Secondary unnecessary

Turns out the next school of thought for racking to secondary is that it is unnecessary. Autolysis (yeast consuming each other) is not a concern for home brewers. It is more a concern for conical fermenter and commercial brewers. Reasons for secondary:

1. Additives - dry hopping, oaking, coffee, tea, fruit, herbs, spices, whatever you can dream up. Add these things to secondary to keep the beer in contact with the additive and not the yeast in contact with the additive if/when it sinks. Also avoid those off-flavors yeast start producing after a month if it gets that long.

2. Clarity - rack the beer to secondary and let it sit for several weeks to get the yeast to floc out and any proteins and/or break to settle. You can add gelatin and/or cold crash the secondary to help this process along as well.

3. Bulk Aging - My personal favorite of the three. Beer ages differently and more quickly in larger quantities, so rack to secondary and leave it there for a few months or a few years if the style warrants. Huge beers like stouts and barleywine are great candidates for the months end of the scale, while Lambics, Flanders Reds, and other sours fall more towards the years end.