First Batch EVER week two comments (secondary)

Initial recipe here

So its been a little over a week and I decided that I wanted to switch over to a secondary... Hey its my first time and I wanted to see the whole experience.

Some observations and questions are as follows:

1. WOW, I would never have thought that so much yeast ended up in the bottom of my bucket. The whole bottom was covered in almost an inch of yeast... I guess its normal but far from what I would have expected... Amazing!

2. Gravity check today was at 1.021 plus or minus a tiny bit. (Im still learning how to read my hydrometer. Im expecting it to go lower in the secondary, which I plan on letting it sit two weeks.

Is this enough? 2 weeks in the secondary, or should I go solely by FG?

3. The taste - My wife (who was skeptical about this whole beer making thing, said it was quite good) Personal opinion is that it tastes a bit watery by overal similar to a nut brown ale. TASTY!

4. The smell is amazing, fresh and hoppy (I finally know what that actually means)

5. Color is almost like a dark nut brown ale, even thought this qualifies as a bitter.

Any comments and recommendations for the next two weeks would be greatly appreciated.

OVERALL, Im amazingly suprised by my first ever attempt at bear making.

next weekend Im putting together a honey chamomile hefeweisen!

Cheers

lucas

I do think that you should have waited a bit before moving to your secondary. Your gravity is high so I hope you have enough yeast to finish the beer. You need to remember that the 1-2-3- method is a guide and not to be taken as a hard rule. This is one of the first lessons we learn as we continue to brew.

It was a little early for a nut brown but it should be fine. I would leave it in 2ndary for atleast 2 weeks and then read you FG and compare to recipe. Rule....3 days at same gravity means fermentation is done! If that 3 days comes earlier than 2 weeks you might have killed some of the fermentation process...but DWRHAHB! It'll all work out and it's all a learning experience. No matter what it's still YOUR beer and YOU"LL like it!

Don't worry about the thin/watery taste. Until the beer gets some CO2 in it adn has time to "grow", you won't get the full flavor.

I wouldn't worry too much... You probably moved the beer a little early, but as they say... RDWHAHB...

+1 for taking your hydrometer reading for atleast 4 days before going to secondary... Once you get the same reading for 2-3 days in a row, its time to move, regardless of the reading.

Also, welcome to Homebrew Talk!! This place has been a huge source of information and guidance for me as a fairly new brewer...

Now Im a bit worried. SHould I consider tossing some yeast into the secondary, if I racked into it a bit too early? Or will there be enough yeast in there to get the job completed?

thanks

Lucas

Should be enough, if you see anything on the bottom of your secondary that's yeast and you should be fine. The secondary is not a fermenting vessel though, it is a clearing tank, so you should always wait until your fermentation is complete before transfering. Doing so too early defeats the purpose of a secondary.