What do I need?

I've been given a 5-gal glass carboy and am curious what I need to use it for secondary fermentation/racking. I use a Coopers fermenter with a spigot and would like to transfer the brew to this carboy for a couple weeks and then back to my fermentor with priming solution and use the spigot for bottling.

I know I need to fill from the bottom up so I suspect I need a siphon of some sort? What about capping the carboy to keep undesirables out? Would saran wrap held on with a rubber band be enough or do I need something with an airlock?

Sorry for the basic questions, only been doing this a couple months.

Thanks!

You need some food grade tubing and a drilled bung. Both are easily abtained at a local home brew shop or online.

Oops and also an airlock, if you don't have one. You're looking at a $6 or 7 investment on this one.

Also, I highly recommend checking out John Palmer's "How To Brew"

http://tinyurl.com/3oassgh

Tons of great info at your fingertips (and when you really need it like I do!)

Southernmost11 said:

You need some food grade tubing and a drilled bung. Both are easily abtained at a local home brew shop or online.

Click to expand...

Southernmost11 said:

Oops and also an airlock, if you don't have one. You're looking at a $6 or 7 investment on this one.

Click to expand...

This.

I also have the Cooper's fermenter (It's AWESOME, right!?!). The bottrling wand that came with the Cooper kit, I cut off about 3" of it, and got food-grade tubing that fit on it perfectly. Then I just popped that assembly on the spigot, and rack from counter to floor that way.

Since, however, I have purchased an Ale Pail bottling bucket, and a nicer bottling wand. And an auto siphon. But the setup you're talking about works perfectly fine.

eBay has the carboy caps for short money... under $5 shipped.
ebay carboy cap
...as well as airlocks. I prefer the s-type like that came with the cooper's kit.
ebay airlock

It's probably overkill, but I always seal the cap onto the carboy with a few turns of electrical tape. (pictured here in my first cider batch... 6.5 gal carboys from LHBS)

Thanks guys, and yes the Coopers fermenter is awesome! I know what I need now, just have to get this carboy sanitized as its had coins stored in it for a few years

Naggs said:

Also, I highly recommend checking out John Palmer's "How To Brew"

http://tinyurl.com/3oassgh

Tons of great info at your fingertips (and when you really need it like I do!)

Click to expand...

Im about half finished with that book, I agree it's priceless.

Just found out this carboy is an antique, not sure how old, but old nevertheless. It's had coins stored in it for a number of years. I have it full with boiling bleach water sanitizing at the moment.
I wanted to ask if anyone thinks its not a good idea to use it in my brewing. I know bacteria are some sneaky bastards, but I dont see any scratches on the inside of the bottle.
Now that I know it's old I'm kind of excited to use something that was used for wine making or even brewing 50 or even 75 years ago. However I dont want to jack up a brew just from being nostalgic.