moving over into plastic secondary

[deranged_hermit]

i checked my beer today for FG, and it hasn't changed much at all from when i checked it after the inital 'boom' of fermentation. its been in the primary for a week now. OG was 1.038, FG after the initial boom was 1.018, and now the FG is 1.016. i do not have a glass carboy, but i'm concerned because the beer tastes very yeasty and is extremely cloudy. if i siphon over to another plastic bucket, will that be okay for the final week of fermentation? will the yeast flavor and cloudyness go away regardless of what i do? and is there a severe danger of oxidation in opening the primary and moving over to a secondary if its plastic and not glass?

 

[WhatsOnTap]

When fermentation is over in the primary there is still a lot of yeast in suspension. If you rack over to the secondary (plastic) you will be more than okay if you follow great sanitation practices. Just be sure you don't splash or fan out any of the beer, because it will cause oxidation. Then a lot of guys leave it in the secondary for 2 weeks, but I found that one does the trick just fine. It will clear up tremendously in that span. Then, rack it over to your bottling bucket with priming sugar and bottle!

 

[Truble]

ditto with WhatsonTap. A good way to prevent burbling or fanning out is to submerge the syphon hose in the beer as it is racking. This prevents all the splashing, etc, that is associated with oxidation. A nice calm surface is good. Just make sure that you sanitize your syphone tube, inside and out.

 

[david_42]

Nothing wrong with plastic for a secondary. I don't use glass at all. Clean first, then sanitize.

 

[deranged_hermit]

i went ahead and syphoned two the secondary plastic bucket. when i bought my equipment, i bought two identical 6.5 gallon buckets, both with spigots. so i just used some 5/8 in tubing from the spigot for the primary to the secondary. there weren't a lot of bubbles, and kept the hose underneath the beer once in the secondary to help prevent oxidation.

there was a lot of 'trub?' on the bottom of the fermenter, and a line near the top showing evidence of krausen (?). is this correct? should there have been more of a head in the fermenter? because when i peeked in during the transfer, i did not see anything.

finally, do you use soap and hot water to clean out the inside of the primary (followed by sanitizing)? or do you just rinse it clean and then sanitize.

 

[jrabenhorst]

I'll be transfering to a secondary pretty soon too. I'm also using 6.5 gallon buckets and have a few questions.

- When you tranfer, should you take the lid off of the original fermenter, does it matter?
-Is it better to syphon the beer out of the fermenter or use the sigot at the bottom? Or once again does it really matter?

 

[Catfish]

there was a lot of 'trub?' on the bottom of the fermenter, and a line near the top showing evidence of krausen (?). is this correct? should there have been more of a head in the fermenter? because when i peeked in during the transfer, i did not see anything.

finally, do you use soap and hot water to clean out the inside of the primary (followed by sanitizing)? or do you just rinse it clean and then sanitize.

You won't have a head during fermentation, if you do it is krausen and you shouldn't be bothering your beer while it's busy doing it's job.
Soap, a soft sponge (nothing abrasive) after using, repeat and then sanitaize before use.

 

[Catfish]

- When you tranfer, should you take the lid off of the original fermenter, does it matter?
-Is it better to syphon the beer out of the fermenter or use the sigot at the bottom? Or once again does it really matter?

I am guessing both your buckets have spigots at the bottom. In this case you should at least crack the lid while transfering through the spigot at the bottom. Just to allow a flow of air, otherwise it will have to come in through the tap (aka through the beer).

If you have a spigot, use it. American kits gererally sell a fermeter bucket (no spigot) and a separate bottling bucket (with spigot) UK & many Asian kits don't bother with the difference. Just be SURE to clean your spigot!

 

[El Pistolero]

- When you tranfer, should you take the lid off of the original fermenter, does it matter?
-Is it better to syphon the beer out of the fermenter or use the sigot at the bottom? Or once again does it really matter?

The spigot is better than the siphon, as long as you run some tubing from the spigot to the bottom of the secondary (to prevent splashing). Loosen the lid of your primary so some air can get in from the top as it drains.

 

[deranged_hermit]

regarding the transfering from the spigot. i realized that after the intial flow, it slowed to a stop and the lid was compressed in on itself. i simply took the airlock out of the stopper and the flow continued cleanly.

and as for cleaning and sanitizing. how do you get rid of the domintant beer/yeasty smell in the bucket? it is a very strong odor and it still remains after i cleaned with dishwashing soap and sanitized with 2 oz of bleach (the iodophor is in the mail). will this smell transfer itself to other beer that i brew? or is it just something that sticks around and is not to worry?