Secondary

[Jlaw3000]

I have a buddy who does primary ferm in bucket... Secondary in a carboy. I'm all about "to each his own" with HB methods but why would you not do primary in the carboy,
Secondary in bucket? Not only is it fun to watch but just seems more intuitive. What do you guys do?

 

[OCBrewin]

Mostly its an oxygen thing. For secondary you want as little permeability as possible. In primary its not,as much of a concern because of the near constant co2 production an positive pressure. This makes glass for secondary fermentation much more preferable. FWIW, I rarely secondary at all anymore unless I'm doing something odd like a fruit addition or such. I even dry hop in primary now too.

 

[spenghali]

You want to minimize air exposure. Not only to avoid oxidation, but to avoid contamination. I suppose you could get away with it if you purged your secondary bucket with CO2, but its more work than its worth. Plenty of people primary in 6.5 gal carboys and secondary in 5 gallon carboys, that is a better solution that secondary in a bucket.

Personally, I pretty much always primary in a bucket and secondary in a carboy if I do one.

 

[amandabab]

I have a buddy who does primary ferm in bucket... Secondary in a carboy. I'm all about "to each his own" with HB methods but why would you not do primary in the carboy,
Secondary in bucket? Not only is it fun to watch but just seems more intuitive. What do you guys do?

there is no way to 100% seal a bucket and there is a lot of surface area.
I primary and secondary in carboys. I only use buckets for wine and only for the 2-3 day primary stage because they are so easy to get oxygen into them.

 

[RM-MN]

I have a better idea. Ferment in the bucket... and in the carboy as a primary only setup. Now you have twice as much beer fermenting. Give them 3 weeks and bottle. Start 2 more.

 

[plumber_bob]

I have a buddy who does primary ferm in bucket... Secondary in a carboy. I'm all about "to each his own" with HB methods but why would you not do primary in the carboy,
Secondary in bucket? Not only is it fun to watch but just seems more intuitive. What do you guys do?

I ferment in a 1/2 barrel keg, (10 gal batches), oxy the heck out of it, pitch, close, attach a blow off, and forget.

Well you never forget.

pb