Bottling straight from Secondary?

Firstly I should point out that my "secondary" is really a primary style one with a spigot and its plastic etc.

The current beer is....(2x 1.7kg Coopers Draught Cans, 0.5 lbs Crystal Grain, 1oz 8.6% @ 15min, 1oz 8.6% @ 5min).

It was in primary for 13days, and has now been in secondary for 13 days. I could leave it in for another week, but as its a plastic secondary with lots of "head space" im not sure how long is "safe".

My primary is in use, so can I bottle straight from the secondary spigot? If so, how do you stir the sugar into the beer without disturbing it too much? Iv only ever used carb drops. Is it best to mix the sugar with boiling water first?

The batch size is 20.6L (approx 5.5 gal). How many grams of sugar would I use? I don't want HUGELY carbed beer, probably slightly more then most IPA's.

Thanks

you can bottle from your secondary. My suggestion would be to open the spigot and drain off some of the yeast cake on the bottom. I would say leave a little bit of it though. Mix the priming sugar 3/4cup should be fine with just under a pint of boiling water and stir that into the bucket before you start to bottle. This should turn out fine. I wish I could do this but my old bottling bucket doesnt get a great seal on the spigot.

Arneba28 said:

you can bottle from your secondary. My suggestion would be to open the spigot and drain off some of the yeast cake on the bottom. I would say leave a little bit of it though. Mix the priming sugar 3/4cup should be fine with just under a pint of boiling water and stir that into the bucket before you start to bottle. This should turn out fine. I wish I could do this but my old bottling bucket doesnt get a great seal on the spigot.

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Thanks for the reply. The secondarys spigot is about 1.5 inches from the bottom so it should miss the yeasty stuff anyway? How well do you stir the sugar into the beer? Is a couple of quick swirls ok, or does it need to be well mixed in?

If you do that then you are defeating the use of a secondary (to clear) when you swirl in the priming sugar...You will be kicking up ALL the stuff you patiently waited 2 weeks to settle....

I would rack to a bottling bucket, with a siphon, from the top, adding your sugar solution there...

Or you could TRY to go to the bottling bucket through the spigot, draining off a couple quarts of yeast before hand, but it's not like your using a conical, where the yeast will come out first, you could conceivably have either too much or not enough for bottle priming...

I wouldn't risk it...

The sugar needs to be evenly distrubeted, or else you could end up having bottle bombs. Make sure you you mix, but don't stir up the bottom too much.

I have no bottling bucket, as the other tank is in use as a primary.

I see what you mean, if I mix in sugar in the secondary I'm undoing the 2 weeks of settling. I can't really see how I could mix the sugar in EVENLY without disturbing too much sediment? HowToBrew website says if you wait 30min after you stir in sugar it settles again. Would this help?

Am thinking I might use the carb drops in this batch again, so I'v still made the most of the secondary 2 weeks? That way if I bottle from the spigot in the secondary, its not getting the yeast in the bottom 1.5 inch, and nothing gets stirred up. This should be ok?

Cheers again.

Why not just add the priming sugar into the bottles?

solidghost said:

Why not just add the priming sugar into the bottles?

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Not a good idea, it is really hard and a pita to get exactly the correct amount in each bottle, consistantly in each bottle...some might be over and some might be under...

That's why adding a solution to a solution or using carb tabs (which are premeasured) are the best bet.


SInce you don't have a bottling bucket I'd use carb tabs.

But in the future, get a secondary (or leave your beers in primary for a month and skip secondary) and use the other spigoted bucket for a bottling one.

Revvy said:

Not a good idea, it is really hard and a pita to get exactly the correct amount in each bottle, consistantly in each bottle...some might be over and some might be under...

That's why adding a solution to a solution or using carb tabs (which are premeasured) are the best bet.


SInce you don't have a bottling bucket I'd use carb tabs.

But in the future, get a secondary (or leave your beers in primary for a month and skip secondary) and use the other spigoted bucket for a bottling one.

Click to expand...

Ok will use the carb drops this time.

If I didn't have another beer in primary It would be simple - just rack back to primary after secondary to bottle. Its hard not to start another brew tho once a beers finished!