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nvious23

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Hi I'm new to this craft and have a couple of questions. Is it normal for visible airlock activity to stop after four days? And second the instructions call for one week primary two weeks secondary is this step necessary? I'm brewing an oatmeal stout and fermenting at 62%. Any help is appreciated.
 
Welcome! Airlock activity only gauges the release of pressure. It is common for that to stop after a could days - or on occasion continue for several weeks. Your batch can continue despite the lack of airlock activity. The use of secondary vs. primary-only has merits on both sides. Many, including myself, typically do an extended primary-only fermentation, and only use a secondary when adding adjuncts (such as fruit, coffee, vanilla, etc.) or if you are aging for an extended period of time. Some of the benefits are that it's less overall effort, and because it's one less transfer it carries less risk of contamination and oxidation. When you get a chance I recommend researching the opinions and experiences of both sides of the equation.

Again, welcome to the obsession, and good luck on your stout!

nvious23 said:
Hi I'm new to this craft and have a couple of questions. Is it normal for visible airlock activity to stop after four days? And second the instructions call for one week primary two weeks secondary is this step necessary? I'm brewing an oatmeal stout and fermenting at 62%. Any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...
 
kscarrington said:
Welcome! Airlock activity only gauges the release of pressure. It is common for that to stop after a could days - or on occasion continue for several weeks. Your batch can continue despite the lack of airlock activity. The use of secondary vs. primary-only has merits on both sides. Many, including myself, typically do an extended primary-only fermentation, and only use a secondary when adding adjuncts (such as fruit, coffee, vanilla, etc.) or if you are aging for an extended period of time. Some of the benefits are that it's less overall effort, and because it's one less transfer it carries less risk of contamination and oxidation. When you get a chance I recommend researching the opinions and experiences of both sides of the equation.

Again, welcome to the obsession, and good luck on your stout!
Click to expand...

Thanks for your info my of was right in between the guidelines its been in for a week ill let it go to 3 weeks and take a gravity reading, and bottle if ready.
 
Welcome theres so much info here youll love this forum. I agree with the above. If you doing a simple kit no addons keep it in the primary for 2 full weeks regardless what airlock does. The brewing experience requires some work because of the measures of santization. Transfering if its not required is just extra work.
 
I am also very new to this. I bottled my first batch directly from the primary and made a few (really messed up) mistakes. If you are bottling, you might want to avoid them.

One of them was moving the fermenting bucket up to the table on bottling day and sloshing the trub back into suspension. I should have positioned it place in the days prior.

The second was using my siphon right from the primary to the bottles by myself. That was pretty tricky and led to me pulling trub into bottles. I suppose a second person handling one of these tasks would have led to a better result. Using a bottling bucket has solved this, and also helps with priming the batch.

That batch has about 3/8 of trub in every pint bottle. With a careful pour I can get about 1/2 to 2/3 of the beer into a glass and it tastes very good. But the rest, well....a bit soapy.

There's some practice involved with bottling.
 
All in all there are a lot of different techniques. Rarely are any of them wrong, you just have to experiment and see which techniques work for you and your system. It will likely take several brews as you refine your techniques, and as you begin to build your confidence, you will begin to enjoy and appreciate your brew days even more. How I brewed my -30 Amber Ale a week ago is vastly different than my first brew. It's all part of the learning and adventure!
 
What was your OG? You can always pull a hydro sample along the way then taste it to monitor it's progress. On occasion I pull a sample, skip the hydro sampling, and just go for the taste test!

nvious23 said:
Thanks for your info my of was right in between the guidelines its been in for a week ill let it go to 3 weeks and take a gravity reading, and bottle if ready.
Click to expand...
 
Well,I don't bother with secondaries either,unless oaking or something. 3 weeks in primary is average time to get down to FG & let it clean up & settle out clear or slightly misty. It's also nice to have some sort of fermenter stand so you don't have to keep moving full,heavy buckets of beer & such around. My Gallery shows a pic of my old,large printer stand that I use for storage as well as keeping the bottle tree/buckets on top of.
I set the bottling bucket on the floor under the spigot of the fermenter. Attach a tube to the spout of the spigot in question Run down around the bottom of the bottling bucket to get a swirl going. Prime,stir lightly,& bottle away. This way,I get a real light dusting on the bottom of the bottles.
 
Thank you everyone for your helpfull comments. I was going to start with Mr. Beer and my wife went all out and hooked me up with an early Christmas present.
 
When you bottled directly from the primary, did you mix your priming sugar into the primary as well?

I typically move my fermenter onto the counter about an hour or so before bottling. So far I've had very little disruption of the trub and yeast, but that's where an extended 3-week primary helps to compact everything.

Usually the mistakes you make on brew day are rarely repeated, making each batch just a little better every time!



jethro55 said:
I am also very new to this. I bottled my first batch directly from the primary and made a few (really messed up) mistakes. If you are bottling, you might want to avoid them.

One of them was moving the fermenting bucket up to the table on bottling day and sloshing the trub back into suspension. I should have positioned it place in the days prior.

The second was using my siphon right from the primary to the bottles by myself. That was pretty tricky and led to me pulling trub into bottles. I suppose a second person handling one of these tasks would have led to a better result. Using a bottling bucket has solved this, and also helps with priming the batch.

That batch has about 3/8 of trub in every pint bottle. With a careful pour I can get about 1/2 to 2/3 of the beer into a glass and it tastes very good. But the rest, well....a bit soapy.

There's some practice involved with bottling.
Click to expand...
 
kscarrington said:
What was your OG? You can always pull a hydro sample along the way then taste it to monitor it's progress. On occasion I pull a sample, skip the hydro sampling, and just go for the taste test!
Click to expand...

Og was 1.06 est from directions was 1.056 to 1.064
 
Merry Christmas indeed!

nvious23 said:
Thank you everyone for your helpfull comments. I was going to start with Mr. Beer and my wife went all out and hooked me up with an early Christmas present.
Click to expand...
 
3 weeks sounds pretty reasonable for that. Make sure you've verified you're at FG to avoid bottle bombs, and after about a month they will likely start to be ready to drink. Longer conditioning time will probably be beneficial for that style. Feel free to try one after a week or so, realizing that it is to monitor how the beer will change, and that the flavors will change - usually for the better.

nvious23 said:
Og was 1.06 est from directions was 1.056 to 1.064
Click to expand...
 
kscarrington said:
When you bottled directly from the primary, did you mix your priming sugar into the primary as well?

I typically move my fermenter onto the counter about an hour or so before bottling. So far I've had very little disruption of the trub and yeast, but that's where an extended 3-week primary helps to compact everything.

Usually the mistakes you make on brew day are rarely repeated, making each batch just a little better every time!
Click to expand...

Nope - I tried the super-noobie spoon full of sugar directly into the bottles. :D

I am definitely going to move to the 3 weeks-in-primary method. I am up to two weeks for the last 3 batches and the establishment of a pipeline is helping with patience.
 

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