How often do you use your carboy or better bottle (poll)?

Just wondering Answer the poll above!

There is no poll... I currently own three 6-gal Better Bottles and one 5-gal BB in addition to two buckets. I use the three 6-gal BBs for all my primary fermentations except for sour beers, which is what I use a dedicated bucket for. The small BB is also dedicated for aging the sours in before they go into the keg. The second bucket is not used for fermentation; it's mostly to measure strike & sparge water volumes and to collect wort from the mash tun while I have sparge water heating up in my kettle.

I don't really understand the question, but, I have two 6 gallon Better Bottles, a bucket and a 5 gallon Better Bottle. I rotate the 3 fermenters so they all are getting used and the 5 gallon secondary is not getting used much anymore.

BTW there is no poll attached.

All I ever had was a carboy. I Only recently got a bucket and generally only use the bucket if I've got to add anything solid to the brew (fruit, coffee, chocolate, ect).

Thanks guys for the responses! You guys are too fast, I must have still been creating the poll options when you replied. The poll is there now.

The foundation of the question is that a bunch of very knowledgeable folks have recommended that I just skip going from the fermenting bucket to the carboy as there is no real benefit to going to the carboy, unless I want to use the bucket for another batch. It just got me curious as to what folks are doing for their batches. More curiosity than anything else.

ah, but if you have a 6.5 gallon carboy or a 6 gallon Better Bottle, you can use THAT for primary. And many do.

A 5 gallon carboy is far less useful for brewing. I use all of my 5 gallon carboys for winemaking, and very rarely for oaking a beer.

yes, many would agree that secondary is not necessary. I would happen to be one of them. There are benefits to it but I definitely don't feel compelled to do it.
I almost always use my carboy as my PRIMARY, unless its otherwise occupied. Just start with the carboy, its easier to see whats going on, easier to keep contained, easier to rack out (you can see if you are keeping the racking cane above the trub line). Of course, its also easier to drop and shatter into hundreds of artery slashing shards of glass too.

Ah, very interesting! Thanks for all the responses.

So the question is...what IS secondary fermentation? Is it:
a) just more time? thus the bucket will be just fine
b) change of vessel? the carboy is somehow different than the bucket (the shape or something?)
c) is is the actual process of moving from one vessel to another (leaving something behind)?

I guess once I understand exactly what secondary fermentation IS, I'll understand better I have a 6.5 gallon bucket and a 5 gallon carboy.

Its getting it off the yeast cake. Doing this means when it comes time to bottle/keg the finished product may be a bit clearer. Also there's scientific disagreement on chemical benefits to the brew by getting it off the yeast.

newbrewguy11 said:

Ah, very interesting! Thanks for all the responses.

So the question is...what IS secondary fermentation? Is it:
a) just more time? thus the bucket will be just fine
b) change of vessel? the carboy is somehow different than the bucket (the shape or something?)
c) is is the actual process of moving from one vessel to another?

I guess once I understand exactly what secondary fermentation IS, I'll understand better I have a 6.5 gallon bucket and a 5 gallon carboy.

Click to expand...

In beer brewing, "secondary fermentation" is a misnomer. It IS a common practice in winemaking, where indeed fermentation is taking place in a different vessel. In beermaking, unless you are adding fermentables (like fruit), you aren't doing a "secondary fermentation".

In a brewery, that second vessel is called a "bright tank". That is where the beer that has finished fermenting is moved to, so it can clear a bit while a second batch is started in the fermenter. I think home brewers call this vessel a "secondary" just because winemakers do. It's better called a clearing vessel, or a bright tank.

Moving the beer does nothing magical to it- it's just a way to free up the fermenter but still giving the beer enough time to clear a bit before packaging. If done too early, you can actually arrest some of the good things that happen in the fermenter, like the beer finishing up fermentation and then the yeast going back after fermentation is over and actually then digesting its own waste products. That usually happens within about two days of the beer reaching FG.

If you're going to use a clearing vessel, I'd suggest doing it no earlier than about day 5-7 depending on when active fermentation ends.

knotquiteawake said:

Its getting it off the yeast cake. Doing this means when it comes time to bottle/keg the finished product may be a bit clearer. Also there's scientific disagreement on chemical benefits to the brew by getting it off the yeast.

Click to expand...

Ah what a perfectly succinct, answer, thanks!

It sounds like an oft-debated topic...with no clear answer. How long is long enough for a primary and a secondary separately as compared to just doing one long fermentation? Is it equal, like

1 week in a bucket,and then 1 week in the carboy = 2 weeks in the carboy or bucke?

I think you are going to want to have most of the fermentation pretty much done before you move it, so 1-2 weeks in the primary (verified by taking gravity). Then how long its in secondary is just preference. Some beers need extra time to bulk age, some you just want to let it get a littler clearer, some are getting dry hopped (not necessary to secondary for that though) so follow the recipe directions, and sometimes you just don't feel like bottling so the beer is just going to have to wait in the secondary until you're darn well ready to bottle it and not a moment sooner.

The poll seems weighted to have a lot of rarely(3) or never(3) answers, with just one "all of the time".
I use mine about 1/2 of the time, for various reasons. (dry hopping, oaking, long term aging, need the primary for another batch, etc.)

edit: I do find I like to do extended primary, no secondary brews more often these days.

I answered #1 Everytime I brew but in actuality, I never secondary ferment. I have 6.5 gallon carboys, and use them for my primary fermentation, then straight into a keg.

I use mine ALL the time! Because my wine and mead sit in it for almost a year!

For beer, not so much.

Plus, I have some sweet SS fire extinguishers that I've cleaned out and use for secondary for my big beers. They are only 2.5 gallons, but that is good enough, and I can split a 5 gallon batch between them if I choose.

I answered the poll before reading the thread. I never secondary (with the exception of flavor infusions) but I always use my carboy/better bottle as my primary.

I have two Brewhemoths now, so I only use the carboys for 5 gallon batches, ciders, and meads.

I've been lazy lately ... Using 6-gallon glass carboys for the whole ferment, then to keg. I do have some 5 gallon carboys for dry hopping.