streetbs
Member
I recently purchased a beginners kit to start brewing at home and along with the kit came a 5 gallon Carboy. The bucket is 6.5 gallons which I believe is pretty standard, and as far as I can tell, the carboy is not out of the norm either.
I also purchased a 1.8kg Muton's No Boil IPA Bitter kit. This is for a 6 gallon batch.
So the dilemma is having a 6 gallon no boil without the ability to do secondary fermentation in my carboy without losing a gallon of tasty beer.
I've been instructed to do either of the following by two different local vendors, but maybe folks on here can point to the better option!
1) Fill up the primary fermenter to 5 Gallons only in 6.5 bucket. Move to secondary fermenter in my 5 gallon carboy when ready. After both steps, move beer to bottling bucket and top off with a new gallon of water before adding sugar and bottling.
2) Fill up the primary fermenter to 6 gallons. When moving brew to the secondary fermenter only fill the carboy up to the 5 gallons it can hold and then continue on with the bottling process like normal.
Does one approach have advantages over the other? I'm not sure if the first option will water down the beer in a horrible way or in the desired way and i'm not sure if the 2nd option will be wasteful or even succesful...
Also I plan on adding about 2 or 3lbs of a light malt extract (not sure if DME or LME would be best). The Munton's IPA Bitter is pre-hopped, but I am also planning on adding an oz. of hops when I start the secondary fermenter to achieve a more hoppy brew. Any thoughts on these plans would be appreciated too!
I also purchased a 1.8kg Muton's No Boil IPA Bitter kit. This is for a 6 gallon batch.
So the dilemma is having a 6 gallon no boil without the ability to do secondary fermentation in my carboy without losing a gallon of tasty beer.
I've been instructed to do either of the following by two different local vendors, but maybe folks on here can point to the better option!
1) Fill up the primary fermenter to 5 Gallons only in 6.5 bucket. Move to secondary fermenter in my 5 gallon carboy when ready. After both steps, move beer to bottling bucket and top off with a new gallon of water before adding sugar and bottling.
2) Fill up the primary fermenter to 6 gallons. When moving brew to the secondary fermenter only fill the carboy up to the 5 gallons it can hold and then continue on with the bottling process like normal.
Does one approach have advantages over the other? I'm not sure if the first option will water down the beer in a horrible way or in the desired way and i'm not sure if the 2nd option will be wasteful or even succesful...
Also I plan on adding about 2 or 3lbs of a light malt extract (not sure if DME or LME would be best). The Munton's IPA Bitter is pre-hopped, but I am also planning on adding an oz. of hops when I start the secondary fermenter to achieve a more hoppy brew. Any thoughts on these plans would be appreciated too!