Question... What's a good, safe way to transfer your brew from a primary to a secondary without getting too much of the yeast in the secondary? Also, when should you do the transfer...I assume after the yeast has settled? Whats the time frame?
Test the gravity then do it again 3 days later. If there's no change then you're ready to rack to secondary. One of the reasons to do so is to clarify your beer, so you should wait until the yeast is starting to drop out and you have a good cake on the bottom of your carboy. Another advantage of the secondary is that you can wash and harvest the yeast to use later, or rack a bigger beer onto the yeast cake and watch it take off within a few hours.
It has also been argued that racking the beer just makes it take longer to clarify since everything in the process of settling through gravity is going to get mixed up again.
True, although he'd most likely be cold crashing before bottling so that's not a huge issue. I should have also told the OP that secondaries are not necessary in most cases and can invite in more infections, but it's good experience to have in any case.
I pretty much give up on secondary unless I'm doing some additions that I don't want/mind in the keg, like fruit, or wood. Wait until the beer is done fermenting out fully, and then rack it over to the secondary, be warned that you'll probably get greedy and get a clod of yeast in the process to carry over. If you plan to cold crash it before bottling, then you are fine. Time frame wise? It's up to the temp and the yeast really.. Could take a week or two to settle, then you rack over, and give it another week or so. Colder temps help. If you are going to cold crash it, skip secondary and just keep it all in primary and do it in one step. If you aren't gonna cold crash, then be willing to lose some beer in the process if you want it to be really clear.
It has also been argued that racking clarifies the beer quicker since you are removing it from the bulk of the yeast. But the truth is: your finished product will have the same clarity whether or not you rack into a secondary; because once you package, most of the clarification via gravity is going to occur there. The main negative of racking to secondary (assuming your sanitary practices are sound) is risk of oxidation, which is basically inevitable during every transfer. There are a limited number of scenarios in my mind where a secondary fermenter makes sense. (and I used to rack EVERYTHING to secondary... it just doesn't make much sense.)
