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Hey All,

I've seen in some other threads people say that they don't use secondary fermentation. For those who don't, how does that work? Do you ferment in buckets or carboys? Do you reuse yeast? When do you dry hop? Is autolysis a problem?

I still ferment ales in buckets and then rack into carboys until I'm ready to bottle it. I like having an open fermentor so I can harvest yeast from the top. During the winter I'll ferment lagers in carboys so I can do a closed fermentation in my crawl space (I don't dare risk exposure to what's living down there), and then rack to other carboys so I can lager them on the back deck.

I just let the fermentation finish in the big carboy. I reuse some yeast for years. I've never had a problem with autolysis. Although I would like to be able to harvest rocking yeast from the top of a bucket.

I occasionally do secondary for big beers that i want to age a while, but mostly I just use one vessel. I do buckets or carboys, all depends how much headspace I want (I dont like doing big beers in the carboy because the foam builds up). I also just use whatever happens to be empty when I brew.

I do secondary, not sure why though. It's one of those things that I have always done. I started with mead so it is needed with the long ageing time associated with wines, but I bet you could just as easily skip it if your beer is going into bottles after a few weeks/month. I use both carboys and buckets. I prefer carboys because you can be sure they are clean, if the plastic scratches then who knows whats living in the scratch. That being said, sometimes I have no choice but to use the bucket if my carboys are full (and I am secretly happy I do because deep down inside I think I am lazy and buckets are just easier). Haven't noticed a big difference between the two. I guess doing a secondary allows me to salvage the yeast without having all the dry hops/cocoa nibs/etc in it.

Great timing for this post! I'm been thinking about switching to primary using carboys only. I've been using buckets as my primary all along...but am thinking about switching to carboys. What size carboys are you guys using if you are using them as primary only? I'm thinking about picking up a 6 gallon carboy sometime soon.

mckay75 wrote:Great timing for this post! I'm been thinking about switching to primary using carboys only. I've been using buckets as my primary all along...but am thinking about switching to carboys. What size carboys are you guys using if you are using them as primary only? I'm thinking about picking up a 6 gallon carboy sometime soon.

I use six gallon carboys for my primaries, I struck a good deal on Kijiji and got 4 for $40 total. The one thing you need to watch with carboys is blowoff. I pretty much always start my primary off with a blow off tube now, because the last thing I want to be doing is scraping krausen off my basement ceiling.

The only time I use a secondary is when I'm dry-hopping or pitching in other additives and planning to harvest yeast, as Graham mentioned. Much easier to wash yeast when it doesn't have a lot of excess material in it.

I used a blow off for the first time with my IPA i just did. It was the first time I used a starter as well...so I didn't know what to expect...so i figured I would go on the side of caution. Good thing too...when I popped the lid off the bucket there was krausen caked on the bottom of the lid!.

What size batches do you generally do?

mckay75 wrote:What size batches do you generally do?

Normally 5.5 gallons.

jeffsmith wrote:

mckay75 wrote:What size batches do you generally do?

Normally 5.5 gallons.

Except when its freezing outside with a solid wind, then you end up with a few extra gallons.

mgc wrote:

jeffsmith wrote:

mckay75 wrote:What size batches do you generally do?

Normally 5.5 gallons.

Except when its freezing outside with a solid wind, then you end up with a few extra gallons.

I knew you'd call me on that.

I don't like the idea of fermenting in plastic buckets so I bit the bullet on my second batch and bought a 25 litre carboy. That's big enough for a 23 litre batch primary fermentation, even if it's a 'big' beer. I swear by it.

The only time I do a secondary is when I want to split a big batch and add something (usually different fruits) to experiment. My understanding that the risk of autolosis is only significant if you let the beer sit on the trub for several years.

I was of the impression that warm temperatures also were not helpful.

Of course, but if I suspect not in the extra week or so you'd have it on.

Some people will go more than a week or so....

Like others have already said, I'll secondary if I plan to dry hop, add something to the beer (so I can harvest the yeast with out the extras) or plan to let it age or lager before bottling/kegging. I mostly dry hop in the keg, so that's even less secondary time.

Mostly I use carboys, but I do find buckets easier and still use one from time to time. I switched to carboys because I no longer trusted my buckets and had a couple infected batches last year. They are now clearly marked, but are still useful for measuring/crushing grain.

I use conicals for my ales so secondary is as easy as dumping the yeast and topping up with some CO2.
My lagers get done in carboys in a temp controlled fridge and are secondary conditioned in a keg.

Interesting that you would start this thread now. I read an article in BYO recently that advocates not using a secondary for anything other than dry-hopping. It claims that the longer your beer is in the primary, the better chance you will have to produce a clearer and cleaner-tasting beer because the yeast, when the fermentation is complete, will continue to clean the beer of proteins and lipids. It also says that the longer you leave beer in a primary, the tighter your yeast cake will be and the easier it will be to filtre yeast from it when you rack. I've been a using secondaries the entire time that I've been brewing but I'm going to test this theory for the next little while.

mgc wrote:

jeffsmith wrote:

mckay75 wrote:What size batches do you generally do?

Normally 5.5 gallons.

Except when its freezing outside with a solid wind, then you end up with a few extra gallons.

I had that experience a couple weeks ago... giving the car port a shot today to see if that provides some wind shelter. Lots of snow down already in CB!

I used to do the secondary but now i just leave the beer in the primary for an extra week and it clears up nicely. Then ill transfer to a keg and crash cool for 48 hours and transfer to another keg for carbonating.

I haven't secondaried in a long time, unless I'm planning to lager or age it for a while before bottling. If I"m dry-hopping I just throw them right in the primary once the fermentation ends.

Maybe I'll try skipping the secondary next time I don't need to lager or dry hop.

if you keg then just dry hop in the keg.

where abouts in cole harbour are you from?

I still bottle. I'm on Spence Drive, off of Astral Drive.