First batch ever in Carboy in Nova Scotia

Howdy fellow beer bellies.

Long time beer lover/drinker, first time poster.

For my first time ever, I racked my fermented Porter wort yesterday after 4.5 days in the primary and am anxiously awaiting the drinkable stage. My airlock does not seem too busy but I have some pics that I may up for your kind evaluation sometime soon ...

Glad to have been pointed to your sight, you all seem like a friendly knowledgeable gang ... looking forward to learning.

Donair

Welcome aboard!

Glad to hear you're on your way. You know, 4.5 days in the primary is not enough. You really should leave it at LEAST a week but most of us leave it even longer. Your fermentation should be completely finished before you rack to the secondary. The secondary is more properly known as a clearing tank because there is no fermentation. By leaving your beer in the primary for a longer period the yeast has time to clean up the undesirable by-products of fermentation. Not only that, if you rack before the beer is done fermenting you can actually halt the process.

What was your gravity reading when you racked?

Welcome

Thanks folks!

Now I'm hoping for a bit of affirmation on this first batch of mine ... according to the directions that came with my 23L sack of wort, I was supposed to look for the beginning of the "collapse" of the kraeusen to indicate the correct time to rack into the carboy. This was supposed to happen within 2-4 days of being in the primary. My batch started @ 17:00, 2009-03-09. By 2009-03-11 I had what I think was some pretty good Sea Foam overflowing ...



Due to too many after work Friday beers, I didn't rack into the carboy until 11:00, 2009-03-14 with the primary surface looking like this for I don't know how long ...



I think I got almost all of the beer out of the primary. This is how full my carboy ended up being ...



I wrapped the carboy up with a garbage bag to protect from light. My airlock as installed (half full of water) ...



I did see a few bubbles go up through the airlock at first but not much of anything since. A full day after racking and my airlock does not seem any different than it as above. There are a few teeny tiny bubble on the inside of it but nothing really burbling or percolating up through it. Did I wait too long to rack (4.5 days)? Should the airlock be obviously busy? I'm concerned that I waited too long to rack. I think next time I'll start my batch on a Wednesday instead of a Monday to better coincide appropriate racking time with available weekend free time. I'm supposed to leave it in the carboy for 7-10 days (or) until the carbon dioxide coming through the airlock has stopped.


Yum.

Oh, and I haven't taken any gravity readings as of yet ... rookie mistake?

Welcome to HBT -- always nice to see a fellow Canuck aboard!

I am guessing you are doing a FestaBrew kit (a stout by the look of it)? If so, don't trust the instructions they include with the kit. You will get better advice here.

Too late now, but for the next kit, leave it in the fermenting bucket for at least a week (I usually shoot for about 3 weeks, but no more than a month).

You can't really trust your airlock to tell you anything about the progress of your fermentation. It is unreliable for a whole bunch of reasons. Instead, use your hydrometer to figure out when your fermentation has finished (i.e. if your gravity is at, or close to, your expected terminal gravity and it hasn't budged in a few days, it is done). I usually let me beer sit in the fermenter for a few days to a week (sometimes more) after fermentation has stopped to let the yeast clean up everything. At that point, you can rack to the secondary if you like (not usually necessary) to let the beer clear before bottling.

Best of luck!

Hey Donair....welcome to the site.. glad to see you joined up...:rockin:

Hello Donair! Welcome to an obsessive hobby! luckily you are in the right spot! I go by the 1-2-3 rule. 1 week in the primary, 2 in the secondary, and 3 in the bottle. If you start kegging then you can forget the 3 weeks in the bottle and leave it alone in the keg on the gas at about 20PSI for a week. my first brew I had a case of the fidget hands and racked it after about 72 hours. It turned out good, but the beers I have made since are so much better. The most important thing to remember is to focus on cleanliness, other than that the beer pretty much makes it self. If you invest in a few extra fermenting vessels, and make like 3 brew's, you will have a nice pipeline of beers once they are done. this way you can brew and drink your own HB. Be sure to check out EdWorts Apfelwein!

Welcome! Now get a hydrometer, learn how to use it, and don't rack so early. That beer may have had several more days of fermenting to do, and possibly another week. You may notice it being sweeter than you want it to be and the alcohol level may be lower than it should be (although it is possible the fermenting was done). Next time try the same kit and use a hydrometer and see if it comes out better. I'd be willing to bet it does.

There will still be yeasst in suspension so don;t worry to much about racking early, though I do adivise leaving it at least 7 days before racking.

Welcome!