MolecularBrewologist
Member
Hi all,
So my latest brew was my first experience with BIAB, a hoppy IPAish ale of my own creation. The problem is that I sort of worked myself into a corner. I got a little too excited to try too many new things at once. I decided to try fermenting 1 week in my bottling bucket as a primary and transfering to my primary bucket as a secondary for 2 weeks. I am now faced with the problem that I will have about 3 gallons of headspace in the secondary. I forgot that the BIAB formula yielded 3 gallons rather than the 5 from my previous extracts. I've read alot on the forums and realize that in this situation I should just leave it in the primary. However the primary is currently my bottling bucket and I dont want to bottle directly from the primary. So I am forced to rack to a secondary no matter what and my question is what would some more experienced brewers do in this situation?
A. Rack to the secondary after 2 weeks in the primary, leave it for a week so it can clarify and hope there is enough CO2 in solution to fill 3 gallons of headspace.
B. Same as option A, except add a priming solution of corn sugar to the secondary to produce more CO2 and fill the headspace.
C. Rack to the secondary on, or the day before bottling day, so I can clean the primary, which is my bottling bucket, and use it. This means loosing out on any benifits from the secondary but minimizes oxygen exposure.
Or if you can think of a better option I'd love to hear it, I realize it will probably be fine with 1 week in the secondary with no extra sugar or anything, but I worry because I can.
Thanks,
So my latest brew was my first experience with BIAB, a hoppy IPAish ale of my own creation. The problem is that I sort of worked myself into a corner. I got a little too excited to try too many new things at once. I decided to try fermenting 1 week in my bottling bucket as a primary and transfering to my primary bucket as a secondary for 2 weeks. I am now faced with the problem that I will have about 3 gallons of headspace in the secondary. I forgot that the BIAB formula yielded 3 gallons rather than the 5 from my previous extracts. I've read alot on the forums and realize that in this situation I should just leave it in the primary. However the primary is currently my bottling bucket and I dont want to bottle directly from the primary. So I am forced to rack to a secondary no matter what and my question is what would some more experienced brewers do in this situation?
A. Rack to the secondary after 2 weeks in the primary, leave it for a week so it can clarify and hope there is enough CO2 in solution to fill 3 gallons of headspace.
B. Same as option A, except add a priming solution of corn sugar to the secondary to produce more CO2 and fill the headspace.
C. Rack to the secondary on, or the day before bottling day, so I can clean the primary, which is my bottling bucket, and use it. This means loosing out on any benifits from the secondary but minimizes oxygen exposure.
Or if you can think of a better option I'd love to hear it, I realize it will probably be fine with 1 week in the secondary with no extra sugar or anything, but I worry because I can.
Thanks,