Only have 2 batches under my belt, and no help from an experienced brewer. I would like to try and brew two 5 gallon batches back-to-back this weekend, but my equipment limits my options. I have a 6 gallon bucket, a 5 gallon glass carboy, a 6 1/2 gal glass carboy, and a bottling bucket. Thus, I would like to brew one batch in a primary and rack it to a secondary (bucket to 5 gallon), and leave the other in the 6 1/2 gallon until it's time to bottle. Do any of you have suggestions on which styles work best for secondaries, and those that work best for primary fermentation? I've only been brewing with Brewer's Best kits so far, and may continue to do so, just for the convenience. But I read the BYO mags, and I was interested in Jamil's Saison recipes, particularly because they fare well in high fermentation temps. So I am considering that as my first non-kit attempt. But otherwise, the kit styles I am interested in for now are pale ale, rye IPA, porter (maybe brewed with cherries or coffee), and kolsch.
Secondaries are unnecessary for most styles, and unless you brew the porter with cherries (which I would avoid on a 3rd batch anyway) they are unnecessary for all of the styles you listed. Any dryhopping can be done in the primary after fermentation has died down. Saisons are great for summer. I would definitely do that one. Recipe is really easy. Get to your target gravity with extra light dme, hop with whatever you want (noble hops are , pitch 3711, watch it ferment. Don't know JZ's recipe but that one works like a charm.
There is no "need" to transfer to another vessel for a secondary fermentation. In fact, there are many homebrewers on this very site that probably swear by a primary fermenting bucket/vessel only without doing a secondary. I recently read a thread regarding primary vs secondary where I believe I saw a BA saying they've left beer in primary all the way until the 4-5 week mark without any negative effect on the beer (any longer than that I'd be worried about the effects of yeast autolysis). That being said, 4 weeks is plenty of time for you to transfer to secondary with one beer and let the other sit on the yeast cake, and then be ready to bottle them at the same time. This brings up a question for me: Has anyone used their bottling bucket for a secondary and bottled straight from it without another transfer? I suppose it would just function as a secondary fermenting bucket with the addition of a spigot for draw off.....can't hurt, can it? (this is assuming the yeast cake is small enough in secondary, which it should be, to draw off from the spigot with only beer entering the bottles)
Well the benefit of transferring to a bottling bucket is that you can add the sugar solution in first and rack on top of that, ensuring a equal mixture of sugar water throughout the entire bottling volume. If you bottle straight from secondary, you have a few options for getting the sugar solution distributed throughout, but I cant see it being very effective, nor safe (not safe, being that one option would be to stir the solution in the bottling volume, and causing cold side aeration)
I've read of a few people trying this when we had the old BA forum. Overall, it sounds like a good way to get leaks and lose your beer. It probably breathes more than a typical ale pale, and you'd have to mix in your sugar, defeating the purpose of a secondary, or just use priming caps. It could work, but I think it's risky. If I were in a pinch, maybe. I would rather plan ahead to make sure I have a free fermentation vessel.
Try a high OG style and do a parti-gyle style pale or a low OG style. I would throw a blow off on the 5g and pitch a starter. You will get some blow off but it will save time if you brew in one day instead of getting everything out twice. Its a pretty cool technique and is a great way to see the effect of different strains. Just did a re-read on the OP and noticed "brewers best", I am assuming this is a type of extract kit? If so, scrape the above idea and wait till u make the jump to all-grain. Cheers.
I'm not sure what you're asking, but it sounds like a) you want to brew two beers this weekend, and b) you're trying to figure out the best way to ferment them at the same time given the 6.5g and 5g carboys you have, and c) you want to know if there are styles that would be better matches for each size carboy. Is that right? Just about any ale style can go in the 6.5g, obviously. As for the 5g, you would probably want to ferment something relatively low gravity and avoid the more active yeasts--and even so, you'd want to use a blow-off tube, and anticipate that you're going to lose some volume. (Try to keep the fermentation temp down, if you can.) So I dunno, maybe do the RyePA in the 6.5, and do a relatively "small" (ie, low OG) pale or kolsch in the 5g. Both beers can ferment entirely in the same carboy, assuming you are not planning to keep them in there for a long aging period after fermentation is complete. Hope I'm answering the right questions!
