Is secondary fermentation necessary? Munton's Belgian Style

flimflamflo

Hello,

I've brewed three batches from kit now, so still learning....I'm wondering if someone can advise here, please?

I've got a Munton's 'Hand Crafted Belgian Style Ale' kit. (You can find it on Home Brew West's site, as a new user, I'm not allowed to post links).

The instructions call for transfer to a secondary bin after 5 days, at which time 500g spraymalt and 'about half a cup' of the yeast sediment should be added.

I have 2 questions:

1. I've read in quite a few places online that secondary is just another opportunity to add bacteria and oxygen to the brew, spoiling it, and it's not *that* necessary. Could I get away with dodging the transfer to the new bin but adding the spraymalt or should I go exactly as per the instructions?

2. What do you reckon Munton's mean by 'about half a cup'? I've been reading Charlie Papazian's 'The Homebrewer's Companion' and he reckons 125-250mls of yeast slurry per 19.1 litres of wort, leaning towards the upper end. So for my 23 litre bin, I guess I should aim for 300mls+ ?

Any advice most appreciated :-)

Cheers,
Flim

Carawaystick

No.

Secondary fermentation has all the risks and very little advantages.

Leave it 2-3 weeks and then bottle it.

Adding anything other than hops to fermented beer will have a risk of infection or oxidisation. Add the half kilo to the wort before fermentation starts if you want.

I would definitely use the secondary bin for bottling.
Figure out how miuch sugar you need for carbonation, boil it up in aclean pot with the same or less weight of water, add this to the secondary bin, rack the beer onto the syrup, then bottle immediately.