I made it through the endless two weeks waiting to bottle my first batch. I have read in numerous threads and topics that patience and time is almost always a positive in the home brewing arena. So today I bottled 5 gallons of wheat from a Cooper's hopped extract kit with another KG of wheat extract added in place of the prescribed sugar - another good tidbit picked up in the forums. I let it set undisturbed for two weeks - today I racked and bottled. 5 gallons yielded 30 - 12 oz. bottles and 16 - 16 oz. bottles. The color is a beautiful deep gold - slightly cloudy which I expected in a wheat. Now two weeks (minimum, I know) bottle conditioning to see how it is. Of course I tasted it today and as I also expected, it tasted like very flat beer, but beer none the less. Kinda blah tasting - not much flavor but no bad flavors either (that part is encouraging).
On to batch #2. I boiled up an American Amber Ale - used a generic recipe I found web browsing. It had a pound of specialty grains (steeped), 6.5 lbs of amber LME, and a pound of light DME. Also 3 types of hops at various intervals and irish moss for clarifying. Looked and smelled awesome. I purchased a 5 gallon glass carboy for use as a secondary for this batch and going forward. (My first batch that I bottled today was in the primary the entire two weeks). Couple of questions - assuming that my yeast takes and I get good fermentation this week, at what point should I rack to the secondary, and how long should it stay there? I'm thinking that a week in primary and two weeks in secondary is about right. Any input from y'all is much appreciated.
Just as a side note - what an incredibly satisfying feeling it was bottling today. My wife probably thinks I'm nuts but I was grinning all day long. :}
On to batch #2. I boiled up an American Amber Ale - used a generic recipe I found web browsing. It had a pound of specialty grains (steeped), 6.5 lbs of amber LME, and a pound of light DME. Also 3 types of hops at various intervals and irish moss for clarifying. Looked and smelled awesome. I purchased a 5 gallon glass carboy for use as a secondary for this batch and going forward. (My first batch that I bottled today was in the primary the entire two weeks). Couple of questions - assuming that my yeast takes and I get good fermentation this week, at what point should I rack to the secondary, and how long should it stay there? I'm thinking that a week in primary and two weeks in secondary is about right. Any input from y'all is much appreciated.
Just as a side note - what an incredibly satisfying feeling it was bottling today. My wife probably thinks I'm nuts but I was grinning all day long. :}
bottle:rockin:
