carling05 said:
sorry to be a pain but could i use the same bucket i used to ferment the beer as a bottling bucket, and once you transfer the beer from the glass carboy to the bottling bucket do u transfer it straight to bottles?
Ideally you should use a three vessel system:
1. Primary fermenter. Can be plastic or glass (I use a plastic bucket).
2. Secondary fermenter. Most folks recommend glass for this.
3. Bottling bucket. Used solely for bottling.
Using this system, you place the wort into the primary fermenter, seal it, put in the airlock and then wait. Usually, the wort sits and ferments in there for around 7 days, give or take. While fermenting, all the suspended hops and some of the yeast drop to the bottom of the vessel. This stuff is referred to as trub, and can affect the flavor of the beer if you leave it in contact with the trub for too long.
Once the primary ferment is done (a week, give or take, depending on what you are brewing), you rack the beer from the plastic bucket into your secondary vessel. Most home brewers recommend a glass carboy. Be careful to leave the trub at the bottom of the primary fermenter. How long it sits in this vessel is up to you. I usually have it in secondary for one or two weeks. While it's in there, more suspended solids can drop out, and more dead/inactive yeast will also fall out.
When you are ready to bottle, you rack the beer out of the carboy and into your bottling bucket, making sure you leave the trub in the carboy behind. Mix in your bottling sugar in the bottling bucket, and bottle away.
Basically, the only thing you should be using your bottling bucket for is bottling.