Primary to bottling bucket back to primary(secondary)

I was wondering if anyone would advise for or against using the bottling bucket to transfer my beer from the primary. THEN i would clean/sanitize the primary carboy and use it as a secondary after transfering the beer back via siphon. Any obvious pitfalls im missing? Perhaps someone has actually done this?


Im trying to avoid buying a second glass carboy cause times are tight.

If I were not doing a beer that needs to be dry hopped I wouldn't even use a secondary fermenter. The only reason I do it when I dry hop is because I use glass for dry hopping so I can see better when transfering to keg/bottling bucket. All other beers I just leave in primary 3 weeks and bottle/keg. Is there a reason you are going to secondary?

It would be for clarity, and I heard that it reduces a yeasty taste. Will all that be rectified by longer primary time? Perhaps after everything settles?

i dont even bother with the secondary now, even when i am dryhopping. Unless I am doing a beer that requires an eternity of aging youll be fine if you just do a long primary. lot of information about the subject here on the forum.

My last dryhopped beer I just let it go for 2 weeks then added the hops and let it go for another week. It was actually clearer than I expected. It was wheat after-all. So many advise against secondary. Makes sense. Oxidation should be the enemy not the yeast or haze imo.

IPANY said:

It would be for clarity, and I heard that it reduces a yeasty taste. Will all that be rectified by longer primary time? Perhaps after everything settles?

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Racking for clarity is a carry over from the home brewing dark ages. You can get as good, or better, results simply by leaving the brew the F alone. I'm ONLY racking brews to a different vessel (before bottling, and soon kegging) when aging with something that does better OFF the yeast. Something like oak for example. I've dry hopped right in primary already with excellent results.

The less times you mess with the brew, transferring when not necessary, the greater the chance of contamination/infection. With racking, you also risk oxidizing the brew. Not something I would recommend to anyone.

BTW, leaving the brew/wort on the yeast cake will actually get rid of that 'yeasty taste' faster than racking it...

awesome, great info guys Ill just be patient and let it go for at least 3 weeks

thanks!

IPANY,
the biggest problem with doing what you suggested (primary to bb back to primary) is that you run the risk of exposing your beer to oxygen. as long as it is in the primary, the pressure of co2 in the fermenter keeps the o2 out. moving the beer from one container to the other removes the co2 blanket. the best thing you can do for the sake of clarity is to give it time, keep the temp constant, and then take care when you rack to the bottling bucket for bottling...or the keg.

great question, by the way.

IPANY said:

awesome, great info guys Ill just be patient and let it go for at least 3 weeks

thanks!

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Depending on the brew, I've been giving batches 4-8 weeks in primary, then bottling (or aging for X weeks before bottling)... I have a brew I started on May 7th (National Home Brew day) that I plan to bottle sometime in the next 2-3 weeks. Depending on my brew-buddy's schedule, and how things go during tomorrow's brew day...

BEFORE you decide to bottle anything, taste it. Otherwise, you won't really know if the batch is truly ready for bottles. Even if it has hit the FG, it could need more time on the yeast/in primary before it's really ready for the next steps.

Long primaries is another reason why you should plan to establish your pipeline soon in your home brewing career. I figure that any brew I make will take a minimum of 7 weeks from grain to glass. Many go longer. ALL come out really good or great. Even with kegging (I'm about to start kegging 3 gallons from each batch, bottling the balance) I'll only be shaving a week from the grain to glass time.

IPANY said:

awesome, great info guys Ill just be patient and let it go for at least 3 weeks

thanks!

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If you are pitching adequate amounts of yeast your primary fermentation should be between 6-12 days. The added week is for the yeast to clean up after themselves. I've just gotten in the habit of doing 3 wk primary, but I know some awesome brewers that do 14 days.

A lot of people recommended 4 weeks to me. Maybe I'll try it when I have more finished beer but I went with 3 weeks and I couldn't be happier with my beer. Doing a hefewiezen next might just go 2 weeks for that. It's supposed to be cloudy eh.