Secondary decision....

I used my carboy as the primary and am looking to dry hop in a secondary. If I use my Bale Ale bucket for the secondary would I be exposing the beer to too much oxygen? I've heard the buckets are porous and don't hold a firm seal leaking o2 in. I was thinking of dry hopping for only a few days in the secondary then bottling, is it worth it?

Dry hop in the primary. Problem solved.

mightynintendo said:

Dry hop in the primary. Problem solved.

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i just started doing this too. i was given (2) 6.5 gal carboys, so i have (3) of them and one 5 gal secondary. so when my secondary is full and the rest of the 6.5 gals i just dryhop in them after fermentation is complete.i also just tossed the hops right in with no muslin bag.

I'll jump on the dry hop in primary bandwagon. I am strapped for space for the moment and only have a primary, I prefer to put my hops in a paint straining bag(bought a couple for 3 bucks at lowes) with something heavy enough to sink, but you could just throw them in w/out the bag if you are careful when bottling.

I would think that flavor from dryhops > oxidization from plastic no matter what the time frame. Dryhopping in the primary (after terminal gravity reached) is just fine as no aroma or flavor may be lost to co2 production. sounds good to me!

homeslice said:

I used my carboy as the primary and am looking to dry hop in a secondary. If I use my Bale Ale bucket for the secondary would I be exposing the beer to too much oxygen? I've heard the buckets are porous and don't hold a firm seal leaking o2 in. I was thinking of dry hopping for only a few days in the secondary then bottling, is it worth it?

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Buckets aren't porous to my knowledge, it's just that the lid may not form a seal where it clicks onto the bucket. Just to clarify.

The bigger problem is that fermentation is mostly or completely done when you put the hops in for dry hopping, so no CO2 is being produced by the yeast and you don't get a blanket of heavier CO2 (compared to lighter O2) over the beer, and there is a lot of headspace for O2 transfer into a greater area of exposed beer. Using a 5 gal carboy for a secondary, in contrast, is narrower at the neck and exposes less area of beer to whatever O2 may be in there - and less CO2 needs to be produced to fill the small amount of space.

A downside of dryhopping in the primary is that it's more difficult (probably not impossible though?) to wash the yeast for reuse. I was going to try it with my last batch, but didn't get to it in time. C'est la vie.

homeslice said:

I used my carboy as the primary and am looking to dry hop in a secondary. If I use my Bale Ale bucket for the secondary would I be exposing the beer to too much oxygen? I've heard the buckets are porous and don't hold a firm seal leaking o2 in. I was thinking of dry hopping for only a few days in the secondary then bottling, is it worth it?

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Agreeing with everyone else, just throw em in your primary. I do this all the time. No need for a bag, they will settle out. If they float, just 'nudge' the carboy gently a few times a day until they fall out. Then transfer to a bottling bucket and go to town.

Im looking for some opinions on this subject of dry hopping and secondary...
I have a pale ale that I want to dry hop. I also want to keep the yeast from the primary,
So I was planning on racking to a secondary to dry hop...

My question is... Can I rack the beer out of the carboy to a bucket... wash the yeast, clean the carboy and then but the beer back in the carboy for the secondary with the hops for the dry hopping? Or is this moving the beer around too much?

I dont currently have a spare carboy so I would have to do the extra step (carboy to bucket to carboy) Should I just get another carboy or will I be ok?

thanks

every time you rack your beer somewhere, your exposing it to contamination and oxygen. Make sure you are keeping up your cleaning and sanitizing duties, and as little splashing as possible. It should be fine. Personally I'd just get another carboy, and if you see yourself dry hopping or adding fruit on a regular basis, it would be worth it.

mattldm said:

Can I rack the beer out of the carboy to a bucket... wash the yeast, clean the carboy and then but the beer back in the carboy for the secondary with the hops for the dry hopping?

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If you are washing the yeast and not just harvesting the trub, you will clear out all of the hops leaving just yeast anyways. Dryhop in the primary (don't have to worry about sanitizing a secondary or your racking equipment plus saves time). When you bottle and wash the yeast, just wash until you have nice clean yeast and no hops. Shouldn't take any longer to wash than normal really and saves the hassle/time/oxidation issues of racking to a secondary just to dryhop.