secondary with only one carboy

[Yosemite Bing]

I only have one carboy, which is currently my primary, and need to rack my batch to a secondary. Should I rack to a plastic bucket, clean the carboy, then rack back to the cleaned carboy? I want to minimize contamination if possible.
Thanks,
Gene

 

[Poobah58]

Why do you want to secondary? Unless you are dry hopping or lagering, I would leave it as is. Why risk infection or aeration?

 

[Jaysus]

if you have a lid. just use the bucket for secondary... other wise, you can do what you suggest. Heck, depending on what you brewed, you may be able to skip secondary.

 

[Yosemite Bing]

Thanks for your replies. I am brewing a Belgian Dubble.

 

[Seawolf]

Thanks for your replies. I am brewing a Belgian Dubble.

minimizing aeration for a beer like that is really important because it needs to age for a while. you're better off leaving it in the primary, where no O2 is present for a couple months. The CO2 has pushed all the other gases out of the carboy, leaving a great environment for your beer. If you rack it back into a large vessel with lots of head room, you risk O2 exposure on a grand scale. I kept my Dubbel in a 5 gallon carboy for a couple months, and it's been bottle conditioning now for 5 months. It's tasted better both times I've tried one, which has been about once a month since the 5 month point.

 

[Yosemite Bing]

Do you this this style would benifit from a seconday?

 

[Yosemite Bing]

Thanks for the thoughts on the dubble. I believe I will take you advice. So will I risk any off flavors from sediment exposure for extended periods in a primary?

 

[Saccharomyces]

I would do 6 weeks in the primary, should be good to go. For belgians I don't bother with a secondary because they don't need to be completely clear anyway (in fact I would be disappointed if there wasn't a bit of haze).

- Eric

 

[homebrewer_99]

Why did you use the carboy as a primary and not the bucket?

 

[Yosemite Bing]

I suspected this style to take longer to ferm than lighter styles thus I did not want it in a bucket for any longer than 4-7 days.

 

[Revvy]

I suspected this style to take longer to ferm than lighter styles thus I did not want it in a bucket for any longer than 4-7 days.

Why? I leave mine in the buckets for 3-4 weeks with no problem. The plastic in the ale pale will not leach or anything....

 

[Yosemite Bing]

I guess I will try that for next time. Is there any special things I should be aware when using the bottling bucket?

 

[WBC]

You are better off in the carboy for the whole time. You do not need a secondary at all.

 

[Chris Z]

What if I was thinking of making an octoberfest using an ale yeast because my basement floor temp will only be 62. Do you think I could keep that in the primary the whole time?

 

[WBC]

What if I was thinking of making an octoberfest using an ale yeast because my basement floor temp will only be 62. Do you think I could keep that in the primary the whole time?

Sure you can. I wish I had a basement that was 62F. You should choose your yeast carefully as you do not want a stuck fermentation. I know that Nottingham will do well at that temperature but other ale yeasts sometimes will stop if they get below 60F in temperature. Remember that the actual temperature in the carboy will be higher than your basement as fermentation is exothermic (gives off heat) from the fermentation itself.

You have an ideal frementing area and the rest of us will have to use refrigerators.

 

[Chris Z]

I place a gallon jug of water on the basement floor for a few days with an insulated box over the top of it and then I checked the temp of the water.

I'll chose wisely (well I'll have someone chose wisely for me)

thanks