Secondary Fermentation

[RealToast]

Hello. My question is in regard to the term, "Secondary Fermentation". When reading recipes, some say that the primary fermentation is done in a plastic bucket or carboy, and secondary done in glass. Does this mean secondary fermentation is in the bottle? Is secondary fermentation always the bottle (or keg)?

My first two batches were pale ales. The first, I went directly from primary fermentation to a different bucket to add dextrose and immediately bottled and waited for the beer to carbonate. Would you say that the bottle was my "secondary fermentation".

My next batch, I went from primary fermentation in the bucket to a second bucket, sealed the second and waited a week for settling/clarity, then added dextrose and bottled. In this instance, was the second bucket "secondary fermentation", and the bottle a tertiary fermentation? Or, was the second bucket a sort-of continuation of primary fermentation?

This is only important because I want to properly understand the various recipes and processes that I'm considering before starting my next brew.

 

[TheHopfather]

Secondary fermentation is a bit of a misnomer. There is actually only one fermentation, the "secondary" (as its typically called) is referring to a second vessel and is a throw back to the good old days when home brewers didn't have access to the high quality yeasts that we have today. The idea was to move the beer into a secondary to get it off of the yeast cake to reduce the chance of off flavors. Professional brewers also move their beer into a secondary, called a bright tank, to prevent yeast autolysis (yeast dying and eating themselves causing off flavors), also allowing the remaining yeast to fall out of suspension and the beer to "drop bright" (clear).

Common practice now a days to is to leave your wort/beer in the primary for the entire fermentation. There really is no need to move the beer to a secondary on the homebrew scale. Your beer will finish up and clear just fine in the primary. Moving to a secondary only increases the chances of oxidation and infection.

Secondaries are useful when you plan to bulk age a beer (months and months on end) or want to add fruit or such to a beer.

To answer your original question, "glass" is referring to a glass carboy (oxygen does not permeate glass nearly as much as a plastic bucket). Your second bucket was your secondary vessel in this case. Technically when you bottle you are experiencing a second mini fermentation as the yeast eat the bottling sugar to create CO2.

 

[m1k3]

I went from primary fermentation in the bucket to a second bucket, sealed the second and waited a week for settling/clarity, then added dextrose and bottled. In this instance, was the second bucket "secondary fermentation", and the bottle a tertiary fermentation?

Yes, the second bucket was a "secondary fermenter". Most people will say not to do a "secondary" anymore... except for fruit in the secondary or maybe dry hopping.

There are a million threads on this... so I will stop there.

 

[RedlegEd]

Here's a good read to get you started. This is debated quite a lot on HBT. I'm in the "no need for secondary" camp unless adding fruit, dry-hopping, or letting a really big beer age. If you are just doing pale ales, or other simple beers, there's no need for it. When you bottle, you are actually conditioning your beer, not doing a secondary. Here's another good read on the subject.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

I guess technically I will primary in a bucket, secondary in the keg/bottle, tertiary in my stomach, quaternary in the toilet, and quinary in the sewer. I do believe, with this method, anything after secondary would not be palatable. Probably kinda flat too.