Stepping it up

Alright, I'm four batches deep on my mister beer and I'm ready to step it up. I need advice on what to get. I have a 3 and 5 gallon carboy, but no siphoning equipment or stoppers. I've got brushes for cleaning the carboy, and a big bottle of starsan. I also have a 5 gallon plastic bucket I was going to use for sanitizing, but I'm not quite sure how to use the starsan to sanitize (only used the mr beer stuff thusfar).

So with that in mind, what all do I need to step up to brewing 5 gal batches, AND is there any way I can efficiently get beer from the mr beer to the 3 gal carboy without aerating the hell out of it? If there is a nice guide somewhere feel free to call me a ******* and point me to it, I don't mind

Oh, and this is my LHBS that I'll be buying it at when I find the time to drive down there. If anyone could recommend a good batch or two from their selection I'd appreciate that as well:

http://www.southhillsbrewing.com/

Thanks guys!

You've got most of what you need to get rolling. For 5 gallon batches, you really want a carboy closer to 7 gallons. 5 gallons of beer in a 5 gallon carboy is sure to foam over during fermentation. So, I suggest a 7gallon bucket or carboy.

I assume you are going to be bottling your beer?

Ian2400 said:

I'm not quite sure how to use the starsan to sanitize (only used the mr beer stuff thusfar).

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From the manufacturer's website:
http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/tech/starsan.pdf

Ian2400 said:

is there any way I can efficiently get beer from the mr beer to the 3 gal carboy without aerating the hell out of it? If there is a nice guide somewhere feel free to call me a ******* and point me to it, I don't mind

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If you buy some flexible tubing (you'll need this for a siphon anyway), you should be able to attach that to the spigot on Mr. Beer and put the other end down to the bottom of the carboy and transfer that way. As long as the tube stays under the surface of the beer in the carboy, you won't be aerating it.

You can pick up a bucket for fermenting for under $20 at most LHBS

Walker-san said:

You've got most of what you need to get rolling. For 5 gallon batches, you really want a carboy closer to 7 gallons. 5 gallons of beer in a 5 gallon carboy is sure to foam over during fermentation. So, I suggest a 7gallon bucket or carboy.

I assume you are going to be bottling your beer?



From the manufacturer's website:
http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/tech/starsan.pdf



If you buy some flexible tubing (you'll need this for a siphon anyway), you should be able to attach that to the spigot on Mr. Beer and put the other end down to the bottom of the carboy and transfer that way. As long as the tube stays under the surface of the beer in the carboy, you won't be aerating it.

Click to expand...

Yes, I will be bottling my beer. Is there any way to make a 5/3 gallon carboy work? and if the mr. beer is 2.5-3 gallons, should I be putting that into the 5 gallon and calling the 3 gallon useless?

EDIT: Also, will using the carboys eliminate all sediment, or just most of it? the sediment is probably my #1 complaint with the final product, I hate wasting the ass of the beer

Mr beer can be drained to the small carboy because fermentation is done. It's just that initial fermentation that needs some room to work its magic.

Carboys won't eliminate sediment. Bottled conditioned beer will always have sediment in it, but ... not being too familair with Mr. Beer, you might be getting more sediment than is necessary.

Do you go straight from Mr. Beer and into the bottles?

Yes I do, and I was hoping putting it through a secondary would minimize the amount of sediment transfer.

If I buy a 7 gallon, do you think I could use the 7 as a primary and the 5 as a secondary, and use the 3 as a secondary for the mr beer? That way all I'd have to buy is the 7 and the right tubing/racking equipment, and I can brew a 5 gallon and 3 gallon batch at the same time. My goal is never to have to buy beer at the store again

Oh, one more thing. In these bigger batches is the 2 week primary 2 week secondary 2 week in bottles rule still good, or should I tweak the timing?

Ian2400 said:

Yes I do, and I was hoping putting it through a secondary would minimize the amount of sediment transfer.

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Ok.. Yeah, using a secondary will probably help then. I would imagine that going straight from Mr. Beer into bottles picks up a good bit of sediment. Going to a secondary and letting more sediment drop out, and then going to bottles, careful to avoid the sediment, should help considerably.

Ian2400 said:

If I buy a 7 gallon, do you think I could use the 7 as a primary and the 5 as a secondary, and use the 3 as a secondary for the mr beer? That way all I'd have to buy is the 7 and the right tubing/racking equipment, and I can brew a 5 gallon and 3 gallon batch at the same time. My goal is never to have to buy beer at the store again

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That's a good plan. If you have a 7 gallon carboy, you can use the 5 gallon as a secondary. That's what most people do. Of course, you can also buy a 7 gallon plastic bucket instead of a 7 gallon carboy if you want to save a little $. A spigot on the bucket would make transferring to the 5 gallon carboy easier, plus you could transfer BACK into the bucket when you are ready to bottle. (spigots are really handy.)

Ian2400 said:

Oh, one more thing. In these bigger batches is the 2 week primary 2 week secondary 2 week in bottles rule still good, or should I tweak the timing?

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That schedule will still be fine.

Oh sweet, I didn't know plastic could be used as a primary (I know it is not good for secondary). I'll head over to my LHBS and pick that up with some siphoning equipment and hopefully be good to go. Any recommendations on recipes? I prefer ambers and stouts to light beers. This fourth batch I just put into bottles is nearly guinness black, I can't wait to try it out!

Ian2400 said:

Oh sweet, I didn't know plastic could be used as a primary (I know it is not good for secondary). I'll head over to my LHBS and pick that up with some siphoning equipment and hopefully be good to go. Any recommendations on recipes? I prefer ambers and stouts to light beers. This fourth batch I just put into bottles is nearly guinness black, I can't wait to try it out!

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Do you prefer to brew from kits or piece together your own stuff?

If you like stouts and ambers, you would probably like porters and brown ales.

If you start using primary fermenters instead of a mr beer kit, you can use an auto-siphon to gently siphon the beer. Also, if you lift your carboy/bucket up to an elevated position (kitchen counter, table, island) and let it sit for 30 minutes, the sediment will settle to the bottom again. Then, use the auto siphon.

Eric

Walker-san said:

Do you prefer to brew from kits or piece together your own stuff?

If you like stouts and ambers, you would probably like porters and brown ales.

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I've only brewed from kits, but I'm definitely willing to do more. And I do like porters and brown ales as well, my second batch was a honey brown that turned out a bit weak but generally good.

EricCSU said:

If you start using primary fermenters instead of a mr beer kit, you can use an auto-siphon to gently siphon the beer. Also, if you lift your carboy/bucket up to an elevated position (kitchen counter, table, island) and let it sit for 30 minutes, the sediment will settle to the bottom again. Then, use the auto siphon.

Click to expand...

Yes, I plan to get an auto-siphon. I just want to use the mr. beer as another primary so I can brew a small batch at the same time as a normal one. I could probably unscrew the top of the mr. beer and autosiphon out of it to reduce sediment even further.

I put a bunch of pureed cherries in the last batch and lets just say sediment was a problem. I got about 3 less bottles out of it than usual because of all the fruit getting kicked up at the bottom.

Any ideas on batches? I'm not sure what brands are best since all I've done is mr. beer. I'm planning on going to the LHBS tomorrow.

Ian2400 said:

Any ideas on batches? I'm not sure what brands are best since all I've done is mr. beer. I'm planning on going to the LHBS tomorrow.

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Stick with a tried and true recipe. You can either use a recipe from a reputable dealer or find a recipe on HBT, there are a lot of award winning brews on here.

Eric

I would talk to your LHBS owner. My LHBS packages up their own kits and they know the ins and outs of those particular recipes. Your shop might do the same and could make some great recommendations.

Just tell them what kind of beer you like and see what they can do for you.

Will do. I know they have all their own stuff, and it would be very easy for me to pick up all grain ingredients there when I'm ready to make that leap. Thanks guys, I'll let you know how it goes!

Update time! I got lazy and waited months to actually start using my new equipment. Then I brewed, put it in the primary 2 weeks, secondary carboy 2 weeks, then bottle conditioning 2 weeks. I am now enjoying a damn fine IPA brewed by yours truly (might even enter it in a local competition hosted by TRASH)! Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated!

Next time you do fruit, if you don't want it to be sediment, put it in a grain bag and pull it out before racking/bottling.