Rack to secondary in same bucket?

[kgs]

Is it wrong to temporarily rack into, say, a sanitized bottling bucket, clean and sanitize the first bucket, then immediately rack back into it?

Longer story: like a lot of us I'm making every nickel count. Though I do plan to get another carboy I was actually going to wait until my LHBS got in another supply of 3-gallon Better Bottle carboys, because after brewing my first batch and reading up on the whole 2.5gal batch discussions, I'd rather experiment with more frequent, smaller batches. We only have so much space, and only one of us in this household really likes anything stronger than Corona Light. (It is what it is.)

I could leave the beer in primary. But after Monday, I can't bottle for another 10 days. (I should have waited another couple of weeks to make my first brew, knowing I was headed to a conference next week, but I got a little excited by the prospect of homebrewing.)

A sudden cold snap that rolled in yesterday is no doubt slowing fermentation, though right now things don't look so bad:

1/10 SG: 1.050
1/13 1.020
1/16 1.015

This is a Fuller ESB partial-mash clone called "3 in a Bed Bitters." It's doing its thang, as far as my n00b eyes and nose can tell. (There was no krausen... then much krausen... now just krausen on the side of the bucket... and actually, it is even tasting kinda good too.) But if its readings change again, then it sounds as if I need to hold off on bottling, which would point to racking to secondary, at least based on what what I'm reading in books and this forum (and the 8,000 podcasts I listened to on a 600-mile road trip on Thursday).

Plus if I'm going to buy another carboy I need to do it today, because the LHBS isn't open Sun/Mon... but I am concerned about contamination introduced by moving the brew twice.

I'm just mindful of the $ and don't want to be wasteful in either direction -- needlessly introducing contamination in my first batch, or buying a carboy I won't use for a while.

Thanks again... this is a great group!

 

[Revvy]

Personally every time you rack or move a beer, you run the risk if you are not careful of oxygenating the beer or openning it up to the risk of infection...

Why use a secondary at all? Many of us leave the beer alone in the primary for 3-4 weeks (or more) which lets the yeasties clean up the byproducts of fermentation, and make for really clean and crisp beers.

And then we bottle...

If you long primary, you negate the need for a secondary.

I know the temptation for a new brewer who is excited, is to impose our timetables on the beer we brew...But actually we are not in charge, the yeast is...the longer time we give them, and the least amount of disruption we push on them, often the better our beers turn out.

So I would wait til you got some 3 gallon bbs (they are fun!!!) leave this beer alone til it's been in primary 3-4 weeks, and bottle...saves all the risk and hassle!

AND your beer will be amazingly clear, and crisp.

 

[kgs]

Thanks, following this forum has made me much more comfortable with the concept of a long primary... good to get the perspectives of homebrewers.

 

[Revvy]

If you're bulk aging something, like a barleywine or other strong beer, where you plan on having it sit for longest than let's say 2 months, then getting it off the yeast cake is a good idea. Or if you are dryhopping or adding anything to the beer.

Those are the only reasons many of us secondary these days..The autolysis fear/craze has been disproven by people like palmer (though most new brewers mis-read what he says.)

For some reason they get so scared of that section of the book (which btw he is talking about lagers which need to be clean and often sit in a lager fridge for months anyway) they miss this final paragragh.

As a final note on this subject, I should mention that by brewing with healthy yeast in a well-prepared wort, many experienced brewers, myself included, have been able to leave a beer in the primary fermenter for several months without any evidence of autolysis.

That for some reason gets missed in the debate...as does the section later where he talks about how the yeasts clean up after themselves.

 

[Thumper]

While I am still a NOOB, I am in the leave it in the primary camp. I have a 5 gallon carboy available (came with the starter kit), but just don't see the need to disturb my batch currently in the primary. It is a Irish Red Ale kit from Midwest. It have been in there for 16 days now. I am thinking two more weeks before I bottle (dependent on hydro readings of course)

 

[KerryD]

Also, you can leave the wort in a bucket that has a spigot if you take the extra measure to make sure the spigot is clean.

It leaves you needing another bottling bucket when the time comes, but they (or DIY spigots) are really cheap.

Also, check around at some of the bakery's... I'm finding lots of things they use come in 3.5 and 4.25 gallon buckets. They are also made by the same people that make the Ale Pails so if the lids are a problem, the ones at you LHBS will typically work. Cheaper than Better Bottles.

 

[magnj]

Can I dry hop in primary?

 

[Revvy]

Can I dry hop in primary?

Some people do. I prefer to rack to secondary for it figuring that a) the beer is alcohol now that fermentation is complete, the beer is alcohol and therefore I won't worry about infections.

b) there's already enough trub at the bottom of my primary so I might as well get it off before I add the hops and more trub.

But like anything it is brewer's choice...they still work.