First brew - 1 gallon Caribou Slobber

Hi,

I'm brewing up my first beer - a 1 gallon batch of CS from NB. The beer is currently sitting pretty in the fermentor at 70F (fermentor temp) and has been for the past couple of days - the bubbling had almost stopped when I checked this morning. My question is - should I consider moving this to a secondary fermenter after a week or two in the primary, or follow the instructions provided with the kit and go straight to bottling after a couple of weeks?

Thanks!

I'm surprised the directions suggest straight to bottling, as my directions for the same kit suggest 2-4 weeks in a secondary, although my kit was for a 5 gal. Batch. Perhaps it's because it's a small batch that they don't want you to risk oxidation of the beer when racking to secondary. There are two schools of thought out here, one is that you don't need a secondary, simply keep it in the primary then straight to bottle, due to the risk of oxidation. The second is that moving to secondary is better in order to clarify and age your beer. It is my opinion that it tastes better and is has more clarity when racked to a secondary. When I brewed my 5 gal. Batch of CS I gave it 2.5 weeks in primary, 1 week in secondary, then two weeks in bottle at room temp 65 - 70 degrees, and one in the fridge. When I bottled my CS it was already crystal clear. Hope this helps, good luck!

Thanks for the feedback.

Yes - there are a couple other differences between the two sets of instructions (hop additions, boil time). My thought is because this is a dark ale I would want to use the secondary fermentor to improve the clarity and condition the beer better. This will put my pateience to the test though!

So, this tastes good! I found the beer was a little too carbonated for my liking but this is one character of the style. If doing this again I would mix up my own bottling sugar rather than use the fizz tabs that were provided.

I had racked to a secondary after 10 days in the primary - checking that the gravity readings were stable at 1.013. I now have only 3 bottles left after sharing a couple with some friends... and 4 more weeks before my next batch will be ready for drinking! (A basic Stout) That math doesn't add up!