Prepping to rack, not sure if ready.

[Yooper]

New question than (and I appreciate all of your help and insight thus far).

many people are saying skip the secondary, bottle from the primary. Is the unsaid step "put it in a bucket to mix the priming sugar" or how do I evenly distribute the sugar without stirring up the trub and transferring that to bottles?

Yes, that's the unsaid step! A bottling bucket is a great tool, and it makes bottling easier as well as works as a great tool to mix in the priming solution well and get the beer of of the trub.

Normally, you bring about 2 cups of water to a boil, and stir in your priming sugar (about 1 ounce by weight per finished gallon of beer for most beers). Boil for a minute or two, and pour into your sanitized bottling bucket.

Then rack (siphon) the beer from the fermenter into the bottling bucket. A great way to do this is to have the tubing long enough to lay in a circle on the bottom of the receiving bucket. Then, the beer fills from the bottom and swirls in without splashing, to mix the priming sugar and to avoid oxidation at the same time.

Then, put your bucket up on a table or counter (gently- don't splash!), attach a bottling wand, and fill the bottles.

The first time, allow yourself most of the afternoon to do this. But after you get the hang of it, it'll take less than an hour total.

 

[GrogNerd]

I didn't think I mentioned it that many times in this thread. But it is a mantra I preach daily. Give the beer the time it needs to get down to a stable FG,however long that takes. Keep temps within the yeast's range. Then another 3-7 days it takes to clean up & settle out clear or slightly misty. This gets the yeasty tastes out,along with other by products of fermentation percieved as flaws in higher concentrations. The yeast feed on these compounds after the simple sugars are finished. Hence the 3-7 day clean-n-clear period I preach about. You can't rush the goodness.

sorry to sound harsh or mean or anything, just wanted the OP to know that your advice is good advice, it should be repeated

I tend to go to 3 weeks, everything should be done by then (given a OG of 1.050 ± .010) and I don't have to worry about multiple gravity readings. I take my final and go to bottle.

You can't rush the goodness is absolutely right. This is a very forgiving hobby, but it's definitely not for the impatient.