Some widely respected people advise against it, like:

> Racking to prevent autolysis is not necessary

Whilst it might be true, in some cases, it is not true in case of strong stuff, stuff that will stay in fermenter long time. See wine resources - for yeast wine with nutrient is not so different than wort. And even if this particular part, this one reason is true - racking may be performed to prevent other undesired tastes, including ones that came from badly filtered wort, from leftover hops etc. I think we may safely assume that experienced and knowledgeable people hardly ever *have* such problems anymore, so for *them* it doesn't matter. At the same time if you still wonder, you might be far from that state. Or not.

# Try

Brew something simple. Like APA, or other balanced beer. And do it twice, with and without. It is not expensive nor especially time consuming, but it'll let **you** know what works better with **your** workshop and your skills.

I did this, and I tested it on my friends and myself. Racking to secondary created beer that was received better, and was ready to drink faster. Does it mean I can't filter properly? Maybe. I know I can't, or at least couldn't until my last batch! Or maybe I have some other issue? Who knows. But when it comes to beer, **no amount of respectability will ever win with taste-buds of my friends**, and that's approach I strongly advise to you.

## Other aspect worth mentioning is tradition.

If you want to brew [real ale](http://www.camra.org.uk/about-real-ale), you simply have no option other than to rack. Of course you probably will not rack to actual cask, but cask had inside covered with substance that prevented beer from acquiring wood taste. But historically, English ales was racked, and kept that way for period of time similar to our "secondary". And it was famous. Of course there are ways far faster than traditional ones, but that's not why we do it, is it? I'd say it's quite the opposite...

## Yeast reuse may be a reason, too

If you add Gelatin or other clearing agents to primary, your yeast are pretty much wasted. Can't use them to next beer, because you will harm their ability to stay in suspension. And even if you won't, leaving yeast too long in beer that's almost finished may make them dormant. Or dead. So if you are brewing chain of beers to prepare good slurry for barleywine, racking will be the way to go for you.