syphoning to a second bucket

[Robbo851]

Hiya, so I started my first brew at the weekend, a kit form beerworks the Merseyside dockers IPA. I got it along with my equipment from love hombrew. before purchasing I watched all their instructional videos and in one they syphoned the beer from one bucket to another so I got a second bucket with a tap and bottler so I could do this too. My question if you could help me please is when do I syphon from bucket to the other (with tap)? I am adding hops at day 5 then have a further 10 days fermentation according to the kit. Do I then syphon to the tapped bucket and bottle from there straight away or should I keep it in the bucket for a while before bottling?

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
I bottle immediately after racking from the FV into the bottling bucket. Two weeks in the FV, cold crash for a day and bottle.
Are you going to batch prime?

 

[Pavros]

I leave the beer fermenting for at least 2 weeks in 1 fv1 until I have 3 readings the same on a hydrometer over 3 days. Once it has finished, I syphon a small amount into a pan and dissolve all the priming sugar in it. Then I pour this into fv2, slowly down the side to minimise adding any oxygen (no splashing!). Then I syphon all the rest from fv1 to fv2 and finally bottle from fv2. The beer is probably in fv2 for an hour maximum depending on how fast I am at bottling and capping.

 

[Hoppyland]

Yep. For your system, absolutely leave the beer in the first bucket until the initial fermentation is finished. Then, siphon into your bucket with a tap (I'd call it a bottling bucket), mix with the priming sugar, & immediately bottle. I'll emphasise to do your very your best to avoid any splashing, gurgling when siphoning, mixing or bottling. As Pavros says, air getting into your beer at this stage is bad news - the more air, the more the flavour will suffer.
Oh, and don't worry if you can't cold-crash. I've never done this, but it's possible my beer might take longer to mature.

 

[Pavros]

If you don't have any temperature control when fermenting, a simple way to cold crash is to leave the fv on a concrete floor overnight

 

[Robbo851]

thanks for your replies, I was going to prime in the bottle (bought some sterile syringes) do you think its better to just add to the bottling bucket then?

im brewing in my garage with an emersion heater in FV1. I am then bottling in pet plastic brown bottles with screw tops. would it be best to leave these on the cold garage floor once bottles or move into warm house? I have option for either.

 

[MmmBeer]

I am then bottling in pet plastic brown bottles with screw tops. would it be best to leave these on the cold garage floor once bottles or move into warm house? I have option for either.

Keep them somewhere warm (~18-22°C) for the first 2 weeks, for the secondary fermentation to take place, which carbonates the beer in the bottles, then move them somewhere cool such as your garage, for the beer to condition. After two weeks conditioning, drink and enjoy.

 

[Robbo851]

that was my plan , thanks

 

[Robbo851]

oh and the cold crash, I could do this by simply turning off my emersion heater after my hydrometer gets steady readings right? its already in the garage so I could turn off the emersion heater and put the bucket on the floor but I have read that it may lead to less carbonation in the bottling , is that correct?

 

[-Bezza-]

To chip in with a couple of thoughts:

- I'd hold off a few more days before dry hopping. I would aim for 5 days before bottling. The Co2 produced whilst fermenting can drive off the hop aromas.
- Melt the priming sugar in a bit of hot water and put into the bottling bucket before transferring the beer. It will mix itself then without the need for stirring.

 

[Robbo851]

I'm adding some hops on day 5 which will be mashed and heated with water before adding then I will dry hop some for aroma a few days before bottling.

so its better if I add the priming sugar into my bottling bucket (dissolved in hot water) then syphon onto it then leave an hour and bottle?

 

[-Bezza-]

so its better if I add the priming sugar into my bottling bucket (dissolved in hot water) then syphon onto it then leave an hour and bottle?

That's what I do, although I'm generally too pressed for time to be able to wait the hour. It probably would be better to wait but then any sediment tends to clear in the bottle in any case.

 

[Pavros]

so its better if I add the priming sugar into my bottling bucket (dissolved in hot water) then syphon onto it then leave an hour and bottle?

I batch prime by adding the priming sugar to the bottling bucket as I find it's less messy/fiddly than pouring sugar into each bottle. You don't have to leave the beer in the bottling bucket for an hour, it just takes me about an hour at most to fill and cap 40 bottles once the beer has been syphoned into the bottling bucket

 

[Robbo851]

right thanks, my original plan was to syringe the sugar solution into the bottle then fill - maybe a bit more fiddly but wouldn't this be better for carbonation as it starts in the bottle rather than being started in the bucket (and losing some) before bottling?

 

[Pavros]

I've never had a problem with carbonation using batch priming - just leave it an extra week before opening if you have to. I also suspect that the amount of sugar lost/left in the bucket is so miniscule it won't affect anything.

 

[-Bezza-]

right thanks, my original plan was to syringe the sugar solution into the bottle then fill - maybe a bit more fiddly but wouldn't this be better for carbonation as it starts in the bottle rather than being started in the bucket (and losing some) before bottling?

It takes a couple of weeks to carbonate a beer, at least, and that's once the beer is warm enough for the yeast to start eating the priming sugar. The hour or so you'll take bottling will be nothing. Sugar in the bucket helps mix and get the sugar equally dispersed in the beer.

Nothing to stop you doing it with a syringe though - I've done that in the past too. The maths just got complicated where I had various bottles of different sizes!

 

[Robbo851]

good point about not starting to carbonate straight away - not sure what I was thinking.

Math's should be fine as I have bottles all the same sizes - only reason I'm leaning towards the syringe method is that I purchased a load of syringes and the video does it that way so I have something to watch, I recon I will syringe then on my second brew ill mix in the bucket and see which way I prefer/gets better results. though i'll probably change my mind 10 times before it finishes fermenting.
thanks for the advice though, very appreciated.