So I am thinking I want to try using a secondary fermentor to clear up the beer a bit more. My question is, how long should I leave it in the primmary fermentor before switching it to the secondary fermentor, and also how long should I leave it in the secondary fermentor for? Thanks!

You want to transfer to the secondary when fermentation is about 80-90% complete. You want enough fermentation left to form CO2 to fill the headspace of the secondary and protect the beer from oxygen.

Keep in mind that yeast do not have eyes so they can't look around and see that they are in a new container and should do anything different. They will continue to eat sugar and poop alcohol as long as conditions permit, regardless of the container. The most dramatic impact on clarity in an extract beer will happen when chilling it in the fridge.

The idea of using a secondary was much more popular long ago when home brewers used some pretty crude yeasts. These yeasts would soon die and spill their guts, contaminating the beer. Modern yeast available for home brewing are much improved so it's perfectly acceptable to have your beer sit on the yeast for 4 weeks or more without ill effect. A secondary is useful for very long fermentations of perhaps 6 or 8 weeks or more. Usually when making a true lager.

I found the secondary to be most useful for getting me out of annoying household chores or having to watch a sappy lifetime movie with my wife.

"Sorry honey, I can't watch that show with you tonight. I've got to transfer my beer to a secondary ASAP."

"It's really important that I transfer the beer to a secondary right now... I'll take out the garbage later..."

I find it helpful to mumble technical sounding words like; autolysis, transfer, secondary, fermentation, flocculation, specific gravity...

So you mean I could kill two birds with one stone? BRILLIANT!!! Thanks for the advice.

+1 Dane

My buddy still does transfers, despite me telling him it wasn't necessary. It's more like a habit for him. It's really a matter of personal preference, IMO. Unless you do it (and try doing it without), you won't really know if it is a part of YOUR brewing process.

I personally only transfer if I'm going to dry hop. I transferred my lager, but that was so I could get after the yeast for washing.

And my wife is catching onto the lingo and process, so I find it difficult to "trick" her in this way.

Transferring to a second keg for bottling will probably do as much for you. Rack the beer to the second keg leaving behind the trub, add all your priming sugar boiled in a small amount of water, and bottle it up.

The only time I've transferred was if I was adding something. I did a blueberry wheat and about about 1.5 weeks I transferred to a secondary to add the blueberries. Otherwise as other people have said, it isn't really necessary.

With the equipment I have(namely carboys) I tranfer to a secondary(Mr.Beer keg) to bottle my beer but usually let it sit a couple days or so after transfer to settle any leftover yeast. It will "defog" the beer a little but not as substantially as one would hope as I still end up with a trub bottle like most everyone else.

I have found that "cold crashing" the beer in the fermenter does as well (if not better and faster) then a secondary.
Once your primary fermentation is done, put the fermenter in the fridge and cool it. The colder you can get it the better, just don't freeze it. The yeast will drop out of suspension.
You may need to adjust your priming sugar. This is easily done when batch priming, but I'm not sure about bottle priming. Anyone else have any suggestions for bottle priming after cold crashing?

Agreed! I bottle in the kitchen, so I pull out the fermenter and set it up 1-2 days before (to let it resettle a little), then batch prime in a bottling bucket. I've had a Kolsch and Munich Helles you could nearly read through, and a few amber batches that were also pretty clear.

The yeast type matters as well. Not just low vs high flocculation, but you should try different yeasts to get a feel for HOW they flocculate, not just HOW MUCH. Some yeasts drop out really well but any movement at all (including lifting a bottle to pour it) causes it to loosen and chunk up. Some take longer to drop out, but once they do they stay put.

My clearest beers have had at 3-4 weeks in primary, no secondary, bottle from a separate bucket, and sit in the bottles for 6+ weeks. All depends on your schedule and personal preference (and patience), but overall the longer you let it sit at any particular step, the clearer the end result will be.

With some yeasts that like to drop out early (I'm looking at you, Wyeast 1968 ESB!), racking to a secondary can help wake the yeasties up and get them to finish out, when otherwise rocking the primary fermentor wouldn't.

This is really only an issue if you're bottling...in which case, the lazy yeasties might wake back up in the bottle, finish fermenting the wort those last few points, AND eat all the priming sugar...leading to overcarbed beer.

This has lead me to have a mild that I bottled for swaps to be carbed more like a hefe...I might've been to style with zero priming sugar, and just letting the yeasties finish out in the bottles.

So, now, when using a super-flocculant yeast like Wyeast 1968, I rack to a cornie for secondary, seal the lid and let it sit in the warm for a couple of days before I put it in the kegerator.

This lets it finish fermenting out, and often is enough to carb a british beer to style.