What's the purpose?

[Jim Gamble]

Being the newby that I am, I have a questions about racking to a secondary. What is the purpose of it? What exactly does it do? Is it always necessary? I've only done two brews at this point and didn't have to do this to either. Just trying to learn as much as I can about this new hobby that seems to be consuming me.

 

[RM-MN]

In early days of home brewing the practices of the big brewers were copied thinking that their way was the best. With their huge quantities they could easily cause the yeast to autolyze and get bad off flavors from the dead yeast in the bottom of their conical fermenters so they move the beer to "secondary". It was thought that this would make the yeast settle out quicker for homebrewers and get clearer beer. In reality it isn't needed as in small quantities the yeast doesn't autolyze and it doesn't make the beer clear any better and maybe worse than just leaving it in primary. However, kit instructions were written long ago and have not kept up with the changes in methods and besides, there is money to be made selling carboys to newbies. Why change?

 

[mongoose33]

There are a couple reasons why one might secondary; one has to do with racking onto some flavoring element such as fruit or oak or some such.

The other is if one is aging beer a long time.

For most homebrew purposes, a secondary is an unnecessary step.

 

[65C]

I've never used a secondary - it's enough hassle bottling from primary without adding another stage

I usually leave in fridge for 1st week then do another 3-12 weeks at room temp

 

[shoengine]

There are a couple reasons why one might secondary; one has to do with racking onto some flavoring element such as fruit or oak or some such.

The other is if one is aging beer a long time.

For most homebrew purposes, a secondary is an unnecessary step.

I just bottled off of my oak barrel. Tasty!

Equiment limitations are another reason. I only have one primary that I want to use, so I'm going to transfer to a corny keg for the lager period so I don't tie up my fermenter for a month or two.

 

[r4dyce]

You'll quickly get both sides of the debate but momentum is moving towards not using secondaries in most Homebrew applications. I've only used a secondary to rack some wheat beer on to fruit. I've also added fruit directly to primary with no problems, so it's not necessary.
I think part of the original thought was to get it into a vessel with less head space, i.e. lower oxidation. But the CO2 produced in primary provides a fairly protective layer on top of the beer, and then you would be racking the beer into a carboy mixing it with air and actually increasing the risk of oxidation. Also you're increasing infection risk. Generally speaking, you kind of just want to let the beer be. The less you handle it the better.
Someone on the forums once told me the most significant thing secondary fermentation does is it gives anxious brewers something to do while waiting lol

 

[Jwood]

While it isnt necessary, i do notice better results cold crashing my primary and then racking over to secondary to dry hop. Dry hopping still works in primary, but the other method still works better for me.

 

[TurnipGreen]

I only use a secondary when I want to reuse the yeast cake but the initial beer is not ready to be packaged yet. I’ve added fruit to a primary, although only once. I leave high gravity beers in a primary for months without any noticeable damage. I actually forgot about a braggot in my closet for over a year and it was fine.

It used to be secondaries were recommend to clear a beer too. It will clear up your beer a wee little bit, but from my experience cold crashing gives much better results in clarity than a secondary. Time, yeast selection and overall recipe effect clarity effects that too. Like a lot of folk here, I gave up on the secondary years ago.

To each there own, but for me risk of infection and oxidation is too high for something that delivers minimal results. Plus it’s one less afternoon of sanitizing stuff.

 

[kh54s10]

A secondary is more accurately described as a Bright Tank. It is mostly used to get the beer off the yeast (not really a concern in homebrewing quantities) and for getting a more clear beer. (it is debatable if it really makes the beer more clear in a homebrew setting) Also use if adding ingredients.

As said already, the trend is to use a secondary mostly if you are adding ingredients that you don't have room for in the primary or that you don't really want mixed with the trub.

When I dry hop these days, I just add it to the primary 5 or so days before when I want to keg or bottle the beer. I've only added fruit once and I did that in a secondary (I think, That was about 2 years ago).

 

[PrrCabin]

I brewed up a Big Fiz clone
3 weeks in the primary and no secondary
Tastes wonderful

Unless it's a big dark beer there will be no secondary here

Cabin

 

[Toga]

A quick search will bring up countless threads regarding whether to use secondary or not. More a personal preference than anything in my opinion. I like many, just do a long primary. 2-4 weeks depending on the beer and yeast used to clear it. If the beer is a style that needs to be aged before consumption I will keg it and bulk age in the keg. If you do not keg and bottle, bottle conditioning while a bit slower will serve the same purpouse.