first 5gallon batch questions?

Today was my first attempt with a 5gallon brew kit. I have made a few batches by using those cheap kits like mr.beer. So i got a good kit with 2 6.5 gallon buckets, 2 carboys, the whole deal. I ordered a raspberry red ale package which came with the malt extract, specialty grains,white labs yeast, and some raspberry exctract. I did exactly what the directions said for the boil and then i cooled the wort and put the yeast in and mixed it up and covered it and put in the airlock..My question is after the fermentation is done what do i do for the secondary fermentation and how long is that?Do i add the extract then or after? Then after that i guess i put it in another carboy and add the priming sugar,Do i leave it in there till it is all carbonated? then after its primed i put it in the bottling bucket and use the spigot and the bottling tube to bottle it? Then do i refrigerate it now and drink or do i keep in bottles for a longer period? Thanks for whatever info u can give me.

One more question. Should i start using my carboy as my primary so i can see when it is done and when everything settles?

The purpose of the secondary fermentation is to get the beer off the trub.

For the secondary, all you need to do is sanitize the carboy, airlock, and siphoning equipment, and gently siphon into the carboy. Don't splash, and leave as much trub behind as you can. Add the airlock, and your beer should be safe and happy for several weeks.

I've never used raspberry extract, so I don't know when that should be added, but I would guess it should be added to the secondary.

Leave in the secondary for a minimum of 1 week. 2 or 3 weeks is better. I've never tried longer than 4 weeks, because my thirst has always got the better of me, but I think it should be OK in secondary for at least 6 weeks.

You don't add the priming sugar until you are ready to bottle. Sanitize your bottles, bottling bucket, mixing spoon, caps, and siphon equipment. Boil the priming sugar for 15 minutes to sanitize that, then cool the priming sugar, add it to the bottling bucket, and siphon the beer gently into the bucket (no splashing). Gently mix with the sanitized spoon, then bottle and cap.

Don't refrigerate for 10 days as cold will inhibit the conditioning.

You can use a carboy for the primary, but you need either a blow off tube or an over-sized carboy to prevent the fermenting wort from being pushed out the airlock. I prefer watching a vigorously fermenting brew to watching television.

-a.

thanks alot, that really helped me realize what all these buckets and carboys are for. I have a 5 gal carboy and a 6 gal, could i use the 6 gal? How much water do u boil the sugar with? And is it better to keg the beer and force carbonate it or does the beer get better when u prime it for a few weeks? Thanks again.

The 6 gallon carboy is the primary. Use the 5 gallon for the secondary.

I use a couple cups with 3/4 cup of corn sugar. I dont even measure. I just make sure it's enough to dissolve the sugar.

I've never kegged, so can't compare side by side. There have been a few threads in this forum you could search and read. I think it's more academic. You can make great beer either way.

Depending on beer style you can adjust that amount of priming sugar.
Try http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

And for more general info on brewing:
http://www.howtobrew.com/sitemap.html

Merry Brewing and Happy Drinking!

when i did extract w/ grains these are the steps i followed and had great success. http://www.defalcos.com/recipesbeer2.htm

when i bottled i'd disolve 3/4 cups of priming sugar in 1 cup of boiling water. then i would rack my beer from the secondary into my priming/bottling bucket, and add my simple sugar in even intervals as the priming bucket fills with beer. stir gently after adding each time, as not to introduce any o2 to the beer. from the bottling bucket, i would start to fill each bottle using my bottle filler tip and racking tube.

if it's a raspberry puree( big can of Oregon Fruit Puree) i'd add it into the secondary, and rack the beer on top of that and let it sit 10-14 days, then proceed w/ bottling. if it's a little bottle of raspberry extract i'd add a little bit into the bottling bucket to add the essence of the raspberry.

1. primary fermentation in 7 g plastic bucketw/ lid & air lock or 6.5 g glasscarboy w/ air lock for 3-5 days.
2. rack to secondary vessel (5 g glass carboy w/ air lock) for clarifying and conditioning (add fruit puree at this point, rack beer on top) for 7-14 days.
3. make priming sugar simple syrup, and rack to bottling bucket, adding syrup in even intervals to mix evenly throught beer (and add raspberry extract) and proceed to bottle.
4. allow bottled beer to condition at room temp for 2 weeks to carbonate. it will be better after 4-5 weeks in the bottle to condition and carbonate.

good luck!

thanks alot everyone, it seems like my first try is going good..the airlock is bubbling about 20 times a minute. Does that sound right?

oh yea, sounds like she's a work'n! good luck.

when i swith to the secodary i dont syphon the layer of sediment on the bottom right? And it is a little bottle of raspberry extrace, so ill add it to the bottling bucket. THanks again

bklynBrew said:

when i swith to the secodary i dont syphon the layer of sediment on the bottom right? And it is a little bottle of raspberry extrace, so ill add it to the bottling bucket. THanks again

Click to expand...

You got it. Leave the sediment behind and add the extract to the bottling bucket along with your priming sugar.

loop

great thanks, i gotta hurry and order some more ingredients so when i move this batch over to the secondary i can put some more in the primary. I think im addicted, and i havent even tasted any yet.

Leave the seditment in the primary when moving the brew to the seccondary, add your extract and stir in with a sanitized large spoon. Then wait a week or five says or so. Make your priming sugar as was said above, Ie, other posts stir in to finished product real well bottle, store for a good week or two and the chill one bottle for a test, the taste should be close, if not wait another week or so.

I have found using the fruit extracts are a simple light after taste or should I say a hint of the flavor, Best of luck.

Dirtpusher

Ive used extracts twice now. With beer I added it to the bottling bucket and than sipphoned the beer from the secondary on it to mix it. Than bottled from there. It worked perfectly.

I currently have a mead going, and I had read you could add it earlier. So I added it to the secondary. I did this with the mead, because I had heard that some flvor extracts are kinda gross at first but than get milder after time. I figured it misewell mellow out in the secondary instead of the bottles.

Its not quite clear which way is best. I heard people add extracts from secondary on . . .