Not exactly where I saw it or read it, but should I add water after I transfer to the 5-gal carboy to bring the volume up to the neck of the carboy?
No.
1, you will change the ABV of the beer.
2, you risk contamination of your beer.
Thanks NightHawk. Glad I asked first.
You should just skip the secondary all together.
You spread this like it’s your job. To the OP, not everyone shares this view and yes it always gets debated on this forum.
Stnorth please look into the pros/cons of doing a secondary and decide for yourself as to what you want to do. I always use secondaries as I find my beer clears faster especially when I add gelatin. YMMV so do what works best for you.
I agree with Nighthawk that you should not top off with water in your secondary. I get the logic behind it, though. I believe the point is to reduce the risk of oxidizing your beer by having too much air in the headspace.
As mppatriots says, this is a matter of debate, but IMO a great way to minimize the risk of oxidation (and contamination) is to skip secondary. As you move your beer from the fermentation vessel to a second vessel, carbon dioxide comes out of solution and you expose your beer to air–both factors that could contribute to oxidation.
I stopped using a secondary quite some time ago, and I have not noticed a difference in clarity in the final product. In fact, Basic Brewing Radio performed an experiment where they racked half a batch to secondary and left the other half in the fermentation vessel. The results:
A) The beer in secondary appeared to clear faster
B) After bottle conditioning, both had cleared equally
I’ve heard of mead and wine guys adding top up water, but I can’t say I’ve ever seen anyone recommend that for beer. Even with mead, I’ve aged them in secondary for over a year with no top up and no ill effects that I noticed.
As to the utility of secondaries at all, I’m in the “usually don’t” crowd. I’m not anti-secondary though. If you’re going to age for many months, using a secondary is probably worth your while to get the beer off the trub and put it in a vessel with less headspace. Other perfectly valid reasons to use a secondary are to free up your primary for a new brew, because you feel its easier to get clearer beer, or just because you feel like it. I don’t get the whole risking infection and oxidation argument. If you practice decent sanitation and rack properly, there’s essentially no risk, and being able to rack properly is a skill brewers need. If you really think there’s a chance you’ll screw it up, that’s a sign that you need practice. 
All that said though, standard beers don’t strictly need secondaries, and I myself rarely use them.
You spread this like it’s your job. To the OP, not everyone shares this view and yes it always gets debated on this forum.[/quote]
It is my job now sign the petition
You spread this like it’s your job. To the OP, not everyone shares this view and yes it always gets debated on this forum.[/quote]
It is my job now sign the petition [/quote]
Lies…all lies!! Why do we have to turn every damn question into a f’n secondary debate? Leave it alone FFS. You don’t wanna secondary, then don’t. Save the agenda for something worthwhile like neighborhood pedophiles or keeping your grass at the optimal level. Gah!!!
It depends on the length of the secondary - if you’re doing it for a week or two, then no, don’t top it up, but if you’re going to leave it for months it might be worth the effort to boil and cool some water and top it up to minimize O2 exposure (the airlock is permeable).
If you’re going to dryhop, then don’t top up so you have some room.
[quote=“mvsawyer”]
Lies…all lies!! Why do we have to turn every damn question into a f’n secondary debate? Leave it alone FFS. You don’t wanna secondary, then don’t. Save the agenda for something worthwhile like neighborhood pedophiles or keeping your grass at the optimal level. Gah!!![/quote]
It’s undisputed that it creates another round of cleaning and sanitizing. Carboy/pail, tubing, racking cane.
There is splashing at the end of the hose until enough liquid is in the new vessel. Enough to oxidize the beer? IDK. Why risk it?
Nice petition. With enough signatures, can we get congress to pass a law? They are not doing anything important up there anyway. :lol:
To the OP, this isn’t quite like a wine kit, you don’t need to top up the carboy since it won’t be stored all that long and there is some CO2 still dissolved in the new beer to protect against oxidation.
[quote=“Nighthawk”][quote=“mvsawyer”]
Lies…all lies!! Why do we have to turn every damn question into a f’n secondary debate? Leave it alone FFS. You don’t wanna secondary, then don’t. Save the agenda for something worthwhile like neighborhood pedophiles or keeping your grass at the optimal level. Gah!!![/quote]
It’s undisputed that it creates another round of cleaning and sanitizing. Carboy/pail, tubing, racking cane.
There is splashing at the end of the hose until enough liquid is in the new vessel. Enough to oxidize the beer? IDK. Why risk it?
Nice petition. With enough signatures, can we get congress to pass a law? They are not doing anything important up there anyway. :lol: [/quote]
Regardless of its disputability, the OP isn’t asking whether or not to secondary. This BS is like going on the Extract forum and replying to every post “Stop doing extract and move to All-grain!.” It’s asinine and irrelevant to the question. Just like my posts 
[quote=“mvsawyer”][quote=“Nighthawk”][quote=“mvsawyer”]
Lies…all lies!! Why do we have to turn every damn question into a f’n secondary debate? Leave it alone FFS. You don’t wanna secondary, then don’t. Save the agenda for something worthwhile like neighborhood pedophiles or keeping your grass at the optimal level. Gah!!![/quote]
It’s undisputed that it creates another round of cleaning and sanitizing. Carboy/pail, tubing, racking cane.
There is splashing at the end of the hose until enough liquid is in the new vessel. Enough to oxidize the beer? IDK. Why risk it?
Nice petition. With enough signatures, can we get congress to pass a law? They are not doing anything important up there anyway. :lol: [/quote]
Regardless of its disputability, the OP isn’t asking whether or not to secondary. This BS is like going on the Extract forum and replying to every post “Stop doing extract and move to All-grain!.” It’s asinine and irrelevant to the question. Just like my posts [/quote]
+1 to moving to all-grain, -1 to secondary. -1000 to mowing grass. Who’s keeping track of the voting?
[quote=“mvsawyer”][quote=“Nighthawk”][quote=“mvsawyer”]
Lies…all lies!! Why do we have to turn every damn question into a f’n secondary debate? Leave it alone FFS. You don’t wanna secondary, then don’t. Save the agenda for something worthwhile like neighborhood pedophiles or keeping your grass at the optimal level. Gah!!![/quote]
It’s undisputed that it creates another round of cleaning and sanitizing. Carboy/pail, tubing, racking cane.
There is splashing at the end of the hose until enough liquid is in the new vessel. Enough to oxidize the beer? IDK. Why risk it?
Nice petition. With enough signatures, can we get congress to pass a law? They are not doing anything important up there anyway. :lol: [/quote]
Regardless of its disputability, the OP isn’t asking whether or not to secondary. This BS is like going on the Extract forum and replying to every post “Stop doing extract and move to All-grain!.” It’s asinine and irrelevant to the question. Just like my posts [/quote]
The OP “read somewhere” that he needed to transfer to a secondary. Everyone knows that a “secondary” is not a “necessity”. So he, and others that will ask the same question in 3 hours, should also read that somewhere.
:cheers:
If everyone did things the same generally-accepted way, then how would my beers be so much better than everyone elses? Let the newbies follow their directions for awhile. Beer is wonderfully forgiving when it comes to procedures.
Yeah sometimes I crack myself up. lol Don’t really understand why people get so worked up over silly things… Now sign the petition lets make it illegal to secondary! LOL
[quote=“Nighthawk”][quote=“mvsawyer”]
Lies…all lies!! Why do we have to turn every damn question into a f’n secondary debate? Leave it alone FFS. You don’t wanna secondary, then don’t. Save the agenda for something worthwhile like neighborhood pedophiles or keeping your grass at the optimal level. Gah!!![/quote]
It’s undisputed that it creates another round of cleaning and sanitizing. Carboy/pail, tubing, racking cane.
There is splashing at the end of the hose until enough liquid is in the new vessel. Enough to oxidize the beer? IDK. Why risk it?
Nice petition. With enough signatures, can we get congress to pass a law? They are not doing anything important up there anyway. :lol: [/quote]
