Beginner question about secondary fermentation

I'll start off by saying thanks for all the quick replies to my other posts. This board is awesome and addictive. It just might get me fired because I couldnt resist reading it at work today.

Anyway, I'm only on day 3 of my first batch, but I'm already wondering about my second batch. I'm just going to use the primary fermentor on this batch, but I was thinking about going with the secondary on the next batch. Can the secondary fermentation be done in my bottling bucket? I think I know the answer but I wanted to check. Does secondary require a carboy. They seem pretty inexpensive, so maybe I should just buy one?

If you decide to secondary for a short period of time a bucket will work just fine. (a few weeks to a month). Honestly, many of us have moved away from using secondaries and just keep our brew in the primary for up to a month. You have probably seen conflicting information, esp in older texts, but leaving a brew in primary for a longer time period and then bottling works just fine.

If you are going to add fruit, oak, etc... then a secondary would be warranted and a glass carboy or plastic Better Bottle would be a good choice.

You do not need a secondary fermenter for ale. It is not in the fermenter long enough to need being off the yeast cake. I only use a secondary for beer that will be in a fermenter for an extended time (over six weeks) like lagers.

You can certainly use the bottling bucket as a secondary. However you probably won't be able to use it for a bottling bucket as well until you have cleared any of the stuff that will probably settle. One of the purposes for a bottling bucket is to provide a place to mix the priming sugar with the beer. If stuff has settled in the bucket you would need to remove the beer, clean the bucket, and then use it for bottling. Not too efficient.

With my first beer.. I just used a primary for 3 weeks, then bottled. All my bottles have a ton of sediment in them.

Now Im using a primary and have very little sediment. I don't see the harm in using a secondary except that you will have to wait longer to bottle.

I think a carboy is better to use as a secondary, plus as was mentioned you'll have that sediment in your bottling bucket which defeats the whole purpose of using a secondary.

I think it is worthwhile to get a glass carboy or a better bottle. I started using a secondary on all my beers mainly to free up the primary buckets so I can start another batch sooner. I also have much less bottle sediment since I started using the secondary. The total fermentation time is still the same 3 weeks or so, it's just split up (I usually go 10 days in primary and 12-14 in secondary).

Has anybody racked to bottling bucket, then racked back to primary to use as a secondary?

histo320 said:

Has anybody racked to bottling bucket, then racked back to primary to use as a secondary?

Click to expand...

I've thought about doing that.. but then decided against it due to the fact that you are in greater risk of contaminating your beer.

You're better off just getting another carboy.. they're only $40.. worth the investment

Honestly, the less you mess with the beer, especially while you're learning, the better off you'll be. As has been said above, there's almost no benefit to the secondary for most beers. Leave it in the primary for at least 3 or 4 days after fermentation is done. I usually just go 2 weeks for most ales to make sure it's good and done and all cleaned up, then transfer to the bottling bucket with the priming sugar and bottle.

The advantages are many including less chance of infection, less oxygen expsure, less equipment to have and clean and less time taken messing with the beer.

And there are no disadvantages that I know of.

I will say that one disadvantage for me in only using a primary is that it has been difficult for me to rack to my bottling bucket without kicking up a bit of trub, which is then dispersed in the batch during bottling. I have been going to secondary after two weeks, and then bottling two weeks later. The beers have been clearer than without a secondary. Since the clarity is primary only related to aesthetics, you might not care.

But like the others have said, this can be another chance to contaminate the beer. Either way you will have tasty beer.