First Brew- Summer Ale

Greetings all,

Just had a quick question regarding my Summer Ale. I brewed a Brewers Best Summer Ale kit last Friday and had an OG of 1.042. After one week in the Primary, I just took an SG for 1.011. I tranferred the beer into a Secondary Fermenter, as recommended by the instructions given in the kit. The SG is currently in the targeted range as recommended by the instructions. Will the SG continue to fall as I leave it in the secondary for the recommended two weeks?

Generally it will not fall in secondary if it finished properly in primary.

They really should call secondary - clarity or conditioning.

Take a reading for 3 days running and if it does not change you are at terminal gravity.

The SG may not continue to fall any more, but that does not mean the beer is ready to bottle yet. How long has the beer been in the secondary? I'd leave it there at least 2 weeks to allow the yeast to finish their job and the beer to clear up.

In the future you might want to consider leaving the beer in the primary for longer than 1 week. Many people on this site would probably agree that one week on the yeast is not enough conditioning time for your beer.

For my first brew ever, I did exactly as you just did. I made a Blonde Ale, fermented in the primary for one week then racked to a secondary for 2 weeks before I bottled. However after reading numerous posts on this site, it became clear to me that leaving the beer in the primary for longer (3-4 weeks) benefits the beer much more than racking to a secondary before letting the yeast finish their job. All the beers I've made since then, I've allowed to stay in the primary for longer and I believe my beer tastes better for it!

Good luck and happy brewing.

Awesome, thanks for all of the advice! I moved it to Secondary last night, and actually had to re-rack it after I was having some leaking issues. I was using my bottling bucket for my secondary, per a recommendation (I am now thinking that I misunderstood), and the spicket kept dripping, so I transferred it back into the bucket I used for primary. I'll let it sit in there for a couple weeks. Can anyone forsee me having any problems with what I had to do here? I figured it was my best option, otherwise my beer was going to drip for all of the two weeks.

I'm thinking my next purchase will be a glass carboy.

brendenb said:

Awesome, thanks for all of the advice! I moved it to Secondary last night, and actually had to re-rack it after I was having some leaking issues. I was using my bottling bucket for my secondary, per a recommendation (I am now thinking that I misunderstood), and the spicket kept dripping, so I transferred it back into the bucket I used for primary. I'll let it sit in there for a couple weeks. Can anyone forsee me having any problems with what I had to do here? I figured it was my best option, otherwise my beer was going to drip for all of the two weeks.

I'm thinking my next purchase will be a glass carboy.

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As long as you didn't just dump it back in your primary and you were careful transferring it back, you should be fine. Just make sure not to splash your beer as it will oxidize, something you don't want to do at this stage in the fermentation process. Also, you'll see a lot on here that secondaries aren't necessary anymore, unless you're dry hopping or adding fruit. It's much easier to leave it in the primary for 3-4 weeks rather than transferring it to secondary. This also reduces the risk of an infection.

unionrdr said:

I've noticed with the spigots that have those flat rubber washers to seal with,you can't tighten them too much,or they'll leak. Just snug'em down good. And make sure the spigot is turned all the way off. Never a problem.

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I first had a problem with the seal leaking and I had to do the un-imaginable and reach into my beer to tighten it down. Of course, I first sanitized my arm, but I have learned my lesson with that, test the seal with water first before transferring my beer over.

I was having a problem with the actual spicket leaking, even in the full off position. I may not even bother putting my beer in the bottling bucket on bottling day, I may just siphon it. We shall see...

unionrdr said:

Why not see if you can get the spigot replaced?

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I was considering that. I'll bring it back to my home brewing supply store the next time I'm up there.