Accidentally used bottling bucket for secondary fermentation

[drums09]

I'm brewing my first batch (Mickey Finns Amber Ale from a kit). A friend recommended I do a secondary fermentation with some dry hops , so I did... right into my bottling bucket.

What's the best way to go from here? It's been a week in secondary. Can I bottle right from here even though there's probably beer goop in the bottom? I was thinking of siphoning it back into the primary (glass carboy), then back into the bottling bucket.

 

[Bear419]

If your bottle filler will fit on your siphon hose, you might try siphoning into bottles. If possible avoid the transfer from bucket to carboy to bucket, the more you transfer the more likely you'll taint or oxidize your beer.

 

[BluBruShack]

I say give the spigot a try. Bottle filler on the end of the hose right to the spigot. If it does not work then you can always try to siphon. Since it is secondary there should be significantly less sediment at the bottom so you might not have a problem. Keep us posted.

-BBS

 

[dfc]

How are you carbing the bottles? If you're boiling sugar and batch carbing I'd say rack to the carboy, clean the bottling bucket and proceed as normal. If you're using carb tabs or something similar I'd just bottle straight from the bucket.

 

[mikeysab]

If it was me, i'd be happy I was already in my bottling bucket. Pour your priming sugar in, give it a gentle swirl, and proceed as normal.

 

[kwingert]

If you hadn't dry hopped, I would say bottle from there but with a bunch of hops in the bucket you may have problems with a plugged spigot, unless you dry hopped in sacks. Your going to mix up all that sediment when you mix in your priming solution. You may plug your spigot, your bottle filler, and you'll probably ended up with a bunch of sediment in your bottles.

I suggest you sanitize really well, keep all your openings covered with sanitized aluminum foil and rack back to your carboy, let it settle for a day or two, then rack back to bottling bucket. I think you will have better beer in the long run.