Another fermentation question

I put my first brew on last Thursday. The instructions said leave it for five days, which I have, and wait for the bubbles to stop rising to the top, which they have. Would you suggest I bottle it now, or is it better to leave it for a few more days? Or even, is it worse to leave it longer,[ie: would it ruin the brew?]
Any comments greatly appreciated.

You should do some reading on the 1/2/3 schedule for brewing, either in a book (Papazian's bible) or by using the search feature of this forum.

If you "made" the beet on Thursday, you have completed your Primary fermentation by now. You can tell by less active fermentation and that most of the gunk has settled down to the bottom of your fermenter. Most of your overall fermentation is complete, but the beer isn't ready to bottle or drink. You want to rack (siphon beer to new, sanitized vessel) off of the trub (muck at bottom) and let the beer clear for 2 more weeks in the Clearing tank. Some cal this "Secondary Fermentation". From there, prime it with DME (preferred by me) or corn sugar, bottle it and wait 3 weeks (you can peek at 1 and 2 weeks to get a better understanding of the progress yoiur beer is making.

Good luck!!

If you aren't going to use a secondary I would leave it in the primary for 2-3 weeks to allow the beer to condition and then bottle it. It will do no harm to leave your beer in the primary that long, and in fact, it will only make your beer better.

John

Cheers Fiery Sword. I've got a few weeks to go yet then

johnsma22 said:

If you aren't going to use a secondary I would leave it in the primary for 2-3 weeks to allow the beer to condition and then bottle it. It will do no harm to leave your beer in the primary that long, and in fact, it will only make your beer better.

John

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Cheers John. I will probably do this as I have only one fermenting bin at present. I'll get another one for when I do my next brew.

Do you have a bottling bucket? You can't bottle from the secondary, or primary, as you'll get all the settlement in the bottom when you mix in your sugar. Siphon to the bottling bucket, prime with sugar, then bottle.

grnich said:

Do you have a bottling bucket? You can't bottle from the secondary, or primary, as you'll get all the settlement in the bottom when you mix in your sugar. Siphon to the bottling bucket, prime with sugar, then bottle.

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Is the bottling bucket the same as a fermenting bin?

a bottling bucket is just a separate bucket with a spigot drilled into the side near the bottom. I has to be a separate bucket or else the spigot will draw in all the trub when you go to bottle the beer. by siphoning the beer out of the primary or secondary fermenter you will leave the trub behind. that's what the previous poster was getting at.

Just a question then, why couldnt one just rack the primary to the bottling bucket, leave it sit 2 weeks then put in the priming sugar and then bottle?

I havent gotten that far yet, but if the spigot is high enough to leave the trub behind why do we use a secondary?

RyanJE said:

Just a question then, why couldnt one just rack the primary to the bottling bucket, leave it sit 2 weeks then put in the priming sugar and then bottle?

I havent gotten that far yet, but if the spigot is high enough to leave the trub behind why do we use a secondary?

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If you did this, you would re-suspend everything you allowed to settle out when you stirred in the priming sugar.

Everyone above is correct... Basically use of the 1-2-3 method (1 week primary, rack to secondary for 2 weeks, rack to bottling bucket and bottle, let sit for 3 weeks) is the best general method to follow, for all the above reasons.

Just another note on priming/bottling, usually I concoct my priming solution (water and corn sugar, dme, honey, or whatever) and put it into the bottling bucket first. Then siphon from secondary into this mixture of priming-water. The slight swirling of the siphoned beer has always done well enough to get an even mix of the priming solution into my beer and there is little aeration to the beer if you keep the siphon hose under the surface of the liquid.

This is as opposed to siphoning the beer, dumping in the priming solution second, and stirring with a spoon or something. Both methods should work, but I always liked the first better...

RyanJE said:

Just a question then, why couldnt one just rack the primary to the bottling bucket, leave it sit 2 weeks then put in the priming sugar and then bottle?

I havent gotten that far yet, but if the spigot is high enough to leave the trub behind why do we use a secondary?

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Just what Sandy said. You will have some sediment in the secondary, not anything like in your primary, but nonetheless there will be some settling. When you add the sugar, you need to get a good mix. When you mix it up, everything that you just settled out for the past 2 weeks will get mixed up and "suspended" like Sandy said.


Hope This Helps.

loop

Another quick question; what does DME stand for? You can tell I'm new to all this

If it's preffered to let it go a couple of weeks in the fermenter, why do so many of the directions for beginners have us bottling in 7 - 10 days?

I don't doubt what you all are telling us. I'm going to let mine go longer as you all advise.

Enlighten me, Masters!

I think that most beginner's kits leave out the secondary to make things simpler for new brewers. Think about it- it seems to be overwhelming as it is. Steep grains, sanitize, racking canes, boil extract, add hops several times. At least after you do all that, you just throw it in the primary bucket, airlock it and then bottle after 10 days or so. Also, would you be as likely to be a kit that says, "Beer in 6 weeks" rather than two weeks or whatever the claim is? Patience is tough, and they don't want to discourage you from buying their product.

Of course, we all now know that using a secondary is really not more complicated or difficult. It adds about $20 to your costs, and is so much better for your beer. It adds two weeks to your waiting- but really, so what?

Lorena

Is there going to be that much sediment in the secondary if you strain the wort before mixing in the primary.

Actually, yes, you'd be surprised. All the flocculated yeast settles at the bottom as sediment. The beer actually looks darker, as the yeast settles out of suspension. There is, of course, some yeast in suspension to carbonate your beer, but you'd be amazed at how much clearer and brighter your beer is after a 2 week secondary.

I always strain my wort going into primary, then rack to secondary to make sure there is no trub picked up. And still, I have sediment in the bottom of the secondary. Better there, though, then in my bottles!

Lorena

Lordy said:

Another quick question; what does DME stand for? You can tell I'm new to all this

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DME= Dried Malt Extract

as opposed to LME

LME= Liquid Malt Extract


These are the "extracts" in "extract brewing"

All grain folks make their own extract.


loop

lorenae said:

Actually, yes, you'd be surprised. All the flocculated yeast settles at the bottom as sediment. The beer actually looks darker, as the yeast settles out of suspension. There is, of course, some yeast in suspension to carbonate your beer, but you'd be amazed at how much clearer and brighter your beer is after a 2 week secondary.

I always strain my wort going into primary, then rack to secondary to make sure there is no trub picked up. And still, I have sediment in the bottom of the secondary. Better there, though, then in my bottles!

Lorena

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So when you pour your beers do you still worry about leaving the trub in the bottle or is there none?

RyanJE said:

So when you pour your beers do you still worry about leaving the trub in the bottle or is there none?

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A lot of people are very careful when they pour a glass. Leave about 1/4" inch of beer in the bottle. Some shake 'er up and drink it....it's actually full of good stuff for you.

loop

loopmd said:

A lot of people are very careful when they pour a glass. Leave about 1/4" inch of beer in the bottle. Some shake 'er up and drink it....it's actually full of good stuff for you.

loop

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Shake her up? wouldnt it exlpode once it was opened?

Lay the bottle on it's side and roll it on the table.

olllllo said:

Lay the bottle on it's side and roll it on the table.

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to shake it up?? can you taste a difference if you do that.

RyanJE said:

to shake it up?? can you taste a difference if you do that.

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In some styles residual yeast in the bottle is preferred, but it's an individual taste thing.
I've heard that this is the German traditional way to drink a Hefe if you want to enjoy it that way.

olllllo said:

In some styles residual yeast in the bottle is preferred, but it's an individual taste thing.
I've heard that this is the German traditional way to drink a Hefe if you want to enjoy it that way.

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Yep--a traditional hefeweizen is served 'mit hefe', with the yeast in the bottle (or whatever) shaken up and dumped into the poured glass.