Common advice is to go with 2-stage fermentation (especially for heavier worts) to avoid having the fermenting beer sit upon the trub. I’ve read other opinions, which say that there’s no harm, and sometimes even added benefits, to have the fermentation take place on top of the spent yeast.
Basically, I would like to know the consensus about this. I have a 6.5 gal conical, so I’ve been able to get away with a “middle ground” approach (having much less surface area for trub to be in contact). What do you think is best practice?
(This might get filed with the controversial “don’t sparge” movement, heh)
“Therefore I, and Jamil and White Labs and Wyeast Labs, do not recommend racking to a secondary fermenter for ANY ale, except when conducting an actual second fermentation, such as adding fruit or souring. Racking to prevent autolysis is not necessary, and therefore the risk of oxidation is completely avoidable. Even lagers do not require racking to a second fermenter before lagering”
I almost never use a secondary. I decide on a batch by batch basis if I need it and I alost never do. I have found no negative impact on beer quality by not using a secondary and it’s a heck of a lot easier! Since you have a conical and can dump yeast and trub, I can’t see why you’d even consider it.
I do not rack to a secondary most times either. However, one reason you might want to consider it is to reduce the amount of sediment going into your bottles or kegs.
Of course transfering sediment from the primary can be greatly reduced by careful handling of the fermenter and racking cane.
I forgot to mention, to combat this I will cold crash my primary fermenter for a day or 2 after 2 weeks as well. Especially for less flocculent yeast strains.
I don’t rack to secondary just to dry hop. If I decide to use a secondary, I dry hop there. Otherwise, I dry hop in primary after the fermentation ends, or dry hop in the keg.
I don’t dry hop frequently, but last time I dry hopped in the keg.
It worked perfectly.
I suppose, in effect, I am using the kegs as a “secondary” since I don’t tap them for awhile and the beer has time to condition and clarify before I drink it. But the same thing could be said for bottles.
I dry hop in a secondary if I plan on harvesting the yeast from the primary. This avoids having hop debris to worry about. Other than that, no secondary for me
+1 to John Palmer’s statement. I follow the same practice.
I just got finished kegging 10gal of a Pliny the Elder clone. It was femented in a 14.6gal conical for two weeks, then dry hopped for two weeks in the same conical after dropping the yeast. Conical fermenters rule! 8)
i started out doing secondary but after a bunch of reading here and other places i stopped. sometimes i’ll add an extra week. besides finding it wasn’t really necessary, it also took another step out of the process that was sometimes a hassle for me and my work schedule.
FWIW, I still consider myself somewhat of a novice when it comes to homebrewing, but I’ve never used a secondary (thanks largely to the great advice everyone has provided here). I’m a huge hophead, and I generally dry hop the hell out of my beers. I’ve used both pellets and whole cones, no hop bags, and just sprinkle them right into the primary. The results have been great. Unless I start harvesting my yeast, I don’t think I’d ever bother with racking to a secondary for dry-hopping.