secondary transfer questions & pics

so, this weekend i transferred my beer my secondary. all seemed to go well, as it was pretty easy. i do have a question relating to this process. i logged the process and some pics to my blog:
BrewingExperiment.com

my question, well i have a few...
1. the beer didn't have as strong of hop profile as i was hoping (when i sampled it), not sure if i should dry hop it? it is my first batch, so i could just wait and see how the final product is...
2. also, this is supposed to be 'close' to sierra nevada's anniversary ale but it tasted quite a bit stronger than that brew, is this normal?
3. what is the, or is there, an ideal time to let the primary sit in it's racked position before siphoning out the beer?

some specifics:
added to fermenter last saturday (2/28)
moved to secondary a week later 3/7
extract kit - american ipa (close to sierra nevada's anniversary ale)

eric

What you taste now and what you taste after it's been in the bottles for a month will be two totally different things. If it were me, I'd leave it alone and see how it turns out. If you want to make changes then, make your changes next time you brew this recipe.

It's not going to taste the way it's supposed to now, that's for sure.

i always had trouble with hop flavor when using extract. dry hopping will help that. However, chshrcat is right. tasting your beer now should just be for fun and to learn what it is like at different stages of fermentation. 1 week is usually good for the primary, but it depends on the style and original gravity of the wort.

Did you measure 1.021 before or after your transfered? 1.021 isn't low enough for me to transfer yet. I usually check it over several days to see if it is done. I persoanlly do not secondary, but alot of people do.

Let it sit and see how it turns out. Make changes to your next batch and so on. Ever evolving hobby.

having just looked at your pics, i have a few comments. the shot of the primary bucket shows that the foam on top (krausen) has not dropped yet. i usually wait for the krausen to sink to the bottome before racking to secondary. as the krausen drops, the yeast basically clean up after themselves, which will eliminate some unwanted flavors. a glass primary is helpful for this.

secondly, it looks like your secondary is a little low in volume. if you did it right, the level of the beer should come about 2-4 inches from the top of the carboy.

that being said, looks like you have a pretty good handle on the process for you first time. i'm sure your beer will be great. it is actually pretty hard to mess up.

happy brewing!

thanks for all the input! my initial volume was about a half gallon shy of five gallons. when i took the initial gravity reading, it was pretty close (to the 'suggested' OG) so i didn't add the additional water. this may have been a bad thing, not sure??? i figured that it may be a little stronger in the end, but i'm not sure at this...

the terminal gravity is supposed to be 1.012 - 1.019, i'll be sure measure it till i get a consistent reading for a few days before bottling.

i didn't open the top of the bucket during the first week of fermentation, so i couldn't see the krausen. i guess that's why a glass fermenter is better. now, there is very little foam, krausen on the top of the beer (which i can see in the carboy) and there's a nice yeast cake at the bottom.

after reading everything on this site, i decided to do the 1-2-3 week bit.

eric

Blue Line Ale????? Damn, I knew I shoulda got one of them copyright thingies....

Bluelinebrewer said:

Blue Line Ale????? Damn, I knew I shoulda got one of them copyright thingies....

Click to expand...

You guys should totally sword-fight with nightsticks to settle it.

Bluelinebrewer said:

Blue Line Ale????? Damn, I knew I shoulda got one of them copyright thingies....

Click to expand...

I second the sword-fight suggestion. At least that is just the name of the beer and not his "Brewery" name.

Bluelinebrewer said:

Blue Line Ale????? Damn, I knew I shoulda got one of them copyright thingies....

Click to expand...

heh, sorry about that.
i named it for fly fishing reasons. i figured it was a good fit; blue line streams are the first in the linear flow of rivers since they don't have anything feeding them. this was my first beer and i didn't have any experience. plus i like to fish blue line streams

on guard