Should I rack to secondary

[D.B.Moody]

Save the whiskey sanitizer for post brew. I’ve found fewer mistakes are made that way.

Like I said, I haven't done that for decades.

 

[pacman]

Fwiw if you have a plastic fermenting bucket, it’s very easy to add a spigot and do away with the siphon. Some spigots even have a bent tube on the inside so you can rotate the intake just above the trub. I never bothered with that as I had a factored the volume loss into my brew calculations and the spigot was placed at that spot.

If you need a bottling bucket to prime the beer do the same (add a spigot). Spigot in the brew pot and using mesh hop bags will help reduce sediment. Irish moss or Whirlpck tabs. And I let my wort settle for about 30 minutes after chilling before transferring to the fermenter.

a good cold crash helps clear beer.



View attachment 727282

Yeah, fitting spigots (taps, faucets) to fermenters and bottling bucket is the way to go. I do this, and fitted a home made pick-up tube in my bottling bucket to avoid tilting. To minimize oxidization, I transfer from tap to tap with a plastic tube, after pouring my priming solution into the bottling bucket and sealing the lid. No noticeable oxidization problems.

Cheers