Secondary Fermentation Vessel?

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nicholschris

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I'm very new to home brewing.

I've been working with a Coopers kit to this point.

I'd like to get a vessel for doing secondary fermentation. Any recommendations?

The Coopers fermenter has a bottling spigot.

Should I use a glass carboy for primary fermentation then siphon off to the Cooper fermentor for secondary and bottling? or...

Should I use the Coopers vessel for primary, transfer to a carboy or other vessel for secondary and then transfer back to the Coopers vessel for bottling?

The first approach sounds easier and less prone to contamination.

Any thoughts or recommendations would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
 
Totally 2nd the 5-gal carboy as secondary. I use a Better Bottle and love it. Either one is great, just keep at 5-gal and either glass or Better Bottle. Have fun!
 
So, would I bottle directly from the glass Carboy?

Would I just get some clear tubing to go from the Coopers Fermentor spigot to the Carboy, or would siphoning work better?

Thanks!
 
I used to siphon from secondary (my better bottle 5-gal) direct to my bottles. I found that messy, as I am a slobby dum dum. So, I now have an ale pail with spigot and I siphon from secondary to that ale pail. It works well--since I need to sanitize the bottles anyway, I just fill the ale pail with sanitized solution and do my bottles,caps and siphon, etc in the ale pail. Dump out the solution, siphon into pale, easily bottle from the spigot, no mess!
 
If you're making the canned Cooper's kits, then there is really no need for a secondary at all. Just leave the beer in the fermenter a few extra days, maybe a week or so. And then bottle straight out of the Coopers fermenter as usual.

If you're determined to take the beer out of the fermenter and put it in a carboy, then just get some tubing and a clamp and pour it right out of the spigot - that spigot draws from the top so it will leave the trub behind, and its more convienient than trying to syphon.

Those Cooper's kits are really nice and easy if you follow the instructions you can't miss. The only thing is - don't judge the success or failure of your beer till its been in the bottles for 3-4 weeks, you can drink it after 5 days in the bottles like the instructions say but if you can be patient for a month it will pay off.
 
That's great information thanks.

I don't really plan on doing secondary fermentation for the Cooper's kits. I'm just planning for down the road when I expand my horizons a bit.

So, here's the plan I'm getting-
Ferment in the Coopers fermentor, then use tubing to go to a glass carboy for secondary fermentation.

The next step would be bottling. I'm thinking to myself, why buy an additional bottling bucket. Couldn't I just siphon back into the Coopers fermenter for bottling?
 
Yes, you very well could do that, however, you would be limited to one brew at a time. I would certainly recommend getting a separate bottling bucket. They aren't that much $.
 
Someone has already mentioned the Better Bottle.

I'm thinking about that as an alternative to a glass carboy. This would provide me with a siphon-less system.

Any thoughts?
 
nicholschris said:
The next step would be bottling. I'm thinking to myself, why buy an additional bottling bucket. Couldn't I just siphon back into the Coopers fermenter for bottling?

well you could do that, but then you couldn't have another batch going in the fermenter at the same time

you can get a bottling bucket for under $10 - you're going to want one sooner or later anyway
 
Alright, you've got me convinced, I'll go with the bottling bucket.

Any thoughts on the Better Bottle as a secondary fermentation vessel?
 
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