speedie wrote:It is good practice to get the brew of the yeast aspa
Cheers speedie
Yes, as Bum has stated your comment Speedie comes down to an ideology that is somewhat dated. There has been much discussion upon this topic in recent years. More recent beliefs would argue that the off tastes or autolysis is not an issue on a home brew scale. With large surface areas of yeast in commercial fermentors and the sheer weight of the yeast and depth of the yeast in these conical fermentors, the weight upon the yeast can lead to autolysis. Hence the reason many large scale breweries rack(and to re-use yeast). Autolysis is of even greater concern with lagers where the brew would be left on the yeast for long periods. At our scale (and I would imagine at a 400l scale) that this is not an issue as there is simply not that kind of pressure placed on the yeast. Additionally, at a homebrew scale it yet again even less of an issue with ales.
If you do some research, even the likes of Palmer have gone back upon what has been published in earlier editions in regards for the need to racking. I can't find the link at the moment, but if I remember that my comments above can be attibuted to a fairly recent interview with Palmer.
IN summary, rack if you wish to, but you're increasing exposure of the beer. Rack to improve clarity(but yeast will settle just as well in a primary as in a secondary) , but as others have shown via photos, it's not needed to get a clear beer!
Cheers
Hirns