Fermenting in bottling bucket... To rack or not to rack?

I am brewing my first batch with my own setup (I have been brewing with a friend), and currently I only have a 7gal bottling bucket and a 5 gal glass carboy. The bottling spigot didn't have any leaks, so I am currently brewing an AHS Belgian White in my bottling bucket. I am hoping to bottle with my brother when he comes in to town for Thanksgiving, which will give this beer about 3 1/2 weeks in primary. I was thinking that I would need to rack to the carboy, clean the bottling bucket, put the priming sugar solution in the bucket and rack back to the bucket before I bottle. If this is what I should so, when should I do each step and how much time should I leave between each?

OR, is there a way to bottle straight from the bottling bucket? Will the trub likely come up the spigot? If not, how do I add the priming sugar and mix it evenly without disturbing the trub?

You'll need to transfer to another vessel and clean your bottling bucket. Just mixing the priming sugar will stir up a ton of sediment into your beer. When I first got started, I did the same thing. I just racked to another carboy/bucket for as long as it took me to clean the bottling bucket and boil some priming sugar. Then I transferred back. No need to wait in between steps.

If you just add the sugar, you will stir up the trub. Just let it resettle for a while.

Thanks, this is what I was guessing I would need to do, but I was thinking I might need to leave a few days between rackings. I was hoping I would be able to both bottle on Thanksgiving and give the beer 3+ weeks on the yeast cake.

Transferring will also give me a chance to thoroughly resantize the spigot.

bakeup said:

If you just add the sugar, you will stir up the trub. Just let it resettle for a while.

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And the chances of that sugar partially fermenting out and causing you to lose some of your carbonation would be much higher.

I was going to use my bottling bucket as a primary. I went to a beer class at my LHBS and decided that the bottling bucket was good for bottling (I also use it as a sanitation bucket) An extra bucket from my local store is only $13.00, I bought a bucket without a spigot for a primary. After moving my brew to the secondary (I have a better bottle carboy), I cleaned up the primary and plan to use that as a sanitation bucket during bottling and may just get a third bucket for use as a sanitation bucket.

I am not letting the lack of a $13.00 bucket allow me to ruin a $41.00 beer kit.

I know money is tight for any people, and when first starting up you do put out a fair amount of cash. I just got the basic kit and stuff I needed to brew, I am adding stuff as needed (example, last night I moved to the secondary so I went out and bought the auto siphon).

You could also use Coopers or Munton's carb tabs in the bottles, or sugar cubes. Then you'd just bottle straight from the spigot.

Suthrncomfrt1884 said:

And the chances of that sugar partially fermenting out and causing you to lose some of your carbonation would be much higher.

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You don't need to let it sit for a long time, maybe about an hour or so. I don't think that would be long enough to lose a significant amount of fermentability. When I started, I used Mr. Beer, and that's how I batch primed. The carbonation seemed fine.

billf2112 said:

I was going to use my bottling bucket as a primary. I went to a beer class at my LHBS and decided that the bottling bucket was good for bottling (I also use it as a sanitation bucket) An extra bucket from my local store is only $13.00, I bought a bucket without a spigot for a primary. After moving my brew to the secondary (I have a better bottle carboy), I cleaned up the primary and plan to use that as a sanitation bucket during bottling and may just get a third bucket for use as a sanitation bucket.

I am not letting the lack of a $13.00 bucket allow me to ruin a $41.00 beer kit.

I know money is tight for any people, and when first starting up you do put out a fair amount of cash. I just got the basic kit and stuff I needed to brew, I am adding stuff as needed (example, last night I moved to the secondary so I went out and bought the auto siphon).

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Good thoughts, $41 is an EXPENSIVE brew by the way. Do you have a LHBS?

I have enough for 6 good brews for $120 or so.

billf2112 said:

An extra bucket from my local store is only $13.00

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Only?! That's pretty pricey for a plastic bucket. I used to pay $9 at my LHBS until I realized that I could buy food grade buckets from home depot for $3-5.

billf2112 said:

I am not letting the lack of a $13.00 bucket allow me to ruin a $41.00 beer kit.

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Agreed. But, as someone above mentioned...$41 is expensive. I suppose it all depends on the beer you're brewing though. I just made a reese's stout that ended up costing me over $80 for 6 gallons with all the chocolate and PB2 peanut butter I used.

But, most of my beers average about $20 since I buy bulk grain.

They're $17 here plus airlock and stopper, and it's a $26 beer. I was actually going to pick up some foodsafe buckets at the bakery I used to work at, only to run out at the last minute and be told they changes their policy and all their buckets have to go into the trash compactor (Costco here told me the same thing) so I went home and brewed with what I had while I had the chance since my next free block of hours for brewing was a month away. Seems to me that while I am risking oxidation more than if I went straight from primary to bottling bucket, I am not putting my beer at any more risk than I would be if I was using a secondary.