Plastic ale pails

[wadner]

How do you guys that use buckets transfer your beer from the primary bucket to the secondary bucket or a priming bucket? It seems like you should be able to pour one bucket into the other. Is there anything wrong with doing that? Would I be better off using a siphon hose?

Any thoughts?

 

[JesseRC]

use a hose, the whole purpose of moving to secondary is for 2 reasons:
1) to leave trub/sediment behind in primary
2) to clear/age

pouring from one bucket to the other will just stir up everything. Lots of us dont secondary, but that's another topic.

 

[IrregularPulse]

It's will also oxygenate your beer post fermentation which you don't want. Use a siphon and minimize splashing.

 

[pjanisch]

Drill a hole in your plastic primary and install a $3 spigot; it helps for bottling too.

 

[weirdboy]

Drill a hole in your plastic primary and install a $3 spigot; it helps for bottling too.

I disagree with this practice. For a bottling bucket, it's fine. But for transferring from primary to secondary, it's a mistake. The whole point of transferring to secondary is to leave all the sediment in the primary. The best way to do that on a homebrew scale with ale pails is to use a racking cane or autosiphon and siphon the beer from the top down until you start slurping up sediment, then stopping the transfer.

 

[misanthrope]

I disagree with this practice. For a bottling bucket, it's fine. But for transferring from primary to secondary, it's a mistake. The whole point of transferring to secondary is to leave all the sediment in the primary. The best way to do that on a homebrew scale with ale pails is to use a racking cane or autosiphon and siphon the beer from the top down until you start slurping up sediment, then stopping the transfer.

The spigot hole is like an inch or so from the bottom. I tilt my bucket by putting a wooden spoon under the opposite end and get virtually no sediments during xfer. I can't see siphoning getting less.

 

[maida7]

The spigot hole is like an inch or so from the bottom. I tilt my bucket by putting a wooden spoon under the opposite end and get virtually no sediments during xfer. I can't see siphoning getting less.

Sometimes the trub level is higher then others. what you really want is an adjustable racking arm. But I find that all these spigot type things make cleaning and sanitizing much more difficult. Eventually you will end up with an infection and it may be several batches before you figure out the problem. This is also the downside of conical fermenters with lots of fancy fittings. You need to take it all apart and boil the fittings. I prefer my fermenter to be a simple easy to clean vessel that I can trust not to harbor infections. Right now I'm using the better bottles and they are the bomb!

I recomend using a siphon / racking cane. Pouring would stir up all the trub and expose the beer to oxygen. Oxygen introduced from splashing or stiring up the beer at this stage will make it taste like cardboard.

 

[kanderna]

Pouring would stir up all the trub and expose the beer to oxygen. Oxygen introduced from splashing or stiring up the beer at this stage will make it taste like cardboard.

Yep, as would letting it drain from the spigot, so definitely +1 on the racking cane or autosiphon.

Also, parts (e.g. spigots) sometimes fail. Would hate to ferment in a bucket w/ a faulty spigot and find your precious nectar all over the floor.

 

[misanthrope]

Sometimes the trub level is higher then others. what you really want is an adjustable racking arm. But I find that all these spigot type things make cleaning and sanitizing much more difficult. Eventually you will end up with an infection and it may be several batches before you figure out the problem.

Bah! It's one plastic nut. Rinse, bottle brush, and into a bowl of no rinse sanitizer.

As to the minuscule amount of trub that gets transferred, it's into a secondary carboy or (in the OP's case) a bottling bucket.

If to a carboy, it becomes part of that thin film on the bottom that is far more precipitate from the beer than xfered trub.

If to a bottling bucket, well, it's got another spigot an inch from the bottom.

Yep, as would letting it drain from the spigot, so definitely +1 on the racking cane or autosiphon.

Also, parts (e.g. spigots) sometimes fail. Would hate to ferment in a bucket w/ a faulty spigot and find your precious nectar all over the floor.

Double Bah! Twenty years, almost as many buckets and never a leak.

oh...and attach a hose to the spigot. It creates no more aeration then siphoning.

I'm not saying the spigot is better, but it's no worse. I believe either way will give nearly identical results.

To each his own. For my equipment, in my kitchen, with my beer, I prefer the spigot.

But that's part of the beauty of the hobby. Ninety nine per cent is nuance. What's best is what works best for you. The only four absolutes (in my opinion) are sanitize, sanitize, sanitize, temperature control. Outside of that, RDWHAHB.

(parenthetical PS: I'm not trying to be too confrontational here. I realize a lot of subtleties of communication are lost when reduced to the mere written word. I am considering this a light hearted, friendly debate. My apologies if I seem to adversarial.) (Oh...and I ramble when I'm drunk.)

 

[Revvy]

I've never needed to wedge for a carboy or held onto it for a bucket, I just set the autosiphon in and let it go. I don't like that he says you can use you mouth though.

 

[kanderna]

Double Bah! Twenty years, almost as many buckets and never a leak.

Sure, me either. But that's our personal experience. Take a read around here and you'll find that it definitely happens. If I led on that IT WILL happen, then that's my bad.

oh...and attach a hose to the spigot. It creates no more aeration then siphoning.

Of course. But when the spigot idea was posted there was no mention of attaching a hose to it. It was as if the suggestion was to put the spigoted bucket above the secondary and open it wide.

(parenthetical PS: I'm not trying to be too confrontational here. I realize a lot of subtleties of communication are lost when reduced to the mere written word. I am considering this a light hearted, friendly debate. My apologies if I seem to adversarial.) (Oh...and I ramble when I'm drunk.)

Understood. One of the major downsides of an online forum.

 

[maida7]

I use one of these works great and the hoodie holds the racking cane so you can set the hight properly above the yeast cake.

 

[maida7]

Bah! It's one plastic nut. Rinse, bottle brush, and into a bowl of no rinse sanitizer.

The brush MAY scratch the plastic and the scratches MAY harbor bacteria.

Also, how do you sanitize the outside part of the spigot immediately before the transfer? I suppose you could spray it down with stan star. I'm not convinced this is the best way to go but if it works for you then that's all that matters.

 

[wadner]

I'm going with a bucket with a spigot instead of a glass carboy. I think my autosiphon is much more likely to harbor hidden bacteria. I also like not having to worry about a glass carboy shattering if the wort is to hot. 170 degrees, I can get down to that in the sink rather quickly.

DeathBrewer's partial mash into a fermenting bucket with a spigot, and a length of hose. That seems like the way I'm brewing for the next few years. I'm buying the Williams Brewing inverted nut and drilling a hole in my bucket.


Thanks for all the good thoughts. This place is the best for great homebrew discussion.:rockin:

 

[shataway]

I have a bad habit of leaving the spigot down when I move my bottling bucket. I have broken a spigot this way. It was literally hanging on by a thread. This plus the sanitation issue keeps me from using the bucket with spigot as a fermenter.

I chalk this up to a beginer's mistake. I now disassemble the spigot during cleaning and don't put it all back together until I am ready to use it as a bottling bucket.