Secondary Question

[deejay413]

You guys were so helpful with my first question I figured I'd ask another one.

I have the 2 gallon Mr Beer kit and my bother just gave me another Mr Beer 2 gallon fermenting keg that he isn't using anymore.

I was wondering how this would work for a secondary fermenter? I am not sure how secondaries work and what I should do?

Also, with the Mr Beer kit, you put the sugar right in the bottles for their version of secondary fermenting. How would this work if I used a Mr Beer keg for a secondary fermenter?

Thank you for your help!

 

[flars]

The use of a secondary is not for fermenting. The secondary is for aging, dry hopping, or adding flavorings.
Adding sugar directly to bottles is not a form of using a secondary; it is probably meant as adding priming sugar for carbonation during bottle conditioning.
You could possibly use the other 2 gallon keg as a bottling bucket. Add the priming sugar in bulk for the entire batch and then bottle. Link for calculating the amount of corn sugar to use. http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html?14635422#tag

 

[HeadyKilowatt]

You really don't need to use a secondary. Many, if not most, of us no longer secondary unless adding fruit, wood chips, etc. I leave all my beers in the fermenter ("primary") for at least 3 weeks, usually a month, and then straight to bottles.

Get the other fermenter and just use it to have 2 batches going at once!

 

[deejay413]

Get the other fermenter and just use it to have 2 batches going at once!

Thanks maybe I will just do that.

 

[bobot]

Using the 2nd LBK as either a bottling bucket, or as an additional primary fermenter are both awesome ideas, in my humble opinion.

 

[frazier]

Let's face it, any minute now you're going to be upgrading to 5 gallon equipment. So, does it matter what you do with a second LBK?

Cheers!

 

[deejay413]

Let's face it, any minute now you're going to be upgrading to 5 gallon equipment. So, does it matter what you do with a second LBK?

This is true. I was actually just pricing out some 5gal carboys. My buddy may sell me 2 of his so we will see. My biggest problem is space. I live in an apartment on the 2nd floor and it's not the biggest place in the world. I'm sure I could make it work though.