HomerT

Recipes 

Well, as this is my first brew, I have a question. I made the wort and pitched the yeast around noon on monday. Tuesday was a furious bubble. Wednesday was a slow bubble. This monring, I checked and saw no bubbling in ~1min, so it has slowed significantly. Here is the dilema:

Tomorrow I leave for the weekend for a wedding. SHould I rack to the secondary tonight, since bubbling has slowed? Or do I wait until Sunday night when I return?

-Todd

kenmc

Recipes 

leave till sunday. about a week in primary, 2 in secondary is the recommended dose.

ScottT

Recipes 

Actually, anytime after the krausen has setteled to the bottom. I've got a batch in the primary right now that won't be ready in 1 week. I started at 1.073 OG last Saturday and She's still got 4" of krausen on top right now with millions of yeast working below.

__________________
Scott

Primary: Empty

Secondary #2: Empty

Bottle Conditioning: Oatmeal Stout

Drinking from Keg: Ordinary Bitter, Kolsch

Drinking bottled: Brown Autumn Wee Heavy
Hefe Weizen
Peaches and Cream Weizen


"This is grain, which any fool can eat, but for which the Lord intended a more divine means of consumption... Beer!"
-Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, Friar Tuck.
Next up: Hefe Weizen

Lost

Recipes 

If you have a hydrometer that's a good way to test. The bubbling method also works. You shouldn't ever rack the beer to secondary until the krausen has fallen. Basically, I'd say right now is fine as long as there's no krausen (foamy yeast cake) on the surface. In the past I typically racked as soon as the bubbling slowed.. I've never relied on my hydrometer. However, today I went home for the weekend and elected to leave the beer in the primary for what will be a full 8 days rather than rack it before I left after only 4.5 days. I think it's personal choice.. you'll be fine either way.

HomerT

Recipes 

I elected to leave it. However, how do you check the Krausen in a plastic primary? Plry back the lid to check?

-Todd

El Pistolero

Recipes 

It'd be better just to pull the airlock and look down thru the hole.

__________________
[/I] Up Next - Hobgoblin
After That - Czech Pilsner
Primary - Humboldt Hop Rod (4/24)
Primary - NOT Wheat AG SNCA (5/5)
Secondary -
Conditioning - SNCA Clone (3/3),

HomerT

Recipes 

Well, last night I got home and racked it to the secondary. Everyting went fine, except I left a little in the primary because I couldn't get the autosiphon to keep pulling without getting "down in muck". I figured I would rather lose a little in the name of clarity. Everything is in the carboy secondary (with about 6 inches of air-space before at the top. I got a little fermentation again, as the airlock was bubbling about once a minute this morning. Specific gravity matched the final for the recipe, so things are moving smoothly.

On a side note, the autosiphon was a tricky tool. It took several pumps to get it going correctly. That will take a while to get used to.

-Todd

SuperBrew

Recipes 

You're right to leave a little behind rather than suck up some of that trub. It's always better to sacrifice a little quantity to improve your brews quality.

__________________
"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Benjamin Franklin

Bottled: Cottage Coffee Stout
Bottled: SuperBrew's Redheaded Stepchild
Bottled: Gingerbread Ale
Drinking: Most anything
Thinking of: Apricot IPA

gibfried

Recipes 

Hey SuperBrew,

Is that a real quote from Benjamin Franklin (your signature)? I saw that on a tee-shirt at the local microbrew/pub. Almost bought it too. The only difference - it didn't say Ben Franklin.

Back to the topic at hand. You should be able to keep your brew in the primary for a good two weeks, and a month at the max. I usually don't, but I was forced to when the Philipino Doctor sliced me open and pulled out what looked like a sick gopher. After surgery I was pretty puny for a while , so I let it sit in the primary for a good month. That beer was still the best one to date. I hope to top it soon though.

__________________
BEER: The Cause and Solution to all Life's Problems

Primary: Nothing
Secondary: Nothing
Aging: Ugly Monk Belgium Abbey
Drinking: Heavenly Honey Wheat,Chocolate Stout, London Porter, Big Fat Fatty's Oatmeal Stout, Pete's Porter, California Not So Common, Ugly Monk Belgium Abbey, Maple Brown
Upcoming Brew: Bass Clone, Fosters (a light drink for those who think beer has to be light).

Darth Konvel

Recipes 

Regarding the quote, it is attributed to him (http://www.quotedb.com/quotes/986), although I'm unsure as to the source.

Good to hear things are going smoothly for your, Todd

__________________
-LupusUmbrus
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