Secondary with a Spigot Question

[YouGotRobes]

Hi me again with the n00b question.

The kit I bought came with a bottling bucket with a spigot. Identical to the one I have fermenting, just with a spigot in the bottom. My questions are should I worry about leaving it in there when I move to the secondary about the spigot? Can I bottle directly from there when FG is achieved? Or should I move back to the primary and siphon to bottle.

I was able to find a lot of info on this, however it was always for beer and most just advised against the secondary and leaving in primary longer. However I understand there is a greater need for secondarys with cider for clarity.

 

[hallerobin]

I bottle from the bucket with the spigot even without using it as a secondary--I've found it to be really easy.
What's the purpose of your secondary? Are you adding things or just racking to it to increase clarity?

 

[YouGotRobes]

I bottle from the bucket with the spigot even without using it as a secondary--I've found it to be really easy.
What's the purpose of your secondary? Are you adding things or just racking to it to increase clarity?

Racking to increase clarity. At least that is what my directions have advised. I figure my girlfriend will be more keen to try and enjoy this experiment in food science if it doesn't look like a mess haha, either way if she hates it just means more for me.

 

[hallerobin]

LOL!
If you're not adding more fermentables in secondary, then you should be a-ok to bottle from that bucket. (If you were to add fermentables to it, you still could, it would just be cloudier unless you cold crashed it a while.)
At least that's my semi-n00b opinion!

 

[layd0g]

I bottled about 15 batches before I got my kegerator up and running. In every case that I used a secondary I moved the brew from the secondary to the bottling bucket (the one with the spigot).

When you bottle the brew you are likely going to use some sort of sugar to bottle condition (i.e. carbonate). You will probably dissolve some corn sugar in some water and pour it in the bucket with the beer. If you do it in the secondary you are going to stir up anything that has settled to the bottom of the secondary fermenter. If you use a bottling bucket you can pour the sugar water in the bottom, move the beer to the bottling bucket then bottle from there. This ensures the sugar water is mixed well without mixing up the secondary trub. That way you don't get a bunch of settlement in the bottle and you wind up with a clearer end result.

 

[Yooper]

You don't want a bucket for a secondary- you want a carboy with a narrow headspace. Once fermentation slows, it's important to protect the cider from oxygen which can cause oxidation and let oxygen-loving mold and bacteria take hold. A bucket with wide headspace is the worst for clearing/aging wine and cider!

If you rack from the primary, make sure to use an appropriately sized carboy or demijohn, and top up to within a couple of inches of the bung.

 

[hallerobin]

Yeah, I realize that I should have clarified that I don't use the bottling bucket as a secondary, I just rack from primary to it, add my priming sugar, and bottle straight away, so there's no settling of stuff or time for oxygen to take much of a hold. Sorry for any confusion I may have caused!

 

[YouGotRobes]

So basically should I rack to the bottling bucket when I can see fermentation done, let settle and bottle?

 

[Yooper]

So basically should I rack to the bottling bucket when I can see fermentation done, let settle and bottle?

I'm one who likes to have a finished and clear product, and when I press apples, I get a TON of sediment. I bet my last cider had 4 inches of sediment after a week!

So, I wait until the SG is under about 1.020, and fermentation is slowing down, and then rack to a carboy and airlock it. Then rack again when the sediment gets thick, after about 60 days.

I know that there are some cidermakers that allow their cider to sit on sediment for longer periods, or bottle it when it's murky (and have more crud in their bottles), but I don't so I can't answer that. Oxidation, from a wide headspace in a bucket, will ruin the cider- that I do know!