Should I use a secondary fermenter when making an ale?

We answer this question a lot because we don't mention the use of secondary fermenters in our instructions and other instructions do. First lets take a look at the supposed benefits of secondary fermenters. The first one we have always read was that the beer would clear out more in the secondary. This is not true. A beer will clear just the same in a primary as it will in a primary/secondary. Another benefit is supposed to be less trub in the bottles. If you you use a racking clip and siphoning set up you should get no more trub pick up in the primary than in the secondary. The most legitimate argument for a secondary fermenter is that you remove the beer from the trub. However we have researched quite a bit of material and have done a fair amount of actual testing and can find no evidence of trub breaking down within two weeks to a point where this an affect on flavor.

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