[jdoss03]

I'm getting ready to bottle my first batch, and I'm probably being over cautious, but how can you tell if you should re-pitch before bottling? I'm doing a Sweetwater 420 clone (its an American Pale Ale), so it isn't high gravity. Thanks for any input.

[Hokerer]

Unless it's been three months or more in the fermenter, you should be fine as is.

[euge]

There'll be plenty of yeast left over to carbonate your beer.

Congrats on the first batch! How long in the primary fermenter?

[jdoss03]

Thanks man. I did about 8 days in primary and its been in the secondary about 8 days as well. Thanks for all the input!

[euge]

Thanks man. I did about 8 days in primary and its been in the secondary about 8 days as well. Thanks for all the input!

You are welcome!

FYI you can just leave the beer in primary instead of transferring to secondary. Secondary fermentation vessel has fallen out of vogue for good reason. However many instructions still suggest doing one.

[jdoss03]

interesting. I've always head that leaving it on the dead yeast bed can lead to off flavors. But I am a novice. How come the revert back to solely primary fermenting?

[weithman5]

lot of people with lot of experience noting no ill effects from leaving on the yeast.  lot of concern with oxidation, infection with unnecessary transfers.

[Hokerer]

interesting. I've always head that leaving it on the dead yeast bed can lead to off flavors. But I am a novice. How come the revert back to solely primary fermenting?

The fear about leaving it on the yeast bed seems to have come primarily from brewery scale practices.  With the amount of pressure that the huge quantities of wort exert on the yeast bed, autolysis becomes a concern.  At the five- and ten-gallon scales of us homebrewers, that pressure doesn't exist.  Another reason attributed to the reversion away from secondaries, is that the quality of the yeasts available to homebrewers has vastly improved over the years, thus allaying even more fears.

[bigchicken]

The only reason I ever transfer to a secondary is to help "clean" my beer to try to keep some extra yeast & hop particles from making it to my bottling bucket.

[gigatropolis]

The only reason I ever transfer to a secondary is to help "clean" my beer to try to keep some extra yeast & hop particles from making it to my bottling bucket.

  Secondary is also were you can do your dry hopping and/or adding flavoring stuff (like coffee, fruit, bacon, blah blah blah).