Secondary alternate.

[caioz1jp]

Hey guys, So I am brewing two five gallon batches of Copper Ale for a bachelor party in September. Right now I have two primary buckets and one carboy. I plan on brewing the batches about a day apart. My plan is to put both in the buckets for primary, transfer one to the glass carboy for secondary, then use the same bucket, after cleaning and sanitizing, as a secondary for the other batch. I was just wondering if this is an ok method. I dont want to pick up any off flavors from the buckets. I have 2 carboys but My pumpkin ale is condition in it right now and I don't plan on moving that until at least the first week of october.

PS Both batches will be going to kegs. One keg is ready now but the other still has a irish stout in it.

 

[Revvy]

Why don't you just opt for an extended primary, until you're ready to keg? Unless you're doing additive brewing-adding something to a batch post fermentation, like fruit or oak, many of us just opt for a month or more long primary, until we're ready to bottle. There's a ton of discussions on here giving you plenty of info on the topic.

 

[caioz1jp]

I like consistancy. I normal do 2 weeks primary, 4 weeks secondary. Im just worried if I deviate that it won't taste the same.

 

[Revvy]

I like consistancy. I normal do 2 weeks primary, 4 weeks secondary. Im just worried if I deviate that it won't taste the same.

Many of us have found that our beers actually tastes better. That's why we do it....

 

[caioz1jp]

Im very tempted to try this. I just read https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/secondary-not-john-palmer-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-176837/
So my question is, what are the limits to this? Part of the reason I secondary is psuedo bottle contioning. Since I keg I don't get that extra conditioning time. If i were to brew these beers now and not keg them to mid september whould they be ok?

 

[Revvy]

Im very tempted to try this. I just read https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/secondary-not-john-palmer-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-176837/
So my question is, what are the limits to this? Part of the reason I secondary is psuedo bottle contioning. Since I keg I don't get that extra conditioning time. If i were to brew these beers now and not keg them to mid september whould they be ok?

As people in that thread have said, including me, many of us have left beers in primary for 6 months, to whole years with no issues.

 

[ludomonster]

You could also keg condition your beers. Just because you've kegged the beer, doesn't mean you have to drink it, as tempting as it may be.

 

[caioz1jp]

You could also keg condition your beers. Just because you've kegged the beer, doesn't mean you have to drink it, as tempting as it may be.

I... don't understand... keg beer + no drinky = syntax error

Allright then, Ill give this a shot. By the way, how is the clarity of the beer when using this method?

 

[Captain Damage]

The secondary doesn't magically make earth's gravity stronger. The same amount of yeast will fall out of suspension whether you go 6 weeks in primary or two in primary, four in secondary. You'll have the same clarity after the beer is conditioned.

 

[RM-MN]

Um, you guys are falling down on the job. It isn't a question of how to make 10 gallons of beer fit into a 5 gallon secondary (although it was stated that way) its how to make 14 gallons of beer and fit them into 2 five gallon buckets and a 5 gallon carboy. You can't be serious about leaving that nice carboy sit empty!

 

[TBrady26]

Um, you guys are falling down on the job. It isn't a question of how to make 10 gallons of beer fit into a 5 gallon secondary (although it was stated that way) its how to make 14 gallons of beer and fit them into 2 five gallon buckets and a 5 gallon carboy. You can't be serious about leaving that nice carboy sit empty!

That's exactly how I read the equation. My noobness though, doesn't give me enough experience to let me compute it. I don't really understand the whole racking to 2nd vessel. Batch priming/carbonation.

I mean, I can't even get around the fact that I don't know why they call it racking. Where'd that terminology, for moving a liquid from one container to another, come from?

 

[RM-MN]

That's exactly how I read the equation. My noobness though, doesn't give me enough experience to let me compute it. I don't really understand the whole racking to 2nd vessel. Batch priming/carbonation.

I mean, I can't even get around the fact that I don't know why they call it racking. Where'd that terminology, for moving a liquid from one container to another, come from?

Racking was used first in winemaking where you would have a much slower yeast action and you would want to remove the wine from the spent yeast at the bottom of the container before it died and caused off flavors. This idea was carried over into beer making before it was realized that beer is ready much sooner than wine and there really is no need to move the beer to a second vessel to get it off the dormant yeast.

Batch priming is simply adding a fermentable sugar to a larger quantity of beer so you avoid the possibility of mismeasurement or double priming a bottle. This priming is done after the yeast have completely eaten all the sugars in the beer and is ready to bottle. By adding the priming sugars you restart the fermentation which gives off carbon dioxide. If you seal this primed beer in a bottle and have weighed the priming sugar accurately the beer will have the perfect amount of carbonation in every bottle.