Keg as a 2ndary

Apologies if this has been posted before. On the computer for a very limited time before the baby starts to holler.

Got a batch that is done in the primary. Want to put it in a 2ndary and dry hop. Is there any benefit to using a carboy as a 2ndary vs. just putting it straight into a corny? Wonder if light admitted from carboy adds some extra umph.

Sure would be easier to dry hop in keg w/ hops in a sock vs. getting the suckers out of a carboy.
thanks

I did this and it was fine, but you will probably need to rack into another keg to carbonate due to hop and yeast sediment.

You can certainly secondary in a keg. You can dry hop as well, but I would recommend that you use some form of bag, or else the first few pulls might be a little particle-y.

You can definitely use a corny as a secondary. I use them exclusively as secondaries because I find them more convenient to work with than a glass carboy. It's convenient because you can do closed transfers with cornys, purge with CO2, larger opening for additions, no light transmission, handles to carry, sampling is easier, cleaning is easier. Also, I can get them cheaper than glass carboys.

I'll follow up with a second (and 3rd?) question.
I have a couple batches in cornies as secondaries. I am looking to move (part of) two of the batches to my 3 gallon cornies for transport and serving.

1. Should I draw some off of each secondary with a cobra tap until it runs clear before transferring to the 3 gal corny?

2. Is there any way to control how much I transfer so I don't waste too much overflowing the 3 gallon? I'm thinking of going in the liquid out connection and hooking up a clear line to the "gas in" disconnect and watching for liquid to come out...
Thoughts?
Thanks in advance...
Bob

I primary in corny (15g) and leave it for 3 weeks or so. Cold crash and transfer to 5 gallon corny. At that point if dry hopping a bag would go in the keg.

1. I would cold crash for several days and then your beer should run pretty clear.
2. Purge the Oxygen from the serving keg and you can transfer with the top off, put some plastic wrap on top if you want. Then you can just watch it fill up.

Scut Monkey, Samc, or anyone else. After cold crashing do you keg-keg transfer or siphon? Reason I ask is that I secondaried in a keg. It's crash cooling now and I don't know if I need to rack off of it into another keg or if it's ok to purge a pint or two or three to get out whatever it is that settles out during cold crashing. Thanks.

shelly_belly said:

Scut Monkey, Samc, or anyone else. After cold crashing do you keg-keg transfer or siphon? Reason I ask is that I secondaried in a keg. It's crash cooling now and I don't know if I need to rack off of it into another keg or if it's ok to purge a pint or two or three to get out whatever it is that settles out during cold crashing. Thanks.

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I have only cold crashed once, a cider. If it were me I would simply purge off the first 1 or 2 pints. This is what I did for my cider and it turned out good. I see no reason to jump the beer to another keg unless you have heavy sediment like from a fruit addition. If it's simply some residual trub/yeast pour off the first couple pints and consider them big samples. If I did have to transfer to another corny I would keg-keg transfer and not siphon (less mess and less bacterial/oxygen exposure).

Wonder if light admitted from carboy adds some extra umph.

Umph as in "skunk" . Letting light strike your beer will spoil it (not make it completely undrinkable, just worse). Most people who use carboys will use a t-shirt or some sort of cover to protect against light.