midwest Irish red ale kit questions? help

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

chaos2984

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2012
Messages
203
Reaction score
0
Location
pasadena
Ok. So i bought the bed bath and beyond kit (wine) awhile back and that turned out ok. So i decided to do beer so i dont have to wait for the finished product. I bought a kit to make beer and started this past weekend.

Brewing went well and smelled great and I reactivated the yeast before i pitched it. I got the temp down to around 75ish and put the yeast in and sealed the lid and air locked it. Was 11pm. Woke up the next morning and it was bubbling full steam ahead. God home from work found the temp got a little warm in the room and the temp was 72 of the Wert. So i cooled down the wert over night and the next morning it was down to 69 and was hardly bubbling at all. The air comming from the air lock smelled good. so i let it sit while i was at work. Came home and checked it and wasnt bubbling hardly at all. So i opened the bucket up and checked everything the foam at the top looked good and smelled good. So i stir'ed it up and resealed it and everything seemed good and started bubbling again twice a minute.

I think this is ok from what I am reading. I found that dry yeast will ferment faster than liquid yeast. Sometimes 1-2 days and done. The next batch i will use liquid yeast. So im just making sure everything is on track and still ok to proceed with fermentation and rack it in 5-7 days to the secondary fermentation vessel.

Thanks
 
Bubbles or no bubbles is not a sign of fermentation. You'll want to trust your hydrometer. If you don't have one, get one. You'll find that the majority of the posters on here will leave their wort in the primary for up to 4 weeks and completely skip the secondary. A lot of them will only use the secondary for adding additional flavors (coffee, chocolate, dry hopping, etc). Most of the directions that you'll get with kits and be followed to the T, but they can also be ignored completely. Unless you have a pressing need for your primary, you can just leave your wort in it for however many weeks you feel comfortable with (with in reason). But always use your hydrometer to determine when it is completely done fermenting (read 3 days in a row. if you get consistent readings without change, you're good to go).
 
All I have to say is:

1. Take a gravity reading. If it does not change for 3 days in a row, fermentation is complete.

2. Be patient and leave your fermenter alone. Stirring your fermenting beer can add oxygen to wort and cause off flavors.
 
Once your hydrometer readings stabilize for several days you can rack or even bottle if you choose. If you aren't in need of your primary vessel right away, just leave it for 3-4 weeks. Your beer will clear just the same on the yeast cake in addition to the yeast "cleaning up" after themselves and reduce the risk of contamination during the transfer process.
 
yea i was just making sure since im a noob. But I do have a hydrometer and will take a reading tonight. I started with a 1.050 when i measured the wert before i added the yeast. But it does smell good though. I will take a reading tonight
 
ok just opened the bucket and took a gravity reading. I siphoned some off and their was a bunch of stuff floating in the wort. Is that from my hops that i added to the brew. i added them right into the boil no bag. color looks right redish brown. I got a gravity reading of 1.016 the kit calls for 1.012-1.014 i started with 1.050. I tasted it before i threw the sample away seemed to taste ok could taste the alcohol in it. Tasted a little weird but i think thats due to no carbonation and no time to age. But over all i think im ok and will rack into my secondary fermentator on saturday to clear.

Is everything ok??
 
As others have said...skip the secondary. Just let it sit in the primary for 3-4 weeks.
 
I would do that but im starting my second batch this weekend and need the bucket unless a bucket is cheap at the local home brew store. Ill check. i want to try a different ferment temp this time and use liquid yeast
 
I'm pretty sure new buckets can be found for around $15-$20. I could be wrong, but I feel like I keep seeing that number when searching for equipment.
 
yea thats what i was seeing for price wise. What do you guys think about the floating stuff in my wort is it just the leftover hops??
 
how can i go about filtering that stuff out. I probably should of used the funnel strain when i pored it into the bucket to get rid of it first. any idea's
 
If you let the beer sit for the 3-4 weeks all the suspended trub will settle to the bottom.

If you need your bucket to start another batch you can secondary in your bottling bucket.

You can get a paint strainer bag or muslin bag and put on the suction end of your autosiphon. Do not use a strainer on the pouring end. Any splashing will oxidize your beer.

Home Depot or Lowes etc. sell 5 gallon buckets that are food grade that you could use as a secondary fermenter. Look for the #2 symbol. You will need the top with the gasket in the rim and you will have to drill a hole, get the rubber grommet for installing an airlock.
 
gotcha. ok sounds good. well i have a carboy i can put it in and just let it settle in there for awhile
 
ok i picked up a 2nd bucket so i can leave the irish ale in the bucker for longer. When should i rack it and put it in the glass carboy. a week and 1/2 or 2 weeks. i talked to the guy at the store and he said no longer than 2 weeks on the yeast cake, it could produce off flavors
 
I would leave it in the primary for 4 weeks and then bottle it. You won't have any off flavors from 4 weeks in primary. All the trub and hop particles will settle and you won't need to strain when you rack to the bottling bucket. You can use a secondary if you want but its not necessary. I think you will eventually find that unless you need to add fruit, dry hops or something else to your beer, you don't need to use a secondary. Heck, the last beer I did I even threw the dry hops in the primary and it worked great. Sanitizing everything and transferring to secondary is a pain in the butt that you and I can do without. Good luck.
 
i talked to the guy at the store and he said no longer than 2 weeks on the yeast cake, it could produce off flavors

That is terrible advice.

+1 to let it ride longer. My last red sat for 4 weeks in a primary and 2 in a secondary. First beer I got a second request for.
 
another question when im done boiling the wort. should i run it threw a strainer to get the hop particales out or is it better to leave them in the wort??
 
Doesn't really matter either way. After I chill my wort I drain my kettle into my primary bucket. I usually put a paint strainer in my bucket and pull it out after my bucket is full. However, I know guys who pour everything from their kettle into the primary and leave it there and they make very good beer too.
 
I never strain my wort. I just poor it all in the bucket or carboy. I let my beers sit for atleast 4 weeks in the primary fermenter. By that time everything has settled out and my beer is crystal clear. There is no need to transfer your beer to a secondary fermenter. Some people still do it but most of use don't. You won't get any off flavors from your yeast. Actually they will go back and help clean up your beer. You didn't have to by another bucket because you could have used your glass carboy to brew your next batch. But since you already did then you can have 3 beers fermenting at the same time.
 
well i thought you cannot ferment in a 5 gallon carboy unless you have a blow off tube. I dont have one of them right now. but i can rack and start another batch. I have 3 air locks and 2 more kits on the way
 
just racked the beer today. and looks good and tasted it. It tasted it and it tasted good just flat. Heres a pic in a hydrometer

irish red.jpg
 
what you guys think about the color so far. sorry for the rotation issue. I dont know y it did that.
 
Back
Top