Leave it or transfer?

[codycleve]

I'm currently 4 days into my first IPA that is fermenting in a 6.5 gallon bucket and the air lock never made a bubble.. I have about 2 inches of krausen, and the temperature is about 2 to 4 degrees warmer than ambient temperature and the beer next to it.. So at this point I know I have good fermentation and an bucket that will not seal.

If the bucket would seal and I did not have an air leak I would leave everything in primary and just dry hop in the bucket.. However knowing that I have an air leak I'm wondering if I should move it to secondary. This is where I run into another issue.. My only vessel for secondary is another bucket that I don't trust and a 6.5gal big mouth bubbler that I know will seal.

If I had a 5 gallon carboy or big mouth bubbler I would transfer it. however with only having 6.5 gallon available I'm worried about the oxidation of my beer with the extra head space.

Should I Just leave it in the leaky bucket with the thought that the C02 will sit on top of my beer without ill affect in the primary or transfer it to secondary and possibly run some co2 off a tank into the head space of the larger vessel before I seal it.. Or relax drink a beer and everything will be fine..

In the future I will be getting a 5 gallon secondary vessel and I will no longer do primary in a bucket.. I will stick with the Bigmouth bubbler..
Thanks in advance..

 

[day_trippr]

Skip the secondary, it's almost never necessary.

The only beer I use a secondary for is a triple chocolate stout where I dump a half pound of roasted/marinated-in-dark-rum-for-a-week cocoa nibs that I don't want buried under the trub 'n' yeast.

All other brews are kegged right out of the primary after a cold-crash that drops any dry hop pellet mush to the bottom...

Cheers!

 

[RM-MN]

I'd leave it where it is. Your beer now has an abundance of CO2 dissolved in it and it will take a long time for all of that to come out of solution so it will be continually leaking CO2 out the lid of the bucket. I might limit the time in the bucket, say maybe not too long, maybe not over 2 or 3 months.

I have several leaky lid buckets and there is no problem with leaving beer in them for a month or a bit more. Airlocks are a leak too.

 

[glugglug]

Yup. Leave it.

 

[codycleve]

Thanks for all the replys. Everyone confirmed what I was thinking.. I just wasn't sure about keeping it in the leaky bucket but it sounds like it's a non issue.