Another fermenter

So far I've been bottling straight from the primary fermenter, is it OK to rack to secondary and leave it there for a few weeks, add priming sugar and bottle straight from secondary as a substitute for a bottling bucket?

Don't......

The problem with bottling from a primary or secondary instead of using a bottling bucket, is that since you have patiently gone and let your beer settle and clear, in order to mix the priming solution and beer effectively, you would have to stir it in the carboy..which would a) kick up all that nice sediment you have patiently let fall, b) possibly oxydize the beer.

Go to a hardware store and get a translucent or white bucket...but look for one where the 5 gallon mark falls way below the top of the bucket. Usually it will say 5 gallons at 3rd band from the top. (oh get the lid too....I totally regret not getting it when I did.)

Then get a spigot and make a dedicated bottling bucket. It really defeats the purpose of both a long primary/no secondary or a secondary if you have to stir up all the nice sediment you patiently waited to settle just so you can have consistent carbonation.

Mine is the translucent Leaktite brand 5 gallon container with the gallon and liter markings from Homedepot.



Here's a pic of mine from my bottling thread.



https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/revvys-tips-bottler-first-time-otherwise-94812/


If you can't find a spigot today, then rack to the bucket and fill the bottles with the autosiphon, if that's what you wanna do, but you really should move it to a vessel where you can evenly integrate the priming solution and the beer.

But if you try driectly from the primary/seconday you will have unsatisfactory results and possibly even cardboard tasting beer.

So I add my finings to the primary a few days before I'm going to rack to the bottling bucket?

SMOKEU said:

So I add my finings to the primary a few days before I'm going to rack to the bottling bucket?

Click to expand...

If you use finnings (I never have needed to) then, yes.

If he's been bottling straight from the primary, then why not the secondary, it's gotta be cleaner...

However, I agree with Revvy. Rack off into the bottling bucket, prime and bottle immediately.

I used to when I first started, but I don't recomend it. My starter kit came with two buckets. When It was time to brew again, I would secondary in my bottling bucket. A week later when it was bottling time I would pour the priming sugar in super slow. Then I would stir super slow to mix it.

If you are gentle enough you will not mix up the sediment. To make it perfect just get another bucket like everyone else is saying. It can be done, but buckets are cheap.