Why secondary?

There's an interesting discussion about the function of secondary fermentation over at the Northern Brewer forums. It seems that "secondary fermentation" is a bit of misnomer since very little (if any) fermentation happens at that stage.

In my experience, you can skip the secondary phase altogether in most cases if you're going to keg your beer. If you're force carbonating, don't rush it, though, unless you absolutely have to -- waiting 4-5 days under proper pressure usually produces a fine-tasting beer.