First time trying a secondary fermenter, any tips?

Gledison

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My first brews were all done only in one Fermenter bucket.
im not happy with my dry hopping method so i decided to add the hops in a secondary and rack the beer in it.
Both buckets have spigot. Im doing that because i want to reduce the amount of trub that could be disturbed after the cold Crash and bottling.Most of the trub will be the hops of the last process.
big question would be: shall i bother with this or just toss the hops in the Primary, do the regular cold Crash and bottle it directly from it?
Cheers
 
My first brews were all done only in one Fermenter bucket.
im not happy with my dry hopping method so i decided to add the hops in a secondary and rack the beer in it.
Both buckets have spigot. Im doing that because i want to reduce the amount of trub that could be disturbed after the cold Crash and bottling.Most of the trub will be the hops of the last process.
big question would be: shall i bother with this or just toss the hops in the Primary, do the regular cold Crash and bottle it directly from it?
Cheers
I toss the hops in the primary and ferment ina bucket the only drawback i find is the trub level reaches the tap level. But i find a good 3 day cold crash really compacts this sediment.
 
toss the hops in the primary and ferment ina bucket the only drawback i find is the trub level reaches the tap level. But i find a good 3 day cold crash really compacts this sediment.
yeah, i still have some room untill the spigot Level. Did you get a relatively(Little hazy is no issue) clear beer? did you use hopbag or directly loose?
thanks
 
yeah, i still have some room untill the spigot Level. Did you get a relatively(Little hazy is no issue) clear beer? did you use hopbag or directly loose?
thanks
I used a bag last brew to dry hop with and found aroma/flavour was more subdued than when I've just thrown them in loose.

As for haze I get more from protein but yes depends I suppose on how big your dry hop charge is.
 
If you use a bigger vessel and an auto syphon you wont need a secondary, if your bottling its completely different than kegging in that regard, but using a secondary loses more beer and can create other problems like bacteria
 
I generally do a "secondary". Problems as above plus the risk of oxidation, particularly in very light beers. My reasons: I need the primary fermentor, I want the beer to clarify more, I'm lagering, I don't have time to bottle.... Note very few of those have anything to do with the flavor of the beer! When I rack to secondary, I either use the spigot on my Spidel or bucket or a racking cane, depending on what I've fermented the beer in. I also flush the receiving carboy with CO2 before starting to minimize oxidation risk. All that, no splashing, yada, yada. If you choose not to rack to secondary, don't expect evil to happen to your beer but if you do, don't expect great things, either. For me, it's a needs-based decision, nothing more.
 
I've been having good luck with dry-hopping early - before final gravity and while there's still a little fermentation action in the primary. I think it eliminates the potential for oxidation, gives good hop utilization due to the extra agitation in the wort from fermentation activity and the yeast tends to pull the hops down to the bottom as it settles. I sometimes rack to secondary for the same reason as @Nosybear and the beer tends to be fairly clear with little or no hop residue. I definitely get good aroma this way and it seems to "stick" better as the beer ages (though that may be my imagination).
 
I usually add my dry hops around day 5 for 5 days then rack into another fv. Was using hop bag/s for dry hops,now use a tea ball and am happy with that. Cheap as chips from China on Fleabay:D
 
I've been having good luck with dry-hopping early - before final gravity and while there's still a little fermentation action in the primary. I think it eliminates the potential for oxidation, gives good hop utilization due to the extra agitation in the wort from fermentation activity and the yeast tends to pull the hops down to the bottom as it settles. I sometimes rack to secondary for the same reason as @Nosybear and the beer tends to be fairly clear with little or no hop residue. I definitely get good aroma this way and it seems to "stick" better as the beer ages (though that may be my imagination).

I have experienced the same thing. I generally dry hop on day 2 or 3 of fermentation for 4-5 days.
 
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Great tips. Yeah, i understand that different beer requirements and/or extra process requires different approaches.
Im dry hopping in the Primary now and will see how it goes. If after the cold Crash i still have to much turbidity, i might Transfer to a secondary and do an extra cold Crash..lets see :)
thank you all
 

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