wtb in glass carboys

hello everyone,
im new to brewing and im about to purchase two glass carboys for primary and secondary fermentation. I was curious as to if i should get a 6.7 and a 5 gallon or 2 5 gallons. i have a 5 gallon plastic carboy now and had a lot of overflow in my last batch so was wondering if a 6.7 was better for primary

if you are doing 5 gallon batches you'll want the 6.7 for fermentation. You need some headspace to handle the sometimes excessive krausen that will form.

Get the 6.7 for your primary. As a general rule you want 1.5-2.5 gallons of head space per 5 gallons. You can skip the secondary unless you are doing fruit beers.

If buying now I would choose the larger 6.x gallon carboy to be used as a primary. Although I also use 5-gallon carboys as primaries all the time with no issues.

In either case, always use a blow off tube during primary fermentation because you never know when you'll get an explosive fermentation. A blow off tube is a cheap and easy way to help prevent any nasty surprises.

I don't secondary any more but I think the preferred method is to use a smaller (5 gallon) carboy to reduce the amount of head space in the secondary vessel.

Ok the reason I'm getting a second carboy is for a three layer Belgium ale that calls for three different fermentation times for the three layers so I need the extra carboy for racking the layers together for the final fermentation.

choffon said:

Ok the reason I'm getting a second carboy is for a three layer Belgium ale that calls for three different fermentation times for the three layers so I need the extra carboy for racking the layers together for the final fermentation.

Click to expand...

I've never heard of that! Could you elaborate on what the layers are? That sounds really interesting!

Yooper said:

I've never heard of that! Could you elaborate on what the layers are? That sounds really interesting!

Click to expand...

heres the recipe. i got it with my ultimate beer kit from heartshomebrew and started reading directions and was shocked so i did another beer to hold me over until i got the carboys.

its a partial mash recipe from hearts homebrew in orlando

Layer One
3.3 lbs. Wheat Malt Extract
½ lb. Belgian Wheat Grain (cracked)
½ lb. Belgian Pale Grain (cracked)
½ lb. Belgian Aromatic Grain (cracked)
1½ oz. Saaz Hops
½ Peel from 1 Orange or Whole Peel from 1 Tangerine (chopped)
1 Tablespoon Coriander Seeds (crushed)
1 pkg. Wyeast Liquid Yeast - Belgian Ale or Belgian White Beer Yeast
You will need 2 each Five gal. glass carboys (not encluded)

Mash grains in 1 gal. 160°F water for 1 hour. Sparge with ½ gal. 170°F water & return liquid to pot. Add malt & 1½ oz. Saaz.. Boil for 60 min. Remove from heat add peel & coriander seeds. Steep for 15 min. Strain into carboy with enough cold water to make 2½ gal. (this will not fill carboy). Pitch yeast when cooled to 80°F or below. Attach airlock & ferment until krausen falls then prepare Layer Two.

Layer Two
2 lbs. Honey
3 Sprigs Fresh Thyme or 1 teaspoon dry Thyme
1 Sprig Fresh Sage or 1 teaspoon dry Sage
½ oz. Saaz Hops
Heat ½ gal. water & 2 lbs. honey to 170°F. Add ½ oz. Saaz. Remove from heat & steep for 30 min. Add herbs & steep for 10 min. Strain into second carboy with enough cold water to make 1½ gal. Cool to 80°F or below & rack Layer One into Layer Two (this will not fill carboy). Attach air-lock & ferment until krausen falls then prepare Layer Three.

Layer Three
3.3 lbs. Wheat Malt Extract
1 oz. Saaz Hops
Heat ½ gal. water to 170. remove from heat and add malt. Boil for 30 min. remove from heat and add 1oz. Saaz. Steep for 10 min. then strain in (now clean) carboy #1 with enough cold water to make 1 gal. Rack contents of carboy #2 (Layer one and two)into carboy #1 (put slot A into Part B while holding Part 16 A #@*&$#& etc.). You will now have a full carboy. Attach blow-off tube and allow beer to ferment completely.Prime and bottle as usual. This beer will have big banana esters for the first few months but they will taper off with age. Age three months or more.
Yields 5 gallon.