the great debate

So I have been following the use of a secondary versus the leave it in the primary to age debate for some time now.

3 weeks ago I made 5 gallons of an imperial stout and pitched two packets of yeast into two 6.5 gallon buckets allong with around 2.5 gallons of wort in each bucket. (My previous beer (iipa) almost blew the top off even with a blowoff tube so my local homebrew store owner reccomended I use 2 buckets for this recipe). I want to leave the wort on the yeast cakes but I am wondering if there is too much headspace in the primary or does that not matter (like it would in a secondary).

The 3 options that I see are (1) leave the wort where it is in both buckets with about 4 gallons of headspace in each. (2) transfer the wort out of one bucket (and off its yeast cake) and into the other bucket so it is still on some cake. (3) transfer both buckets into a secondary and leave my wort in the primary when I make my next beer.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions!!!

The headspace isn't an issue in the primary since the production of fermentation gases purges the headspace of oxygen. So leaving them in the buckets should be fine.

I also forgot to mention that the secondary would be a 5 gallon glass fermenter and I plan on leaving the wort until at least february

clay3 said:

I also forgot to mention that the secondary would be a 5 gallon glass fermenter and I plan on leaving the wort until at least february

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Sounds like a good idea. The headspace won't be a problem in primary.

You guys are great. Thank you for the help!