First timer, do I need a secondary fermenter?

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stigs007

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My dad got a Brewers Best kit but has been putting off making a 2nd batch of beer, so he's letting me borrow it to give it a try. He forgot the carboy though, so my question is, can I do this with only one fermenter, the bucket?
 
Yep you're fine, ferment the beer for approximately 2 weeks if you don't have a hydrometer to check when the fermentation is done and then bottle it.I've done like 7 beers now without secondary fermenter and no bad batch yet.

Brew on!
 
stigs007 said:
My dad got a Brewers Best kit but has been putting off making a 2nd batch of beer, so he's letting me borrow it to give it a try. He forgot the carboy though, so my question is, can I do this with only one fermenter, the bucket?

Not sure am new but I think you could do a starter in the 1st fermenter then secondary in bottles ( I think). I'm sure someone will correct me but at least it's s starting point. Best of luck with it
 
Not sure am new but I think you could do a starter in the 1st fermenter then secondary in bottles ( I think). I'm sure someone will correct me but at least it's s starting point. Best of luck with it

Secondary is typically used for dry hopping or other flavoring additions and occasionally long term conditioning. Bottle time is more conditioning and carbonation.

So, if you plan to dry hop or add additional flavors, you can't really "secondary" in bottles.
 
Awesome. Thanks for the responses. My dad lives about 1 1/2 hours away so I wasn't very enthused about waiting, now I can hopefully start this weekend.
 
Secondary is typically used for dry hopping or other flavoring additions and occasionally long term conditioning. Bottle time is more conditioning and carbonation.

So, if you plan to dry hop or add additional flavors, you can't really "secondary" in bottles.

Not quite true. What most here call "secondary" is really a "bright tank" most of the time. Since the beer going into bottles must be primed with sugar,it is indeed secondary fermentation in the bottles in what is called a "1 teir" system. That being a fermenter & bottling bucket. I saw that on a podcast thing posted on youtube from them bigshots y'all venerate on here.
 
Not quite true. What most here call "secondary" is really a "bright tank" most of the time. Since the beer going into bottles must be primed with sugar,it is indeed secondary fermentation in the bottles in what is called a "1 teir" system. That being a fermenter & bottling bucket. I saw that on a podcast thing posted on youtube from them bigshots y'all venerate on here.

Touchee, I should have modified or explained the terminology in my post better as well.
 
I think it's just that a lot of folks don't think of priming/carbonating in the bottles as another fermentation,or secondary fermentation.
 
/\ Agreed. I rarely secondary unless I am making an IPA and dry hopping and aging for a while. I usually go right from primary to keg to glass to belly fermentor...
 
How difficult will it be to bottle from just one bucket? Should I invest in a bottling bucket?
 
While a bottling bucket would make bottling easier, a normal hose over the top of your bucket and a bottling wand will get the job done. You'll want some sort of shut-off on the hose though. It can be a bottling wand or some sort of pinching clip device. Kyle
 
While a bottling bucket would make bottling easier, a normal hose over the top of your bucket and a bottling wand will get the job done. You'll want some sort of shut-off on the hose though. It can be a bottling wand or some sort of pinching clip device. Kyle

Got it, I'm pretty sure I have all of that in the kit, thank you.
 
Do I need to invest in a better brewing pot? I saw a pretty cheap one at Target, but I didn't know if the quality would affect things at all?

Edit: Did some reading on the board and think I answered my own question.
 
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