IPA in a Bucket, Do I need a secondary?

I'm sure this question has been asked a million times, but I cannot dig up an answer. I purchased an IPA kit from a local home brewing store. I also purchased two ale pales and all needed accessories. One of the ale pale's is actually a bottling bucket..What is the best way to go about this? Can I use the bottling bucket as a secondary? Do I need a secondary? Should I return the ale pales and go for a glass carboy? Anything helps!

dont use your bottling bucket as a secondary, too much chance of leaks/oxidation

you can actually dry-hop in your primary with no problem, just wait a couple of weeks for your fermentation to finish, then add your dry hops for the prescribed amount of time, then transfer to your bottling bucket for bottling. Good luck!

Thanks man, will do.

Briggery,
I just finished brewing a Chinook IPA from Northern Brewers (my 2nd beer). It is great. To answer your question, I did not use a secondary. I let it sit in the primary BUCKET for 2 weeks and then dry-hopped for a week. I then transferred into a bottling bucket using a racking cane with a 1/2" tip and it worked great. Just be carefull with the cane. Siphon from the top and when I got to the bottom, I plunged it into the sediment carefully and I picked up very little sediment. Just don't move the cane too much at all. Regarding dry-hopping, I used a suggestion from another forum pro. Put the dry hops in a sanitized mesh bag and weigh down with a half dozen sanitized glass marbles. The hops stay in the bag and drop to the bottom. Before transferring the beer to you bottling bucket, just remove the hop bag with sanitized tongs and discard. Good luck. You will do great!!!!!

@njtarheel Thanks for the advice..every one I've talked to on here is super nice and helpful. Much appreciated. Can't wait to get in the groove of brewing!

so confused... keep it in the bucket with the yeast.... DONT keep it in the bucket with the yeast.... which is it. lol

Firebat138 said:

so confused... keep it in the bucket with the yeast.... DONT keep it in the bucket with the yeast.... which is it. lol

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It's a matter of personal preference. More recently people have stopped using secondaries. This gives the yeast a chance to "clean up" after themselves but like I said it comes down to preference. I'm sure doing it all in one bucket/carboy would work fine. Try it in just primary once and then try using a secondary the next time and see which method you prefer??

MRbutlertron said:

It's a matter of personal preference. More recently people have stopped using secondaries. This gives the yeast a chance to "clean up" after themselves but like I said it comes down to preference. I'm sure doing it all in one bucket/carboy would work fine. Try it in just primary once and then try using a secondary the next time and see which method you prefer??

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+1MM!! There really is no right or wrong, just different ways that may (or may not) lead to slightly different beers. I use buckets for secondaries all the time. Its probably not needed because i leave beer in a primary for 4-6 weeks, then secondary for up to a monht longer. I find a settle more out. Quite often i chill my secondary and transfer that beer to a tertiaray over gelatin to again clean up the beer. This last step is really unnecesary but i find i get really clear beers this way - thats what i like and its and extra step for me thats fun.

primaries vs secondaries has been dabated on here as well as plastic vs glass. all make good beers. I'm sure yours will be fine!