2ndary fermentation in 6.5 glass carboy?

[ALEien]

So, I have 2 batches in primary and both are ready to be shifted to 2ndary fermetner, but I only have one and the LHBS is closed on Mondays.

Would it be OK to use a 6.5 for a 5 gallon batch as a secondary fermenter??

Thanks guys

[Sent From My iPhone]

How long have they been in the Primary? You could extend the time in the primary for 1-2 more weeks and skip Secondary all together, as many people on this forum do, and bottle or keg directly from primary.

[Lars]

The real question is: Why are you racking to secondary? The most current feeling in homebrewing is that for most styles secondary is not necessary. I rarely use secondary unless there is a good reason. Yesterday, I racked a beer to secondary after a week because I wanted the yeast cake...

[BrewerB]

Agreed.

Last two beers I brewed involved no secondary transferring. Straight from primary to the keg. They also happen to be the two best brews I've made.

True, if you read Papazian or some of the older homebrew texts, they do make you feel like a secondary is necessary. Modern thought from folks like John Palmer and Jamil disagrees.

[ALEien]

I was just under the impression that secondary was the way to go. I am going to transfer the chocolate stout I have in plastic to secondary, but the hef is already in glass, so I'm happy with that.

I do it more for filtration puproses than anything else to be honest. I have found that it cuts out on a lot of extra crap.

Let me know what you all think.

Thanks!

[Mylo]

I used to think that it cut down on a lot of the transfer of the schwag. In retrospect, I was probably just racking over too soon (7-10 days). Given a couple of more weeks, most of the yeast would have dropped out in the primary anyway. If you have a good racking technique, and you don't shake it up before or during - then you should be fine with just the primary. If you want even less stuff transfered, you can crash cool your primary - which really drops things out and makes the cake a little more solid. Employing that technique might mean that you bottle conditioning could last a little longer, however.

I think you will be fine keeping the stout in the plastic for 3-4 weeks. Your beer will still age in the bottle just fine.


Mylo

[Lars]

+1 if you allow your yeast time to do their job, they will flocculate (clump together) and drag all the stuff to the bottom of your fermenter. I usually don't go less than 21 days in the fermenter before transferring to keg. Most of my beers are very clear and clean tasting. I have one homebrewer friend who complains that my beers are too clean for him (he likes "yeast character").