An interesting article on the pros and cons of skipping a secondary fermentation when brewing beer. The brew dudes argue it is best to skip it!…

First of all I want to agree with pretty much everything you said in the post. For the majority of quick fermenting ales (that don’t require dry hopping, other flavor additions, or extended aging), secondary vessels don’t do anything beneficial. In fact, they only present potential problems like contamination and oxidation. If you are pouring a new batch over a yeast cake , then you may need to rack the beer if there’s no time for bottling on brewday.

I just wanted to add a couple things. For those who bottle, just make sure to rack carefully so as not to pick up sediment. Also its good to pour the beer correctly so you won’t get any sediment in the glass. In other words, don’t rock the bottle back and forth, and just perform one gradual and continuous pour.

You can let the primary sit for quit a long time before off flavors become noticeable. There are many other stages in the process that present more adverse problems. Hi Travis, I just wanted to say that it is best to let the beer sit and not to be inquisitive of gravity, taste, or scents during primary fermentation. What lies above the new beer is a protective layer of CO2. Also, that Nut Brown you tried, only sat in primary, it was bottled, and it came out pretty darn clear…right? In fact, my latest beer…the Quinoa Lager only sat in primary, and when it was done, I just dropped the temp for a couple weeks…no problem.

Depending on the yeast strain, the primary vessel can be crystal clear after 2 weeks, or it still may be slightly active (British strains and some other I suppose). If there are still bubble rising, that means sediment could still be circulating around.

Lastly, I haven’t really had cloudy beers since converting to all grain brewing. That could be another topic though.

This is a topic that comes up a lot, so I hope it helps that you posted this entry. Check ya later.

For the majority of ale fermentations, 2-3 weeks gets the job done and the beer is ready.
If a brewer is making an ale that requires some sort of long condition, using a second vessel makes sense. And in reality that is what I am saying in my post. Many brewers say that they don’t do secondary, they go right to a keg. In my opinion, that is a secondary, it’s just happening at a colder temp because most of us keggers move that beer into the keg fridge rather than let it sit in ambient temp with the “traditional” secondary fermentor step.

I have let beer sit in a plastic bucket for up to two months. The head space is all CO2 as I didn’t mess with the beer or open the lid. I had no detectable levels of oxidation in the beer. Now, I did store it cold as it was in feburary and march that I let this happen (a year ago). I was worried that the beer would be somewhat oxidized from the plastic bucket AND I was concerned about autolysis of the yeast. Neither of which were a problem despite sitting on all the original trub (albeit at cold temps).

And to your last point, I don’t know what kind of yeast you are using but at the end of my fermentations the yeast in my bucket is not “dead old yeast”. It’s extremely healthy dormant yeast that just finished a batch of beer. It’s better than any yeast you can buy at the store. If it was old dead yeast repitching wouldn’t be a viable option. The percentage of dead cells in a yeast cake should be less than 1%. And in my experience, not all that 1% undergoes autolysis, so it has a very minimal impact on the beer. My two month primary blunder as a great example.

That’s why I secondary.

Cheers!