Made a 1 gallon batch... not sure to secondary, or straight to bottling bucket?

[kid_a]

Hi guys,

A Londoner who's been lurking here for about a year now. Soaking up as much of the great advice I see as i possibly can.

So i made my first all grain mash the other week. I tried with a small 1 gallon batch (a sierra nevada recipe) as a test. It's all come out great and has been in my 5gallon ferminter all week.

So i need to transfer it soon, but all i have is a 5 gallon bottling bucket and a1 gallon glass carbouy.

The carbouy will be too small once the priming solution is put in, but the bottling bucket will be too big (oxidation?)

My question is (and i have been searching high and low for a straight answer)... what should I do? I am tempted to leave the beer in the primary for another week, then syphon into the bottling bucket (maybe through a cheese cloth?), mix the priming sugar solution in, and then bottle.

I'm eager to hear what you guys think... Over here in the UK, we dont have many places to buy this stuff from, and when you do (in small batches) the shipping costs are quite high, so its a rather expensive hobby at the moment, so dont want to screw it up

 

[vraftsman]

How long has it been in primary? As long as fermentation is done you should be just fine to go to bottling now. Mix the priming sugar with your beer in the bucket and bottle right from there.
If you want to secondary it for clarity, you don't have to worry about the space for your priming solution, so use the carboy. The priming sugar solution should only be mixed in immediately before bottling.

 

[kid_a]

Thanks for the response

Ok looking at the dates, it seems i put it in the primary on the 1st of Feb (13days now).

I would like to get some clarity in the beer yeah, but I was concerned that when i have to move it form the carbouy to the bottling bucket, that I would run the risk of oxidization. Or is that ok if the beer was in the bottling bucket for a ver short amount of time (priming sugar, bottling process)?

 

[vraftsman]

I think you should be fine with bottling anytime now. S.G. is a better indicator of if fermentation is done, but 10 days is a good guideline for primary if you had it at the right temps.

The time you take in the bucket to mix in the priming sugar and bottle won't result in enough oxidation to be concerned about. Should only take you 20 minutes or less I think. Just to be safe, make sure you siphon, don't pour. Keep the flow into the bucket smooth and the end of the hose submerged. When you mix in the sugar, do it well, but gently. Basically you just don't want to purposely mix air into your beer, but relax, in the limited time it's kinda hard to screw it up.

 

[m1batt1]

I agree with vraftsman. The limited time in the bottling bucket, regardless of volume, won't be a problem as long as you're gentle with the transfer and don't splash the beer around.

Also if you're looking for a little more clarity I'd suggest cold crashing for a couple days in the primary then do your bottling process. The cold will help drop out more sediment and chill haze and will also harden the trub layer at the bottom so you don't suck so much out when transferring.

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[kid_a]

Ah thanks for the advice guys! Thats put my mind at ease definitely.

As for cold crashing, I do like the idea of doing that, and I have a cool garage for it. Might do that this evening and then bottle on Sunday? Just to make sure, I can just add the priming sugar to the cold crashed beer and bottle straight away?

Thanks again!

 

[m1batt1]

Boil up your priming sugar and then cool down to room temp. Add to bottling bucket then rack your beer on top. Gently stir to male sure the priming sugar is dispersed and bottle.

The beer being cold to start won't hurt anything. It'll just make the yeasties a little slow on initial take off.

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[kid_a]

Really appreciate the help m1batt1! Ill let you know how it turns out