Ale pail as secondary fermentor?

[Suds_Sanchez]

I have a batch in my 5 carboy that won't be ready ready to bottle for over a week and I have another batch in my 6.5 gallon carboy ready to go into a secondary fermentor this weekend, so the only fermentor I have open is a 6.5 gallon ale pail, would that be OK to use as a secondary?


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[unionrdr]

Too much head space for 5 gallons.

 

[Clonefan94]

The pail would be fine theoretically, but headspace would be an issue.. Personally, I wouldn't bother to use a secondary at all.

I almost never use a secondary for beers I make anymore. Just let it ride in primary then package.

 

[jcoxen]

Brew Buckets, Ale Pails, whatever you call them make fine secondarys. The only down side (for me, at least) is that you can't see the beer clear.

 

[Suds_Sanchez]

It's a kolsch I fermented over a 3 pound can of cherry purée, so it's extra cloudy with a ton of pulp floating around in it, just wanted to cut down on the sediment in my finished bottle.


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[rodwha]

Is head space an issue on a short secondary?

Another option may be to add a little sugar of some sort to create another fermentation (short) to give some CO2. In theory it sounds good...

 

[unionrdr]

I'd have put the fruit in a sanitized muslin grain bag to keep the gunk to a minimum. But 1.5 gallons of head space is to much,regardless of time.An auto siphon could at least get the beer off the fruit.

 

[rodwha]

And what about transferring and adding a little sugar to kickstart a small fermentation to create some CO2? Anyone ever try this?

 

[unionrdr]

No. But I don't add fruit to my beers either. Besides,that'd just stir things up again anyway. Racking off the fruit might help.

 

[Setesh]

Oxygen permeability is the biggest reason not to secondary in buckets IMO.

 

[Suds_Sanchez]

Could I leave it in primary an extra week till I bottle the bourbon amber that's sitting in my 5 gallon next Saturday then clean it up and rack the kolsch into the 5 gallon, or would being in the primary the extra week give me a lower quality in my finished product?


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[rodwha]

Indeed!

 

[Setesh]

Could I leave it in primary an extra week till I bottle the bourbon amber that's sitting in my 5 gallon next Saturday then clean it up and rack the kolsch into the 5 gallon, or would being in the primary the extra week give me a lower quality in my finished product?


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That should be just fine. An extra week isn't going to hurt a thing. As long as your yeast was healthy there really isn't anything to worry about from a long primary.

 

[patthebrewer]

I haven't used a secondary in years....exposes your beer to too much risk. Also leaving it in the primary for an extra week not only won't hurt anything, but can actually improve your beer. My experiments with longer than usual primary ferm. times have always produced better flavored beer for me. I routinely leave ales on the yeast cake for 3 weeks, and lagers more. Give that yeast time to clean up after itself Autolysis (yeast death) is the usual reason given for avoidance of leaving your brew on the yeast cake too long, and while Autolysis is a real thing, the threat is very overrated!! Personally,
I've never encountered it even with lagers kept on the yeast cake for months.


Hope that helps!

 

[rodwha]

Me too. I began giving my ales 4 weeks for the most part, though these last few batches sat longer as I was in the hospital.

Taught me a lesson! Don't go until the beginning stage of fermentation is complete as SWMBO isn't on it as I am! I have another lung...