Using Secondary for Variants?

I'm new to brewing, and although I love good craft beers I'm not going to go through a massive amount each year (~200), so a 5-gallon batch is a significant commitment to me.

Here's my question: is it feasable after primary fermentation to rack half the batch into the bottling bucket for immediate bottling (halving the priming sugar, of course) and half into secondary for a variant (dry hopping half the batch, added flavorings, etc.)? Would the extra space in the secondary be a problem?

Sounds like you might be better off making small batches. A 2-1/2 gallon batch would make about one case. Then each batch could be completely different.

The extra space in the secondary would be a problem unless you were able to purge it with CO2 (which you could do with a keg setup, but if you're bottling I'm guessing you can't).

I'd also be weary about bottling right after primary fermentation if you aern't letting it sit for a couple weeks in the primary... if you only primary it for one week, the secondary is probably still going to get .01-.03 gravity points fermented, and if that happens in bottles, that's enough to mess up your carbonation, or worse.

Enoch52 said:

is it feasable after primary fermentation to rack half the batch into the bottling bucket for immediate bottling (halving the priming sugar, of course) and half into secondary for a variant (dry hopping half the batch, added flavorings, etc.)?

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Yes it is. My brother and I did something similar to a batch: make 5 gallon batch, cool, pitch, ferment ~2 weeks. pulled off 1 gallon and added some star anise. Let the other 4 ride for another week. We then bottled them all at the same time because that was just more convenient to us. Wow, that 1 gallon sure was licorice-y. Anyway, yes, the concept is sound.

However, if what you want is more variety overall, I recommend switching down to small batches, like 1-gallon size even. You can easily go all grain and full boil on your stove top at that scale, but you will need a good scale for weighing out rather small masses of hops. You'll get about 9 beers after trub losses. I've done 11 5-gallon batches and 14 1-gallon batches so far and like both scales for different purposes.

Headroom will be a problem if it is a secondary vessel that is only half filled.
I recently racked just one gallon of a 5gal batch into an inexpensive 1 gallon demijohn - you could get a couple of these and try two experiments at once - less to dislike if the experiments aren't as nice as hoped.

I may have to get a couple of 1-gal fermenters, then. As far as timing I was looking at doing it when the hydrometer said fermentation was complete.

+1 on thinking about headroom issues. For that reason I prefer making 1 gallon testers just completely at the 1-gallon size the whole way through. I use former apple juice jugs - the olde timey looking kind with a finger loop handle cast into the glass. If there is a Sprouts store nearby, this is the same kind I have and they come with free apple juice inside..

http://www.naturalwanderings.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Empty-apple-juice-jug.jpg

They make a 3 gallon better bottle. That should help with your head room concerns.

Enoch52 said:

I may have to get a couple of 1-gal fermenters, then. As far as timing I was looking at doing it when the hydrometer said fermentation was complete.

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As long as the hydrometer shows the same reading over 3 days, and that reading is around the expected reading (either on the instructions with a kit, or If using several ingredients, you could use an online brewing calculator to estimate F.G), then that is cool. Some instructions say 2 days, but 3 days will be safer and gives the yeast a bit more time to clean up and also settle.