Yay or nay to secondary?

[maglorski]

Looking for some general guidelines on whether to rack to secondary.

My understanding is that the majority of homebrewers don't mess with it.

I've been told it's ok to dry hop on top of the yeast cake after primary has subsided.

As always, thanks for the help.

M.

[jacinthebox]

Looking for some general guidelines on whether to rack to secondary.

My understanding is that the majority of homebrewers don't mess with it.

I've been told it's ok to dry hop on top of the yeast cake after primary has subsided.

As always, thanks for the help.

M.

I don't secondary at all anymore...not with dry hopped beer, or fruit beer

I ferment in glass carboys only

[mthibodeau]

Sometimes I skip secondary, other times I do both, depends on how energetic I feel, and how long I plan to leave it before I bottle

[Hobbitfu]

I have only racked to secondary when I aged a beer on oak cubes and and cacao nibs (extended aging - 3 months). I dry hop in primary. Less hassle and less O2 exposure...

[Keith]

Primary fermenter only, then to the keg.

[GillettBreweryCnslt]

Primary fermenter only, then to the keg.

Same here

[Ladd]

I only rack to secondary if I plan to re-suse the yeast from primary and only because it keeps the yeast in a more manageable volume for storing.

[LeafMan66_67]

The only time I use a secondary is if I am going to rack on to some fruit - and generally that's a volume thing, as I use the wide mouth fermenter and there's just not enough space to add fruit.

[elreplica]

I rack lighter beers or beers needing clearing to carboys. I find I can see the cold crashing or fining results better. Darker beers are generally directed into myriad bottles where they'll generally settle and clear on their own. I never use carboys to primary as they're a pain to clean. That may change now that my two fast ferments have been relegated to the boss's wines, as they wouldn't fit in my lager fridge.

[mstead]

I only rack to secondary if I'm adding fruit, and in that case I'm not even sure why I bother.

[BAbrewing]

Depends on the day.

[RossBee]

I alway rack to secondary, don't know why, just a procedural thing ingrained from making wine.

[maglorski]

I'm assuming goes for 'big beers' (i.e. OG north of 1.060 or so?)

[sleepyjamie]

I would say for some beers that you want to age. Eg. oak, or soured you likely will want to transfer off the yeast cake to a secondary. but everything else primary is more simple, but make sure you crash cool.

[maglorski]

I don't have a second fridge - is there another method I can use to cold crash?

[elreplica]

I used my decks - side, front, back lol all winter. I only had two carboys freeze and both beers were excellent! If it's good enough for Palmer (John, not Carl), it's good enough for me...So...the solution is to use Mother Nature, as basements don't get cold enough - or invest in a cheap secondary fridge or kegerator.