would be to skip the secondary, and this is from the guy who likes to use a secondary and the effect it has on the beer.
The one time I did a dry hop I added the hops to the secondary some number of days before bottling. The beer had already been in the secondary.

 

[D.B.Moody]

It is an interesting conclusion. I see most of these trials and the descriptions as evidence that beers are getting oxidized in the secondary. As I learned to identify the characters of staled and oxidized beers, I have grown to dislike that character more.

Yes there is oxidation, but the point of my testing not doing a secondary was to see if it improved my beers. It didn't. The differences were slight at most, and we tended to favor the ones that had been through a secondary. I've been brewing for over 27 years with a secondary, and for all I know it may just be that I'm so used to it that I like it that way.

As noted in the post just before this, I will be changing my IPA recipe and moving it to no secondary because of these comparisons.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

[...] the point of my testing not doing a secondary was to see if it improved my beers. It didn't.

Thank you for taking the time to question ('challenge') the "conventional wisdom" in public.

Everyone tastes beer differently. Tastes change over time.

The "[complete] joy of home brewing" may be that we get to brew what we like (and like what we brew).

(for today)

 

[D.B.Moody]

I had to see if not doing a secondary would improve my beer. I will do a wrap-up report soon, but the short answer is that I will continue to use a secondary fermenter.

So here's the wrap up:

I did four comparisons between April and December. They were reported on in various posts from #61 to #146. The four:
1. Summer Ale, 10.9 HBUs, US05 yeast
2. Peter Cotton Ale, 15.2 HBUs, S33 yeast
3. Palace Bitter, 8.5 HBUs, Nottingham yeast
4. JB Gold, 7.3 HBUs, Muntons yeast

In each case the beers tasted very much the same. We tended to think of the secondary batches as being smoother and the primary only batches as being sharper. This may be muting of hops, but there might be something to a mellowing of the secondaries beyond that. I don't know. We tended to prefer the secondary batches. Not doing a secondary did not improve my beers.

In each comparison the secondary batch was clearer at bottling. In two cases, #2 and #4, the amount of bottle sediment in the primary only batches was very aggravating. All beers were bottled two weeks from brewing, and S33 and Munitions can also leave a fair bit of sediment even when put through a secondary. My primary is a white plastic bucket that you can't see the beer in, so you can't tell when it's ready to bottle like you can in a glass carboy secondary.

In two cases oxidation due to using a secondary was evident. In comparison #1 darkening was very evident, and it was somewhat evident in #2. These were the more highly hopped brews. The color was the same in #3. Experimental error negates any color comparison in #4.

Conclusions:

1. Since not doing a secondary didn't improve my beers, I will continue to use a secondary. I find it easier to do so. I like the results. This may or may not be partly due to that's what I've been doing all the years since 1994 or that I fell in love with British bitters on trips to the UK as far back as 1988.
2. My IPA recipe, #2, will change to provide for not using a secondary. In the end it just isn't very IPAish due to loss of hop character. I will move to a more floculant yeast (probably S04 or Nottingham), not use a secondary, do some "controlled agitation" as per @Bobby_M, give it three weeks instead of two in the fermenter, and add some ascorbic acid at bottling as per @cmac62.