Primary, Secondary, Bottles....

I have been doing the same thing with my brew; going from the primary after 7-8 days and then racking to my bottling bucket, mix in the priming sugar, and bottling immediately thereafter. I have been getting consistently good results with my ales using this process. My beer comes out reasonably clear, but I will be trying a carboy as a secondary next time around in hopes of an even better brew. For ales, using a secondary for another 4-5 days before bottling gets the beer off of the trub(?) which could contribute to off flavors and also gives any suspended particles in the beer more time to settle.

While you can go directly from primary to bottling, I've found I get cleaner (appearance and taste) results if I use secondary fermentation as well.

Use a 5-gal glass carboy for the secondary, not another food grade bucket. Less headspace for the beer/ale. Also, you don't need to add sugar or yeast when you rack to the secondary. Add the priming sugar when you rack from the secondary carboy to the priming bucket for bottling, not when going from primary to secondary.

So -

Primary in the bucket: 7 days or whenever desired FG is achieved.

Rack to secondary carboy, set your airlock and leave alone for at least 2 weeks (if not longer depending on the type of beer/ale being brewed).

Rack to priming bucket, add priming sugar and bottle. Let it bottle condition for at least another 2 weeks, again depending on the type of beer/ale you're making.

Enjoy!

You might want to consider using a carboy for the primary as well. You can sometimes get a slight plastic taste when using a bucket.

If you use a 6.5 gal carboy you'll have less blow-off, but hey, cleaning up the mess is half the fun right?

Ben

What benefit does the reduced headspace have? I presume it would still be okay to use a plastic bin same as I used for primary? My main concern is the space (the 2 bins could easily be stacked when not in use. The wife is already a little peeved by he space I am taking up (and we don't have much to begin with!)

Initially, racking from the primary to a secondary greatly increases the oxygen/air exposure to the "head" of the brew. The smaller headspace of a carboy helps to minimize the impact that may have since a carboy allows for less air. Just one more factor you can control....

From "How To Brew"

Ch. 8:

"It is important to minimize the amount of headspace in the secondary fermentor to minimize the exposure to oxygen until the headspace can be purged by the still-fermenting beer. For this reason, plastic buckets do not make good secondary fermentors unless the beer is transferred just as the primary phase is starting to slow and is still bubbling steadily. Five gallon glass carboys make the best secondary fermentors. Plastic carboys do not work well because they are too oxygen permeable, causing staling."

My carboy (5 gal) fits inside my primary bucket for storage, so that shouldn't be an issue.

While the above is true, and the headspace argument is also true, the experience of most folks for fermenting ales in the 2 - 3 week range is that plastic and headspace are not problems, especially if you plan to drink the beer within 6-8 months. Those staling/oxydation arguments are very applicable for 6+ month secondaries and for beers that will be stored for 1+ years.

I agree with the schedule posted before: primary about 1 week, secondary

1 to 2 weeks, prime in bucket and bottle. Note, priming in the bucket is best because there are no measuring issues like there are in bottles.

Thanks for all the advice. Will have a look into getting a carboy.

What do you use for secondary? Also if you are priming at this point before bottling, don't you lose all of your carbonation when you open the secondary??

I would have thought tha priming when bottling would be better?

My plan is to leave in secondary for at least 2 weeks before bottling. This will hopefully mean that I get less sediment when bottling and a better quality berr.

Thanks anyway...

Thats what the TEXTBOOK says, but other forums and my experience (as a microbiologist) tell me it has to be on trub for WEEKS before off flavor possibly appear.

I have left ales on trub for 2 weeks and in secondary for 0 weeks, 1 week, and 2 weeks...same recipe...and with the same bottle-conditioning time, I have noticed no difference or improvement going to 2-nd vessel secondarys before bottling.

This is for ALES now, where your grain bill is mainly one grain and another grain with it to enhance or augment the recipe's identity. With such simple recipes I'm told, and I aggree in what i've done, that you can bottle in lieu of secondary

HOWEVER, my last mess, a nutty brown ale contained several malts, a chocolate, carapils, and tho it fermented according to schedule, it not only needed a secondary in another vessel, it's gonna need weeks in bottle before the "burnt" flavor mellows out.

My rule of thumb: any ale with more than 1 principal malt, besides carapils, secondary it and dont jump the gun drinking it

Lagers? :(cant do yet) follow the textbook!

Yodar

That's another reason why I bottle (my ales) quickly, (I don't need a secondary) cause I collect that sediment in a subculture to make a starter for my next mess. Has worked for years. I buy maybe three smak-packs a year. Yodar

How do you store the culture? And for how long? I've read it's not good for more than a week or two in the fridge, but I imagine there has to be a way to making it last longer. Some pitch their next batch right onto the yeast cake from the last batch, but some of us don't brew often enough for back-to-back batches.

I've been looking online and haven't found much in the way of instructions on DIY long-term yeast reuse and storage.

ab