Secondary with Buckets

i am new to the brewing thing and I made an APA last week. I want to put it in the secondary but all I have is buckets with spigots on them. If I rack from one bucket to another won't all the trub come out of the spigot and defeat the purpose.

I don't know if all buckets have them, but mine (from williamsbrewing.com) has a dip tube attachment at the back of the spigot. At least, the one on the fermenter bucket does. The bottling bucket doesn't. Anyhow, the tube is positioned up off the bottom a little bit, so you don't get much in the way of sediment into the next vessel when racking.

You could syphon carefully, and avoid the trub. For secondaries I will suggest glass carboys. IMHO.

The spigot "should" be off the bottom of the bucket an inch or so any way. you wont get much trub out. just as long as you aint tipping the bucket twards the spigot to get more out.
I would agree that if you are going to secondary, to use glass if you can. if you dont have any glass, dont worry about it, but I would just leave it in the primary for an extra week or two.

Ordinarily the buckets with the spigots are your "bottling buckets" and you'd ferment in a bucket that has no spigot. You "rack" from your fermenting vessel to the bottling bucket, (using plastic tubing and a racking cane) and then take advantage of the spigot when bottling.

If you are fermenting in a bucket with a spigot, there are more parts - and thus you run an enhanced risk of infection. That's behind you already though, so just cross your fingers and hope for the best.

My suggestion is that you rack from your fermenting vessel to the OTHER spigotted bucket, and then rack back to the original bucket (after two weeks or so, and AFTER you've cleaned and sanitized your fermenter.) That way, your original fermenter doubles as a primary AND a bottling bucket, and your other bucket is a secondary.

Easy peasy.

I recommend doing the secondary in carboys. Buckets have an enormous head space and if you do not have some CO2 to purge it, you will have oxidized beer.

So should I leave it in the original bucket, buy a carboy and transfer it, or use the other bucket and transfer.

EdWort said:

I recommend doing the secondary in carboys. Buckets have an enormous head space and if you do not have some CO2 to purge it, you will have oxidized beer.

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Is this always true? I have secondaried in a bucket twice (once for dry hopping an IPA, the second time for conditioning of a wheat wine).

The IPA turned out awesome. The wheat wine still has a few months to go.

I read somewhere... probably here, that even though not yet carbonated, the beer has enough CO2 in it that when you rack from one vessel to another you get some to come out of solution and form a protective layer. As long as you don't screw with it too much, you should be fine (or something like that)

Was I misled? (Sorry, I'm still a newb)

If it works for you then great! It still has a huge head space and will be exposed to air for a period of time unless you purge it with CO2 before racking.

I have always fermented with buckets and did the secondary in carboys. I have spigots in my buckets which make racking a snap.

Now I don't secondary at all.

EdWort said:

If it works for you then great! It still has a huge head space and will be exposed to air for a period of time unless you purge it with CO2 before racking.

I have always fermented with buckets and did the secondary in carboys. I have spigots in my buckets which make racking a snap.

Now I don't secondary at all.

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Wow- you don't hear me say this everyday- but I'm just like Edwort!

Beer is very forgiving and maybe you haven't had oxidation issues with a big headspace. That's good- but really not a reason to do it.

I rarely secondary anymore. I can't remember the last time I did. But if I did, it'd be in a 5 gallon carboy with minimal headspace. Even though some co2 is knocked out of suspension and probably giving some protection, I still want to minimize the headspace. Even in a 6 gallon carboy, you'd have less headspace than in a bucket.

I don't use the spigots in my buckets (or even in my Better Bottles), I find is easier for me to just rack out of them. I think it's because I was a winemaker before I ever dabbled in beer, and that's just been ingrained into me. Not very scientific, but it works for me.

hotstack said:

Is this always true? I have secondaried in a bucket twice (once for dry hopping an IPA, the second time for conditioning of a wheat wine).

The IPA turned out awesome. The wheat wine still has a few months to go.

I read somewhere... probably here, that even though not yet carbonated, the beer has enough CO2 in it that when you rack from one vessel to another you get some to come out of solution and form a protective layer. As long as you don't screw with it too much, you should be fine (or something like that)

Was I misled? (Sorry, I'm still a newb)

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My experience has been that it can and does happen. I had 1/2 of my 10 gallon batch get oxidized when transferring to the keg. One keg was fine the other not. I did not allow it to splash when transferring so after speaking with a fellow more experienced brewer I realized my purging technigues were a little off. I did not properly purge the keg of oxygen with the CO2 evidently.

Keep in mind this was the first time of many that it happened so it doesn't always happen but it CAN happen.

As far as the OP question, I would buy a food grade bucket with no spigot for fermentation if you can. If you cannot, just make sure you take your spigots completely apart after each job and clean them really well with Oxiclean (no fragrance). Then, leave them apart until you are ready to use them next so that you can sanitize all parts. Re-assemble, drop in the sanitizer once more and put it on the bucket. Then sanitize your bucket with it on and drain some thru the spigot.

If I were in your shoes right now, I would just leave your fermentation in the bucket for a total of 3 weeks then rack it to your keg or bottle it. If its infected (which I am sure its not if you followed normal sanitation procedures) whats done is already done. Give it some time then rack it.

QUOTE=mudog;1376540]i am new to the brewing thing and I made an APA last week. I want to put it in the secondary but all I have is buckets with spigots on them. If I rack from one bucket to another won't all the trub come out of the spigot and defeat the purpose.[/QUOTE]

I secondary in the cheap 5 gal buckets (w/spigots added)you can buy anywhere for about $3.Not saying it's right or wrong but I'll tell you what works for me.I leave the beer in the 6.5gal fermenter for 2 weeks and then rack to the secondary bucket for around one week to 10 days.
This is mainly so I can dry hop(if needed) and get a little more yeast to stay out of the bottling bucket on that transfer.I don't get any yeast thru the spigot on the secondary b/c most has dropped out in the primary and what is left is below the spigot hole.Because of the nut size and thickness of the spigot plastic,this is about 1inch above the bottom of the bucket.You only end up w/ about 1/4" of yeast trub on the bottom of the secondary.
B/c I use a 5gal bucket-it doesn't have a ton of headspace and when I put on the ferm. lock,it immediately pushes the liquid up into the other chamber and holds that way until bottling so I know I am having CO2 being released and haven't had any oxidation problems.
Just keep in mind -I only leave it in the secondary for a short time and it is mainly just to keep some of the primary yeast out of my bottles on bottling day NOT as long term storage/aging.For that you should use glass.
As a side note:My primary and secondary buckets have spigots on them.If you do this take care to clean the spigots thouroughly after use.I take mine off the bucket,snap the open/closed spout out of the main body and wash in a hot oxyclean bath and then leave them soaking in a starsan filled tupperware dish until my next use.I re-assemble right before use.Hope this helps.

Sorry that I hijacked the thread. Thanks for the help everyone.

I wouldn't normally secondary either, but this was a barley wine (well, Wheat Wine) and I wanted to leave it be a bit before bottling. My IPA also was only secondaried for 5 days while I dry hopped it.

I just tested the wheat wine that has been secondaried in a normal fermenting bucket for just over a month. It tastes like what I expected it too. So maybe I dodged a bullet this time.

Being here in Japan, I am pretty limited in what I can buy (Carboys are out of the question... I had to pack a 5 gal better bottle back with me last time I was in the states)... I will try to get a smaller one just for these types of experiments (i.e. small barley wine batches and such).

Thanks again for the knowledge sharing.

mudog said:

So should I leave it in the original bucket, buy a carboy and transfer it, or use the other bucket and transfer.

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I would just leave it. I rarely ever do a secondary. Just let it sit, cold if possible, rack (siphon) carefully to your bottling bucket when you are ready to bottle. You might pick up some sediment, but if you let your bottles sit cold in the fridge before you drink, it will all settle out tight to the bottom of the bottle.

I only use a secondary for fruit additons. I have been using extended primaries for everything. I leave them the hell alone for a month, then I rack straight to the bottling bucket with the exception of dry-hopping, I have to open the lid to put my hops in, then I leave it the hell alone for another 10-14 days! Has worked very well for me, and I really only need to take a gravity reading to ensure it has reached FG.

Careful racking, and the use of Edwort's dry-hop filter: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/question-whole-hops-fermenter-123597/ POST #6 works great!:rockin: