Disadvantage to using ale pail as secondary?

BrewSwag 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
M

millsware

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 31, 2010
Messages
225
Reaction score
13
Location
Pittsburgh
Is there? For some reason I've had it in my head that a secondary needs to be a carboy. However, ale pails are much cheaper and the only disadvantage I can think of is they're not clear. On the other hand it would be easier to add or remove things like dry hops or oak chips.

Thoughts?
 
bja said:
It would be easier not to use a secondary.
Click to expand...

wow. what a helpful response.


You can use a bucket for a secondary if you want. Nothing wrong with it. I don't know if I would let something age in a bucket for months on end, but for a short secondary period for dryhopping or adding oak or fruit or whatever, then the bucket should be fine.
 
millsware said:
Disadvantage to using ale pail as secondary? Is there?
Click to expand...
Too much head space and too much surface area in the head space. One of the big reasons that secondaries are no longer suggested is the chance of oxygenation. If you transfer after all fermentation has stopped there will no longer be CO2 being produced to fill the head space. Temperature changes may cause air to be drawn into the vessel. A carboy filled to the neck has a minimal amount of surface area to be effected by oxygen.
 
It seems like the folks that use a secondary prefer to use glass or stainless steel (like a corny keg) over plastic for the reasons AnOldUr said. The one benefit to using a plastic bucket would be it's light blocking..ness, but i just throw a sheet or a jacket over a carboy and that does the trick.
 
Thanks for the good responses. I hadn't considered the surface area aspect of the secondary container.
 
If your only doing secondary for a couple of weeks (dryhopping) I see nothing wrong with using buckets. I like them because it's easier to get hops in and out of them than carboys. However, I certainly wouldn't let an apfelwein or berliner Weisse sit in a plastic secondary for months at a time.
 

Similar threads

chrispokey
Time for another round of "Is this beer infected?"
Replies
15
Views
621
IslandLizard
IslandLizard
kurds_2408
Question about adding DME after bad efficiency.
Replies
8
Views
903
z-bob
z-bob
D
Birch sap hop water
Replies
0
Views
219
divrack
D
Z
Simplifying brewing
2
Replies
56
Views
3K
BrewnWKopperKat
BrewnWKopperKat
N
NEIPA (Pressure) Fermentation schedule
Replies
5
Views
827
ninkwood
N

Latest posts

Back
Top