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I don't usually leave my beer for longer than a couple of days in secondary,checking the gravity over 2 days and if stable i bottle it.I've noticed that after 3 or 4 days there is very little carbonation in the brew,so ,after transferring to secondary there is vistually no pressure on the airlock,hence, i bottle it straight away.The process of racking nearly always knocks a few points off the gravity,so it serves a purpose to me,but i never leave it longer than 2 days in secondary,but thats just my method.

Not much point in going to secondary then if only leaving it for a couple of days. The use of the secondary is to get the brew off the trub and to allow for some conditioning to take place. You'd want to leave it there for at least 10 days to be of any use, or it's just not worth the bother.

I would disagree. As mark says he knocks a few points off his SG, and most of this would be from sediment settling out since he has minimal pressure in his airlock. Removing the majority of the solid material by racking will greatly increase the speed at which the rest of it settles out.

I agree with RP, racking if only to enhance sediment reduction is at least worth it for that alone.

Also I can see no reason not to leave it for 7 days, not really neccesary to leave it for 10.

A longer time in the secondary will improve and clarify the brew further. A short period negates the conditioning purpose of secondary usage while at the same time increases the risk of infection.

You can greatly decrease sediment and have a cleaner brew by making full use of the secondary.

Don't take my word for it though, instead have a look at the online brewing book by John Palmer to see what he considers is a useful time in the secondary. I think he suggests at least 2 weeks to be of any value which is even more than I was suggesting, although I've found 10 days to work well. During the last few days of secondary, you can drop the temperature to further improve.

Does the reduction in sediment result in a longer time needed to carbonate?

I have only racked twice, and it seems to take forever to get the bottles carbonated enough to drink.

That's likely. A longer secondary will drop quite a lot of yeast from suspension. Unless it is over extended time in the secondary there will still be enough left there to do the job.

If you are taste testing the beer after 1 week in the bottle then it's likely to not have developed enough, certainly not the same as a beer that hasn't had extended secondary conditioning. You may have also noted that smaller bottles will condition faster than larger bottles.

For an ale, I allow 3 weeks in the bottle at normal temperature. You should have full carbonation and small compact bubbles after that period. With a lager, I allow for about 1 week in the bottle, and then lager for several weeks at low temperatures.

rejected wrote:Not much point in going to secondary then if only leaving it for a couple of days. The use of the secondary is to get the brew off the trub and to allow for some conditioning to take place. You'd want to leave it there for at least 10 days to be of any use, or it's just not worth the bother.

I thought secondary was to allow fermentation to complete? Then cold conditioning and lagering were used to provide clarity (amoung other things).

Cheers,
Matt

There seems to be some confusion in the brewing community as to when to condition and what part of the process it is.

My condensed understanding is this.
There are 3 phases to fermenting.

The first phase is when the yeast is pitched and builds up numbers.

The second phase is the very active fermenting that will create most of the alcohol and release CO2 as a byproduct.

The third phase is when the process slows down and the conditioning begins. This is the longest phase.

Some will condition in the bottle and others who want to make full use of the secondary will condition in that (or at least take it part way). The resulting brew that has had secondary fermenter conditioning is thought to be the better and a practice that is used widely in producing speciality ales. By the same token, there are many fine beers that are bottle conditioned.

When you bulk prime after conditioning, the beer will go through another mini ferment so the process is repeated but not on the same scale.

You can choose to bottle condition or secondary condition or something in between. My prefered method is to carry out some of the conditioning in the secondary, followed by bottling, a carbonation period at room temperature, and then some more cold conditioning in the bottle. If I was kegging it would be a different story.

Trouble is, it's a lengthy wait to get at the beer and I don't always do that. When I do, the results are much better.