Plinian Legacy Secondary Questions

I currently have Plinian Legacy Extract kit in the Primary Fermenter (6.5G Big Mouth Carboy) and everything’s going fine. Do you think I’ll be okay to put the secondary into a 5G Big Mouth? It looks like there’s at least a gallon of Trub at the bottom of the primary, and I’d really like to use the Big Mouth rather than a 6G regular carboy to make dry hopping with bags easier.

Also, what’s everyone’s advice on straining? Should I strain from primary to secondary? Should I strain when transferring from secondary to bottling bucket? Should I strain for both transfers?

Thanks!

Most people will say don’t bother with the secondary, but if you decide to, the 5 g should be fine.

I wouldn’t strain. Get yourself an racking cane and use that. pick up as much as you can without disturbing the trub when going from the primary to secondary and then secondary to bottling or just from primary to bottling bucket.

The five gallon BMB would be a better choice than a 6 gallon carboy. More headspace in the 6 gallon which could cause increased levels of oxidation. How long are you going to keep the beer in the primary? Instructions may say one to two weeks in the primary, but that may be rushing it. More time in the primary means the yeast/trub layer will be more compact resulting in more beer going to the secondary.

No straining after the yeast has been pitched. Straining will oxidize the beer.

Thanks for your replies. I will now confidently use the 5 gallon for the secondary, and wait a little longer to move from primary to secondary. Maybe I used ‘straining’ incorrectly. I have a racking cane and tubing for transfers. However, I read somewhere that it’s okay to put a sanitized straining bag on the end of the tubing to eliminate excess sediment transfer. If it’s better to just avoid the trub with the racking cane, I’m fine with that. I was just curious if anyone ever used this method.

Maybe one of my posts was about the straining bag on the outflow of the auto siphon tube. I made some 1" × 6" strainers from a fine mesh grain bag. At first I used a rubber band to fasten the straining bag. Home brew supply store had some ratcheting clips which made this a lot easier.

Tilt your fermentor the day before racking with a piece of 2 × 4. This will decrease the surface area as you near the trub layer. More beer out with less chance of stirring up the trub. I use a clip to hold the siphon for the main part o the racking, then hold it in my hand as the level gets near the trub.

The bag will slow the racking, but it does catch hop and yeast raft particles that make it through the siphon.

VERY important to note the following in the recipe:

6 gallon batch size - This recipe has been calculated to
produce 6 gallons to accommodate wort losses due to the
ridiculous amount of hops

If you brewed this according to the instructions, a 5 gallon carboy will be extremely tight. I know this from personal experience, I had about a 1/2" of air gap below my bung when I did this the first time with the extract kit so needless to say dry hopping was slightly difficult :joy: . I would not recommend secondary in a 5 gallon carboy for this kit.

:beers:
Rad