Introduction/Primary Inquiry

Hey folks, I'm new, obviously. Me and my buddy started brewing our first batch a few days ago. Clearly we were the smart guys that didn't start until 9am, needless to say I was up until the sun came up.

That was prooooobably because we decided to make our first batch of beer an all-grain clone of Bell's Two Hearted.

Okay so I read few a few articles on primary fermentation, and some of the threads here. We didn't take an initial gravity reading, but I heard that it's time to move to the secondary fermenter (we're dry hopping) when the CO2 bubbles come up every 90 seconds or so. Question 1: has anyone used this method and does it work?

Its currently day 3 of primary (we're fermenting in a 6 gal plastic bucket, true brew starter style). Yesterday the blub-blubs were coming up ever 5-6 seconds or so, today it's already dropped to every 60-70 seconds. I guess I'm curious if this is normal! Since its my first brew and I obviously did something wrong technique wise (obviously sterilized everything, followed temp directions as best as we could) I'd like to know a bit of what to expect, since most folks are saying that it takes a week..can it take less?

Any comments are appreciated, and hi.

I personally wait three weeks before I dry hop

Yeah, wait 3 then rack. That gives the yeast plenty of clean-up time and the beer should begin to settle out by then.

Alright, so then do i cut down the time in the secondary?

masampson said:

Alright, so then do i cut down the time in the secondary?

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Most of us don't use a "secondary" (more properly called a clearing vessel or "bright tank") but if you want to use it you can.

No matter whether you leave the beer in the fermenter, or rack (siphon) it to a clearing vessel, you want to dryhop about 5-10 days before packaging. So let the beer finish, and clear a bit. About a week before you bottle, dryhop the beer then.

Awesome, thanks folks. I'll definitely be a patient boy. Those are all very useful comments, i'll let y'all know how it turns out!