Secondary Ferm. in Primary Bucket?

[Dice_Boken]

I'm currently fermenting an American Light ale from Brewer's Best, and since I am wanting this beer to be as similar to an American light lager as possible, I'm wanting to do a secondary to help clear it up a bit. The problem is I don't have a carboy so I'm thinking after 2 weeks I will transfer the beer to the bottling bucket, clean out and sanitize the fermenting bucket and transfer the beer back in to it for another week as a secondary fermentation. Will this oxygenate the beer too much? Has anyone tried this? Thanks in advance.

 

[IchLiebeBier]

Anytime your transfer it, you run the risk. But if you take your time and do it correctly, I think you'd be fine.

Are you bottling it, or kegging it? If kegging, just keep it in the bottling bucket if you don't need it for another brew.

Buckets are pretty cheap. It wouldn't hurt to have another one handy.

 

[Revvy]

If you are thinking of moving it for only a week or two after 2 weeks? Then why do you do what a lot of us do and just leave it for a month in promary. You'll find the beer will be crystal clear, and crisp tasting.

You messing around like you suggest can actually ruin your beer. If you're only doing a short time, just leave it be, let the yeast do what they love to do and clear your beer.

 

[Yooper]

If you're going to do a secondary, you really need to use a carboy or something with a narrow headspace to reduce oxidation. Using a bucket for fermenting is fine, since c02 is actively being produced and has a protective effect. However, once fermentation stops, that protection ends and then moving it means lots of oxygen contact in a very wide headspace of a bucket.

Remember that clearing is a function of many things, from ingredients and the yeast strain, but it's primarily a function of gravity. Moving it to another vessel won't make it clear better or faster, but you certainly go do that if you want to. Just make sure it's an appropriately sized carboy, or a keg, to protect the beer from oxidation as much as possible.

 

[IchLiebeBier]

Good call yooper. I didn't think about the headspace, even though yesterday when I transferred to secondary I thought, "good, the headspace is minimized."

D'oh