2 batches at once

I am brand new to brewing and only have a Coopers kit so far. I am wanting to be able to have two brews working at once. I am wondering what would be the best way to go about this. Would it be better to get a secondary and transfer to that and start a new batch or just get a second fermenter?

Considerations here will be space and money. I am a college student living in a small apartment. I don't know if that will make any difference between those two options, but something to consider.

i'd go 2 fermenters. considering a secondary is rarely necessary, you'd get more use out of 2 primaries. of course, many people interchange secondaries and primaries anyway, so it doesn't really matter much

Any suggestions for what kind of primary I should go for? I am kind of considering just getting the Deluxe brewing kit from http://www.butlerwinery.com/homebrew.html

Any thoughts on that stuff?

Still fairly new at this but I haven't been doing simultaneous batches, although I have been staggering them. Meaning I brew a batch, put it in the fermenter, then as soon as I bottle it, days later I brew another batch. This way all I have to have is space for more bottles.

After I move to a different place, I will definitely invest in another primary so I can do more batches, but until then, this works for me pretty well.

You can either get another 6.5 Gallon Bucket or a Carboy of the same size, and either will work fine.

Each has definite Pros/Cons which I wont type out here as they're currently written in detail in a sticky at the top of the Beginner Forum.

Read through it and see which one offers you the most advantages. The only thought I'd point out is that carboys work better as a secondary than buckets do, so if your planning on doing blueberry (or another fruit) beers then a carboy might be your best bet.

I have three 6 gallon buckets. I really only need 2 since I brew on a Saturday afternoon and place it in the fermenter that night. 2 weeks after, I rack it into my secondary (I do a lot of stouts) and start my next beer that day. So I'm brewing a beer every other week. It works well for me and leaves me with plenty of home brewed beer. I take a break for a month, every other month just to keep my inventory moving. I guess it really depends on how much you consume and how much space you have. I live in a apartment where I have a closet dedicated to my new hobby, so space is a huge issue for me.

I just got a second primary, but before that i was brewing every 2 weeks and transferring to secondary to free up space.

I have 6 carboys. I often do double batch brew days so if I brew more than twice I month I hit a bottleneck. I never thought I would but I actually did have to wait last month because I started a Bopils and it was lagering.

Definitely add a few fermenters to your inventory, it can really help with a pipeline

pick up a 6.5 gallon better bottle, bung, airlock, and your set.
dont bother with secondaries.

Im new too, I have 3= 6 1/2 gal plastic bottling buckets, I can use them for fermenting vessels (primary and secondary) and or bottling too.

3 buckets and 3 airlocks is Way cheap, and you can have 2 brews fermenting at a time, 1 in primary, 1 in secondary, then when u bottle 1 you brew another batch rotating them out, I do a batch every 2 to 3 weeks, 2 weeks in primary, then 1 to 2 weeks in secondary, then bottle it (age another 2 weeks at least).

I also put my freshly bottled beer in a big ice chest to condition, several reasons for this, just incase of a bottle bomb (No mess to clean up) and controlling the temp is easy too, just add water to the ice chest and to cool it add 1 frozen plastic bottle of water, a 32oz bottle will drop the temp around 3 to 5 deg.

I do this same thing with my fermenters, and use plastic rope handle tubs to keep temps down to 62 to 65 deg (tubs $6 at walmart) and a blowout should be contained too.

Its working out Great for me, and it should all fit in a closet since your in a apartment.

Hope this helps
WiliECoyote