Secondary

Everyone I have talked to advise me to rack into a secondary after 5 or 6 days. Lately I've been reading on here that it is unnecessary unless you are adding fruit and stuff like that. Which should I do? I have an American pale ale that has been in the primary for four days now.

I would leave it in primary for a couple more weeks then check the gravity and proceed from there.

+1 to the above. No real need to secondary.

i'm one of those who says that most secondaries aren't necessary, and are more of a risk than a benefit. give you pale ale at least 2 weeks in primary (3 would be even better).

ryno1981 said:

Everyone I have talked to advise me to rack into a secondary after 5 or 6 days. Lately I've been reading on here that it is unnecessary unless you are adding fruit and stuff like that. Which should I do? I have an American pale ale that has been in the primary for four days now.

Click to expand...

who is "everyone"? Almost everyone in this forum will say what the previous two posters said. For your Ale, it will need to be in your primary for at least 2 weeks....check your gravity reading and make sure it has stopped and then bottle/keg.

What they're saying is that there's no way that ale is going to be done fermenting in 5-6 days. The quickest time I've had one get to FG was 12 days. And that was a Cooper's batch a couple years ago. Even my partial mash brews take about 3 weeks to finish fermenting & settle out clear or slightly misty before bottling.

Thanks for the replies. I guess I was under the impression that you need to rack into a secondary before fermentation is done. That way it has carbon dioxide in the head space. The people that "have" told me to do so said it will keep the beer clear. Especially very hoppy beers.

I think it's preference. I like to secondary. I like to get the wort off the trub allowing secondary to help clarify the beer a little more, and then bottle. I like to have as little sediment in the bottle as possible. But that's just me because its hard to filter it out all that stuff only in primary then go straight to the bottle.

This is the most asked and discussed topic on here, on a daily basis there are 5 or six treads on this.

This discussion has been thoroughly covered in this thread, it's become the "uber discussion" on this topic.

To Secondary or Not? John Palmer and Jamil Zainasheff Weigh In .

richlong8020 said:

I think it's preference. I like to secondary. I like to get the wort off the trub allowing secondary to help clarify the beer a little more, and then bottle. I like to have as little sediment in the bottle as possible. But that's just me because its hard to filter it out all that stuff only in primary then go straight to the bottle.

Click to expand...

Not really. for me anyway,as I have spigots on my fermenters,set a bit higher than the one on my bottling bucket to allow room for trub/cold break.
And I strain all going into the FV,which gives less trub/yeast at bottling time,about 3/8-1/2" at 3 weeks. Clear beer going into the fermenter with a racking tube set onto the spout on the spigot going down around the bottom of the bottling bucket. After fridge time,most bottles have just a light dusting on the bottom.
The point being,give the yeast enough time to finish the job,settle out,& compact on the bottom of primary. Then dry hop or bottle.

ryno1981 said:

Thanks for the replies. I guess I was under the impression that you need to rack into a secondary before fermentation is done. That way it has carbon dioxide in the head space. The people that "have" told me to do so said it will keep the beer clear. Especially very hoppy beers.

Click to expand...

tell your people to go suck on a BMC