Its in the secondary

[usmc-ferg]

I'm nervous about this one. My brew stopped bubbling about two says so I put it in the secondary (bucket). Everything's sanitized. Minimal oxidation. But I've read people's posts talking about the air laying on top of the beer in the secondary ruining it. Should I worry?

 

[zandrsn]

First rule of homebreing, "relax and have a homebrew". You probably just has a fast ferment, it's actually fairly common depending on your ferm temp. I'd invest in some carboys for secondary (if you use them, many folks bottle right after 2-3 weeks in primary, and only use secondary carboys if they're bulk aging for a while). I would worry too much though, just don't open the bucket now until you intend to bottle (or keg).

 

[usmc-ferg]

First rule of homebreing, "relax and have a homebrew". You probably just has a fast ferment, it's actually fairly common depending on your ferm temp. I'd invest in some carboys for secondary (if you use them, many folks bottle right after 2-3 weeks in primary, and only use secondary carboys if they're bulk aging for a while). I would worry too much though, just don't open the bucket now until you intend to bottle (or keg).

I'm tracking on that. I meant to say after a week and a couple days. Should of been more specific. I'd like to get a Carboy but I don't make that much money haha. I'm just worried about the oxygen in the bucket spoiling my winter ale

 

[Golddiggie]

You can forget about racking to a brite tank for 98%+ of the brews out there. This has been covered a bazillion times already. Just look at some of the 'similar threads' at the bottom of this page.

I did rack for my first two batches since the kit instructions said to. I then learned better. Now, I ONLY rack when it makes 100% sense. Such as extended aging on something that works BEST off the yeast. Such as months with wood/oak cubes. Or just long term aging of a BIG brew. So, the vast majority of my batches go from primary to serving kegs then to glass.

I would advise getting more primaries so that you can brew as often as you want, and still give the brew the time it needs to become great. How long depends on the batch, recipe, yeast, how you treated it, temperatures it ferments at (the beer, not ambient), etc.

 

[revco]

Step away from the beer. Stop thinking about it. Secondary is rarely going to hurt anything. There's usually enough fermentation going on, when secondary is typically called for, to create a CO2 layer to protect the beer well enough.

For future reference, you should check out the hundreds of us (myself included) who say "nay" to secondary, except in those cases where necessary. It's way easier, you just have to be a bit more careful when racking for bottling and you typically end up with better beer.