Hello,
I recently was looking at ordering a 5 gallon extract beer kit from Northern Brewer. I noticed that most of their recipes call for a primary fermentation of 1-2 weeks and a secondary fermentation of 2 - 4 weeks.
I have a modest setup of a 6.5 gallon fermenter and a 6.5 gallon bottling bucket. I am not opposed to buying a new bucket but I wanted to know how important secondary fermentation is. I have only one brew under my belt and it came out pretty well so I want to make sure that I am not skipping an important step. I'll pose my questions in a list below:
How important is secondary fermentation?
Can I just let my beer sit in the primary fermenter for longer?
Can I use my bottling bucket as a secondary fermenter or would that cause oxidation issues?
Thank you in advance for taking to time out to share your knowledge!
I recently was looking at ordering a 5 gallon extract beer kit from Northern Brewer. I noticed that most of their recipes call for a primary fermentation of 1-2 weeks and a secondary fermentation of 2 - 4 weeks.
I have a modest setup of a 6.5 gallon fermenter and a 6.5 gallon bottling bucket. I am not opposed to buying a new bucket but I wanted to know how important secondary fermentation is. I have only one brew under my belt and it came out pretty well so I want to make sure that I am not skipping an important step. I'll pose my questions in a list below:
How important is secondary fermentation?
Can I just let my beer sit in the primary fermenter for longer?
Can I use my bottling bucket as a secondary fermenter or would that cause oxidation issues?
Thank you in advance for taking to time out to share your knowledge!