1st brew questions

I brewed up a brown ale for my first attempt on Wednesday. I had good bubbling in my airlock within 5 hours, but it has completely stopped after about 24-30 hours. I'm reading that this isn't necessarily a bad sign. Does anyone know approx what SG I should expect when I transfer to the secondary in a few days?

No idea. Post your recipe and someone might be able to estimate a FG range for you using beersmith or something.

Why are you racking to a secondary? Most of the time it's not necessary.

You'll want to keep it on the yeast cake until the primary fermentation is complete. For how to determine that check here:
http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2012/11/when-has-my-beer-finished-fermenting.html

If you want to get fancy and predict it check here:
http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2012/11/how-to-calculate-fermentation-time.html

I was thinking of following the 1-2-3 method. I am open to advice though.

Even if you do rack to a secondary... I wouldn't do it for another 2 weeks or so.

Disregard the instructions in your kit that say to rack to a secondary after 4 or 5 days. Those instructions are from the dark ages.

Gary

You're worried about the wrong things.
The SG is the starting gravity, after it cools and before you pitch yeast.
Midpoint gravity is meaningless and just wastes beer.
Leave it in the primary, and if you want to know more, post the recipe, yeast and an idea of the fermenting temperature.
Otherwise, without knowing more the best I could say would be leaving in the container it's in until you think it's done, then give it another week or ten days.
if you have a hydrometer when you think it's done you can check the gravity and when it's the same for three days in a row you know you're done.

waxwader said:

I was thinking of following the 1-2-3 method. I am open to advice though.

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General guidelines are just that they're general. They will hardly ever be correct for the situation you're in. Just a guideline in case you have no clue about anything.
Post what you're brewing and maybe someone can help you.

Sorry for the noob questions. I'm just concerned that I didn't do a good enough job sanitizing. Just first brew worries I'm sure. I guess I was looking for some sort of range on a hydrometer when fermentation is complete to know where I stand. I'll start checking it each day around day 10 or so.

Some brewers still follow the 1-2-3 method but a lot have changed to let it sit in the primary for 3+ weeks. I usually bottle/keg between 3-4 weeks (no secondary). I am more worried about infection from an unnecessary racking then I am of the autolysis boogie man. Unless adding hops or fruit I usually don't secondary. You may want to take a gravity reading just to check the gravity of what it is now, it may have stalled and could be sitting at a higher gravity then what you want, or you could have an air leak. Even if it is at final gravity let it sit for another 3 weeks and let it chill.

Brown ales usually finish from 1.010-1.014, however that is style guidelines (may be old I use Brewmate and don't know if it gets updated ) which means if you were within guidelines on your original gravity and use proper yeast for that style it should end around there. However if you are higher on OG, then FG may be higher, that's why every one is asking for your recipe

I had the local brew shop put together a Newcastle clone kit for me. I don't really know exactly what's in it. As I said this is my first try at a real home brew except for a couple of Mr Beer batches. Also like I said I'm only trying to figure out if it has stalled and how to tell for sure for future reference.

waxwader said:

Does anyone know approx what SG I should expect?

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It's done when the gravity stops dropping. Take a reading at MINIMUM 14 days, then again a few days later. Wait until they're the same. You might WANT it to be 1.014, but if you bottle and it ferments to 1.009, you're going to have a very sharp, very sticky mess.

As you will discover, brewing is all "hurry up and wait". I never, ever, EVER touch a beer for 14 days, usually 21+. Unless you're adding fruit, bacteria culture, or oak chips, etc, there is really no need for a secondary. There are some very long threads here discussing that.

Edit: Out of curiosity, what was the fermentation temperature? Fast isn't always bad, but 24 hours is FAST!

I do not have a thermometer in or on my fermenter, but it is inside my man cave which stays between 68-72 degrees all of the time. I assume I should find a way to measure temp on my fermenter going forward. Im just using a 7.8 gallon bucket at this time. Any ideas?