First time brew questions. Racking/bottling

Hey friends, I've been lurking around here for quite a while now trying to learn as much as possible before posting, and I'm pretty excited about brewing. I'm nearly 2 weeks into my first brew. I'm using one of those "Coopers" extracts (The English Bitter).

Anyways, I started in a fermentation bucket (No spiggot/tap, and the lid was semi-loose), the OG was approx. 1.050, and after 6/7 days of fermentation (Lots of "Krausen" or head) it died down. The SG read aprox. 1.010-1.015 after the head/krausen had died down. I transfered the beer into a 5-gallon Glass Carboy (I left all the sediment in the bucket).

Anyways, It's been 2 days since I "racked" into the secondary, and I have seen no activity in my airlock. Videos on youtube show the airlocks going nuts all day... I don't think I've seen a single bubble! There is also no Krausen/bubbles. Was I supposed to add more sugar to the secondary to keep the fermentation going??

From what I gather, most (or all??) of the fermentation has already completed (The beer tastes/smells like alcohol), but shouldn't I expect some level of activity from the airlock?

Extra Questions:

Bottling: In a little over a week, I plan on bottling. I don't have a bucket that has a spigot near the bottom. I only have the 5-gallon carboy, and another larger bucket (Reminiscent of a garbage pail). What's the easiest way to bottle like this?
Provided that I clean out my empties... Can I use these bottles? I'd be purchasing new caps/capper of course.

Also, assuming this all goes well, I'd like to get another extract kit. Which one should I try next? Any recommended tips/tricks?

Thanks in advance, friends

-Josh

Your fermentation is completed, or damn close to completed, so you should not be seeing much in the way of airlock activity. No, you don't normally add sugar to secondary to keep fermentation going. In fact you really don't need a secondary at all, especially with a standard pre-hopped kit such as a Coopers.

Easisest thing will be to get a bucket with a spigot and a bottling wand (if you don't have one already). Otherwise you could use a siphon and bottling wand but it could be a bit of a pain unless you're handy with the siphon (practice with water first). You don't want to oxegenate the beer at bottling so pouring into the bottle is not a good option, that's why bottling wands are used to minimise disturbance. I think you really need to go aout and get yourself bucket with spigot prior to bottling.

It's ok transfer to secondary after fermentation has competed. Don't worry about airlock activity, judge fermentation progress with hydrometer readings. Some people transfer toward the end of primary and others wait until primary fermentation has complete.

I'd recommend buying a bottling bucket and wand filler, they are very cheap... Bottling without a bottling bucket and wand is going to be a pain in the butt.

yup, you need a bottling bucket and a wand, its a snap. Also remember if you get the batwing capper you can only cap bottles that are pop off, not twist off.

Thanks for the replies.

Is it possible to put a spigot on the hose of the siphon? That way I could start the siphon and then open/close the spigot into the bottles.

You really want a bottling wand so it doesn't splash into the bottle. A wand allows you to fill from the bottom of the bottle. A bottling bucket is 14 bux and a wand is 3bux... Don't be so cheap!

jbmorrow said:

Is it possible to put a spigot on the hose of the siphon? That way I could start the siphon and then open/close the spigot into the bottles.

Click to expand...

It's possible, but not recommended. The valves can leak, are difficult to clean, and cause a restriction in the tube making the flow really slow. When I started brewing (a long, long time ago) there was no such thing as a bottling wand, and I just used the siphon tube and kinked it (bend completely over). Let it open up when filling and bend it over again when bottle was full.

I now have a separate siphon cane and bottling wand for bottling. I highly recommend you get one. You can attach it to a siphon tube or to the outlet of a bottling bucket.