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Originally Posted by Boise_Chief
Anyone have thoughts on secondary fermentation? I just moved a nut brown ale over tonight. I will be kegging and want it as clear as possible.
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Unless you plan to hold the beer in fermentation for longer than 6-7 weeks I wouldn't move it as it adds little value and can actually oxidize the beer. When I make lagers I secondary in the keg so its only moved once.
One of the worst things you can do to beer is oxidize it after initial fermentation and every time you move it you are adding oxygen. This is one of the main reasons a lot of home brew taste like home brew. Breweries and advanced home brew systems can move beer without adding oxygen because they are closed systems. If you are siphoning you are adding a lot of oxygen.
When I do an IPA I do 7 days of fermentation and then 5-7 days dry hop in the primary. I then cold crash the primary for 1-2 days and then CO2 purge a keg and move it to the keg and carbonate. You can turn around an IPA in about 17 days doing this and have some of the freshest IPA you have ever tasted.
When I started I used to secondary everything thinking I was making a cleaner beer but have found not moving it makes a better tasting beer.
If you are doing some long term aging like making a brett beer, barley wine, or something thats going to take a few months, yea move it to secondary. (Brett actually likes oxygen so its not a bad thing to move a brett beer once)
My. $.02
Whats cool is you are brewing!
Edit: I was checking my BeerSmith program this weekend and counted that I had already brewed 110gal this year. I think the most I have done in a year is around 130gal. I should hit 160gal or so this year.