Primary Fermentation in Bottling Bucket

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rjester

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I am getting ready to brew my first batch tomorrow.

I have a glass carboy and a plastic bottling bucket. After reading through posts in this forum, I am thinking about doing a primary and secondary fermentation. Can I use my bottling bucket for primary fermentation, then transfer to the carboy for secondary. That will give me time to clean the bucket for bottling.

Is it safe to do this, or should I just use my carboy and skip secondary fermentation until I get another bucket?
 
Sure, you can do that. The only thing you need to be extra careful of is to make sure to really clean and sanitized the spigot when you're done with primary. The nooks and crannies make it a breeding ground for bacteria. I remove the spigot and clean all the parts and sanitize them, then put it back together. I have something in primary in my bottling bucket right now, as a matter a fact, but I try not too because I'm pretty lazy.

Lorena
 
Take the spigot out like Loraenae said, clean it well, soak in sanitizer, install back in the bucket and put a sandwich baggie over it and hold it on with a rubber band. That way it stays clean while you primary and you can go ahead and do a gravity transfer into your carboy instead of siphoning (still use tubing on the spigot, you don't want splashing).
 
Yes, it does have a hole the airlock.

I will use it this time and probably pickup another bucket that will be deidcated to primary fermentation.
 
All three of my buckets have spigots & I use them interchangeably. Two come from Williams, one says fermenter, the other bottling, but they are identical otherwise.
 
I'm doing this after seeing it in a homebrewing DVD that came with the kit my wife bought.

Currently primary fermenting in the plastic bucket, then going to rack to the carboy, clean out the bucket so I can put priming sugars in it and bottle from it.

Mine doesn't have a spigot though, I'm going to have to siphon with a racking cane / hose, etc.
 
the only thing that sucks about this is if you don't have another bottling bucket.. you are going to have to transfer it to another fermenter as a secondary, then back to your bottling bucket for bottling..
 
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