With a hydrometer, how do you tell when the beer is ready?

1. At what number or just how can you tell when you are ready to switch to your secondary carboy? And what about when switching to your bottling bucket for bottling? How can you tell with the hydrometer? What should it read? I am a first time brewer.

2. I have my primary going for 3 days now in a bucket with a spigot at the bottom, and I think I am going to skip the secondary, so should I just use the carboy as my bottling bucket? Or switch to the carboy for a few days and then back to the bucket for bottling?

Many, possibly most of us don't use a secondary anymore(less chance of infection through racking).Give your beer a couple of weeks in the primary and then start checking gravities.Once you can go three or more days in a row with out change you should be good to bottle.That being said you should have some idea of the final gravity you are looking for.Fermentations can get stuck, and trick you.Generall though if you are aroud 1012 or less for a few days you should be finished.Good luck.

Awesome response. Thank you. The kit says to bottle after 1 WEEK... but Should I switch to the carboy, then clean the bucket and put the beer back in the bucket to use as a bottling bucket? The kit instructions intended me to use the bucket for the primary and then switch to a bottling bucket, but I don't have one. So is the carboy ok to use for bottling? Or do I have to put in carboy as secondary?

So what would be the BAD THINGS about leaving your beer in the fermenter for too long? Is it pretty much, the longer you keep the beer in the primary the better it will be?

jjrandall said:

So what would be the BAD THINGS about leaving your beer in the fermenter for too long? Is it pretty much, the longer you keep the beer in the primary the better it will be?

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Most of us get impatient, but waiting a minimum of two to three weeks is typically recommended to make sure fermentation is done. Waiting longer than that allows the yeast to continue clearing up the beer. The bad things can happen if you leave it for a really, really long time in the primary fermenter. You can get skunked beer, or beer with really bad off-flavors. I think it's primarily from autolysis, which can result from a lot of dead yeast at the bottom of the fermenter. This happens if you leave the beer in the fermenter too long.

However, keep in mind that I think a number of people here have left beer in the primary fermenter for several months and not noticed issues. It always seems to vary depending on yeast and other conditions, but if you're just in your primary fermenter for 3-5 weeks, I don't think you'll have any issues.

It is so weird that the guy at the store and the directions from the kit both said to let it ferment for a few days, but on here everyone is saying weeks. Interesting. Are you guys maybe referring to making a real home brew? I am using a true brew gold kit so maybe it doesnt take as long...

Kit or no kit, all extract or all grain; no matter your method, you will want to give it more than just a few days to ferment. Sometimes fermentation can appear complete, but in fact is just stalled. The only real way to know is with a hydrometer reading.

Even if fermentation does complete in a matter of days, giving it more time will allow the yeast to clear up the beer, allow flavors to settle out, etc. This is why most people give it 2-3 weeks in the primary.

jjrandall said:

It is so weird that the guy at the store and the directions from the kit both said to let it ferment for a few days, but on here everyone is saying weeks. Interesting. Are you guys maybe referring to making a real home brew? I am using a true brew gold kit so maybe it doesnt take as long...

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Beer takes as long as it takes. 2-3 weeks is much more realistic than 3-4 days.

The guy at the store makes his money selling you more kits. If you wait 3 or 4 weeks to come back and buy another kit, he isn't making profits.

Listen to your hydrometer. More patience = better beer.

jjrandall said:

It is so weird that the guy at the store and the directions from the kit both said to let it ferment for a few days, but on here everyone is saying weeks. Interesting. Are you guys maybe referring to making a real home brew? I am using a true brew gold kit so maybe it doesnt take as long...

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Your kit is a real home brew. You are making brew at home, right? The only difference between your kit and my extract batches is someone else picked your ingredients.

Yeast need time, and work on their own schedule, and any beer, kit, extract recipe, or AG, will be better if you let the yeast do their thing, including cleaning up after themselves.

Read up. The directions with many kits are notoriously bad(short time frames). Maybe it is just to sell more kits?

I read a lot of the posts here. There is much bad and/or outdated information but if you read a lot and sift out all the crap you will get a lot of great information.

The most important things to focus on IMO are:

Sanitation
Temperature control
Proper yeast pitching
Patience. It always takes longer than you would like.

ok I am going to leave it in the primary for a few weeks, I am just now worried what I will do with the carboy? My primary bucket with a spigot was going to be my bottling bucket after I transferred the beer into my carboy then cleaned the bucket and transferred it back to the bucket for bottling.. How should I bottle?

jjrandall said:

OK I am going to leave it in the primary for a few weeks, I am just now worried what I will do with the carboy? My primary bucket with a spigot was going to be my bottling bucket after I transferred the beer into my carboy then cleaned the bucket and transferred it back to the bucket for bottling.. How should I bottle?

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2 options buy another bottling bucket or transfer to carboy clean out the fermenter then transfer back in. Best option get another bucket. Do not add priming sugar to your primary and try to bottle.