Do I Need to Use a Secondary Fermenter?
Tl;dr Screw it, don’t use a secondary. Unless you need to. (Thanks Jeff! Like! Thumbs up! What an Award winning blog!)
A hotly debated topic in home brewing is whether or not you need to use a secondary fermenter. As human beings, naturally, we prefer things do be black and white. We want a definite answer. But unfortunately, like many things in brewing, the answer isn’t black and white—it depends on your goals and the type of beer you’re brewing. Let’s dive into the pros, cons, and alternatives so you can make an informed decision for your next batch. Or just screw it and not use a secondary.
But before we begin, let’s address the elephant in the room. What is secondary fermentation? Is there really a second fermentation? Generally speaking, no. There’s just fermentation. Now, if you want to feel haughty, then we can call it primary fermentation, which somehow implies a secondary fermentation, but there’s still just the single fermentation. Fermentation generally begins slow, goes like a bat-out-of-hell, and then fizzles out. If you’re a math geek, then you’d plot it out and admire something like a bell curve. But unless you are adding extra fermentables to your already fermented beer, like fruits or syrup feeding, which will indeed kick up a second fermentation, then there is truly just one fermentation. (BTW, adding priming sugar and bottling beer is a bona fide example of a second fermentation.)
So from here on out, if we say secondary fermentation, we are referring to the act of using a secondary fermenter, where, coincidentally, the primary fermentation may working on its way to fizzling out.
(By the way, if you really want to geek out about true secondary fermentation, then consider cider or wine. Natural unpasteurized cider or wine often harbors beneficial malolactic bacteria, which indeed produces a secondary fermentation that can last for months. But that’s another story, and if you want, you can read about it here.)
What is the Purpose of a Secondary Fermenter?
The idea of a secondary fermenter comes from the professional brewing industry. Originally, professional brewers used secondary fermentation to clarify beer, reduce sediment, reduce autolysis risk and allow for extended aging, such as with lagers. Using a secondary fermenter is also useful when you plan to add extras like fruit, dry hops, or oak chips to your beer. In these cases, racking your beer into a secondary fermenter gives you a greater ability to deal with the extra additives, like hops, that you’ve added to the beer.
As a side note, home brewers for generations had been using secondary fermenters in an effort to avoid the dreaded yeast autolysis, which, in the context of home brewing, turned out to mostly be a myth. To learn more about the autolysis myth, click here.
Pros of Using a Secondary Fermenter
So, why might you want to use a secondary fermenter? Here’s what you get:
- Clarification: If you’re aiming for a crystal-clear beer, using a secondary fermenter can help by separating the beer from the sediment that forms during primary fermentation. The longer you let the beer sit, the more the sediment settles, leaving you with a clearer final product.
- High Gravity Flavor Development: For select styles of beer, typically of the high gravity sort such as barleywines, imperial stouts, Belgian abbey beers, wee heavies and so on, secondary fermenter extended aging gives the beer time to mellow out and let those flavors integrate fully.
- Lagering: While in home beer making the risk of autolysis has been greatly overestimated, most lager brewers prefer not to cold age the beer for weeks or months in the primary fermenter, and real things happen during this extended secondary aging, such as chill-haze-protein-polyphenol precipitation, ester, sulfur and diacetyl reduction, to name a few.
- Dry Hopping: Historically, IPA brewers always used a secondary fermenter for dry hopping. Using a secondary fermenter can make dealing with the floating hop mass more manageable, though many brewers are simply dry hopping in the primary fermenter and then later carefully siphoning to leave behind the extra hops.
- Timing: If you’re brewing back-to-back batches, moving beer to a secondary fermenter frees up your primary fermenter for the next brew. This allows you to continue brewing without waiting for your beer to finish conditioning. Of course, you could just buy another primary fermenter instead of buying that secondary fermenter.
Cons of Using a Secondary Fermenter
But, like all things in brewing (and in life), there are some downsides:
- Risk of Contamination: Every time you transfer beer, you introduce a risk of contamination. Bacteria and wild yeast love to sneak in during transfers, which can spoil your batch. If your sanitation isn’t on point, this could lead to off-flavors or, worse, a ruined batch.
- Oxidation: When transferring beer to a secondary fermenter, it can come into contact with oxygen. Oxidation can lead to stale flavors or a papery taste, which isn’t something you want in your finished beer. Certain beers like hazy IPAs are especially susceptible to oxidation. Home brewers with CO2 cylinders can flush out fermenters with CO2 so their beer never contacts oxygen, but of course this requires extra advanced equipment.
- Unnecessary Step: For many beers, especially those meant to be consumed fresh, secondary fermentation is simply not necessary. With modern brewing practices and improved yeast strains, most brewers these days skip the secondary fermenter altogether without any loss of beer quality. And let’s face it, transferring the beer to a secondary fermenter takes additional time, and everyone is busy, so I you can same an hour or two in the brewing process, why not take advantage of it?
No Secondary Fermenter? What Am I Going to do Now?
If you are going to skip using a secondary fermenter, just remember: you are not alone. You have alternatives:
- Extended Primary Fermentation: Instead of transferring to a secondary, you can simply leave your beer in the primary fermenter for a longer period. This allows more sediment to settle, essentially achieving the same results as a secondary fermenter without the added steps.
- Cold Crashing: Cold crashing involves chilling your beer down to near-freezing temperatures before bottling. This causes sediment to drop out quickly, giving you a clearer beer without the need for a secondary fermenter.
So in Practice, When Should You Actually Consider Using a Secondary Fermenter?
Ultimately, you make your decision based upon the pros listed above:
- Complex Beers: High-ABV beers, heavily hopped brews, or those with added fruit or spices often benefit from the extended aging and flavor development a secondary fermenter provides.
- Dry Hopped Beers: Some brewers swear on using a secondary to manage the chaos of dry hopping.
- Clarity: If you’re entering a competition or simply want a beautifully clear beer, aging the beer in a secondary fermenter can help with this requirement.
The Consensus in Modern Homebrewing
Times have changed, beer styles have evolved, and so have our home brewing practices. Most homebrewers now skip using a secondary fermenter unless they have a specific reason to use it. We’ve learned that in most cases, we can achieve the same great beer without the extra step, so why spend the extra time?
Ultimately, whether or not you decide to use a secondary fermenter depends on your specific situation and goals. For some styles and situations, it’s a useful step. For others, it can be an unnecessary time-consuming drudgery that makes home brewing feel more like work than a fun hobby that leads to phenomenal beer. The more you brew, experiment and gain experience, you will find what methodology works best for you. Happy brewing!
