First Timer Here

Just my first kit yesterday. It's a Home Brew Kit German Style Light. My question is I leave for Florida a Friday the 20th, do I have enough time to have it go from the Primary Fermenter to the Carboy or just wait till I get home one the 29th. In reading the instructions it doesn't really say when to put it in the Carboy. Thank You.

These days many (maybe most?) of us are advocating not transferring beers to secondary at all, unless you're racking onto fruit or dry hopping; and many of us are dry hopping in the primary fermenter as well. Long primary fermentation allows the yeast to clean up certain off-flavors and allows the yeast cake to compact further so you get a little more beer. Secondary fermentation doesn't make your final beer - after bottle conditioning and a week or two in the fridge any clearer. Gravity takes care of that. Transferring to secondary is a potential gateway for contamination and oxidation.

So I'd wait til you get home on the 29th and bottle it then or wait another week.

Captain Damage said:

So I'd wait til you get home on the 29th and bottle it then or wait another week.

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Agreed. It also simplifies your first beer too. There's less screwing with it while you're learning your process and how stuff works.

I also only use secondary if dry hopping or lagering. Sometimes ill primary in my bottling bucket so I can just add priming sugar and open up the valve to bottle

Ok just so I understand, start the kit today and leave it in the primary till after I get home on the 29th. After the 29th I can bottle it. Thanks. Can you tell I am confused?

Yeah start it today and bottle after you get back. It'll make a lot more sense after you go through the process once

Great. Thank you. I am trying to make it as a surprise for my husband. He gets back in about a month.

When I got into it, people were just starting to give the advice not to use a secondary. I think it's sound advice. Good news is I can still use my carboy for a second batch or for aging.

ShelleyDickison said:

Great. Thank you. I am trying to make it as a surprise for my husband. He gets back in about a month.

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That's pretty cool. Let us know if you have any other questions

Just an update on my first brew. I used the Tap A Draft system and filled 2 bottles and regular bottled the rest, for the experience. I did a sneak taste test and other than being warm and flat it was pretty good. My husband is getting home earlier (this Saturday) so I am hoping everything is ready for him to taste. I am going to start another batch today. Dunkelweizen from Brewers Best, hoping its similar to the beer we had in Austria and Germany. Thank you for all your help.

If the Tap A Draft system was able to force carb the first two bottles, they should be fine after a week. Make sure they go in the fridge for a couple days as well. As for the rest of them, they should sit around 70 for 3 weeks minimum before throwing them in the fridge for a couple days to taste. Waiting that out makes a lot of difference.