Re: Secondary fermentation

On Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:12:35 GMT, <stridex@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I have had great luck getting clear beer without secondary fermentation.
As a matter of fact, a lot of my friends have a hard time believing that
it is homebrew. I take great care when sparging, priming and bottling,
and finally pouring into a nice glass. So my question is this: will
fermenting with a secondary do anything for the taste of the beer? Or
does it just affect the clarity of the beer? Or maybe, will it age it
more quickly (i.e. does a week in the secondary fermenter equal two weeks
in the bottle) thus allowing me to consume it a week or so earlier than
usual?

Probably not if you're already having good clarity in the primary. If
you're happy with the way it's coming out now, then I wouldn't worry
about changing anything. In most cases it's not a matter of making the
beer better, it's just a procedural preference.

One time it can help is if you get a lot of trub/slurry settling out
in the primary. If there's enough that your racking cane tends to pickup a
lot of the sediment layer when you're transfering to the bottling bucket, then
going to a secondary first and then bottling later will mean you end up with
a much smaller trub layer, so racking out clean beer is easier. That one's
kind of a stretch though, it's probably not really that big of a deal.


John.
.

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