Brew Times for newbies...

[redearthcognac]

First 5gal. batch started! It's an amber ale straight from the kit, with a little extra love and some tips gathered from this site...most notably the hop chart I found while looking at pictures.

I've been told 2-2-2 is about the perfect time for most ales, 2wks primary, 2wks secondary, and 2 weeks bottle conditioned.

My question, is why not do 1wk in primary, and 3 wks in glass carboy, then bottle for 2. Would this be advisable, inadvisable or unnecessary?

I just feel like more time in glass = better beer, any thoughts?

 

[Ohio-Ed]

It's not a simple matter of time. You should leave it in the primary until the fermentation is complete. You need to check the fermentation progress with a hydrometer reading... 2 days in a row with no change is SG.
Then, if you choose you can move to a secondary. Secondary will do 2 things. The process of racking with stir up and reactivate the yeast just a bit to kinda get one more pass at cleaning up fermentables. Secondary also gives suspended trub a chance to settle to the bottom and give you a clearer beer.

I think most new brewers tend to rush the process. Within reason, time is a brewers friend. Once you have more inventory in your pipeline, it's easier to let your brews sit a bit longer.

Good luck.

 

[gtpro]

if you really wanna try your first beer and not cut corners do two weeks in primary, skip secondary and 2-3 weeks in the bottles. (many on here have been known to open a bottle after a week. . .shhhh)

 

[artyboy]

My advice is to set aside a few bottles from your first brew and forget about them. Try them after a month and you'll see what a big difference a little bit of time makes. I've pretty much stopped doing a secondary. I just don't think that it's really necessary unless there's a huge yeast cake after the primary. My beer clears up nicely in the primary. I just don't like ending up with 1 inch yeast cakes at the bottom of all of my bottles. I tend to keg a lot more these days but I think that bottling finishes the beer up better. Every beer that I've kegged so far I've also set aside a few bottles of and the bottles always end up better.

 

[marubozo]

if you really wanna try your first beer and not cut corners do two weeks in primary, skip secondary and 2-3 weeks in the bottles.

+1, although I'd even do 3 and 3 for primary and bottles. It's fun to mess with your beer after a week or to and move it into a carboy of some sort so you can show it off and impress your friends, but if you're just starting out you might as well limit your opportunities to mess something up and just go straight from primary to bottles.

These days virtually all my beers sit about a month in the bucket or longer if I forget about them and then go right to the keg. Always delicious and clear.

 

[slowbie]

if you really wanna try your first beer and not cut corners do two weeks in primary, skip secondary and 2-3 weeks in the bottles. (many on here have been known to open a bottle after a week. . .shhhh)

Many on this site skip secondary, but if you choose to do that, I (and most of the others who skip secondary) would advise you to do at least 3 weeks primary, and personally I lean towards four weeks (or five or six if I get lazy). Full disclosure: I did 2 week primary and no secondary on my first batch. and tried it after two weeks in bottles and was very disappointed with my first taste. Since then I've done a minimum of four weeks from brewing before bottling, and a minimum of 2 weeks in bottles before cracking the first one and have yet to be disappointed by the first beer I try from the batch.

My question, is why not do 1wk in primary, and 3 wks in glass carboy, then bottle for 2. Would this be advisable, inadvisable or unnecessary?

People that are smarter than me tell me that when you give the yeast a week or two (or three...) in primary after fermentation they 'clean up' after themselves and get rid of off flavors that may have formed. That is why a longer primary is advisable. If you've read about autolysis and are concerned about that, I wouldn't worry about it. In a homebrewing scenario, it's going to take well over 4 weeks of primary for autolysis flavors to show up. I've heard of people going up to three months in primary with no autolysis problems.

 

[wonderbread23]

I typically ferment for 10 days (or until activity is stable), then drop down the temp for a week or so to drop some of the yeast out. I then either keg it to age or secondary it if I am going to dry hop or add other things (oak, fruit, etc). It works for me and my system, and creates very nice beer.

 

[Pezman1]

If in doubt, ALWAYS leave the beer in primary longer. It is very hard to leave the beer in primary too long. Test in BYO magazine back this up.

I do rack to secondary for all my beers (except some hefes), but often only so I can start another in my primary!

I can tell you that 7 days is most often not enough time in primary.

If you rely on a timetable rather than gravity readings, the first number should be a 2!

After reviewing some of my recent beers under 1.06 O.G., I find I come real close to 2/3/3. I would view 2/2/2 as a minimum, not optimum. Time is your best friend in homebrewing. Use it!
Pez.

 

[BeerJorge]

People that are smarter than me tell me that when you give the yeast a week or two (or three...) in primary after fermentation they 'clean up' after themselves and get rid of off flavors that may have formed. That is why a longer primary is advisable. If you've read about autolysis and are concerned about that, I wouldn't worry about it. In a homebrewing scenario, it's going to take well over 4 weeks of primary for autolysis flavors to show up. I've heard of people going up to three months in primary with no autolysis problems.

+1. You won't see autolysis for a few months unless your wort was weak in nutrients or had poor fermentation...

For ales, primary is your friend... once you move into lagers, the focus moves on to the secondary, but you still leave the beer long enough on the primary... And just like it was stated above, it's not about time, it's about your beer fermenting completely....

 

[BlueSunshine]

+1, although I'd even do 3 and 3 for primary and bottles. It's fun to mess with your beer after a week or to and move it into a carboy of some sort so you can show it off and impress your friends, but if you're just starting out you might as well limit your opportunities to mess something up and just go straight from primary to bottles.

I'm a big fan of the 3 weeks in the primary, 3 weeks in the bottles as well. I've done a few combinations as far as primary and conditioning time and this seems to work best.

 

[jessup]

when you give the yeast a week or two (or three...) in primary after fermentation they 'clean up' after themselves and get rid of off flavors that may have formed. That is why a longer primary is advisable. If you've read about autolysis and are concerned about that, I wouldn't worry about it. In a homebrewing scenario, it's going to take well over 4 weeks of primary for autolysis flavors to show up. I've heard of people going up to three months in primary with no autolysis problems.

^that^
i just replied to the thread plop plop and this is right on with that thread:
"it's taken a long time to learn and great effort to put out of my mind all the reading i've done re: autolysis to wait three weeks for primary and then mess with it. if it's under 1.060 you don't need a secondary and the full three weeks will allow the yeast to clean itself up (eg: eat its own poop). if it's a BIG beer >1.060 then rack to the secondary or barrel after the 3 week period. you'll be happy in the long run"

 

[redearthcognac]

Wow. Thanks for all the info...so it sounds like my pretty carboy is rather unnecessary for this amber then?! So, for my Mocha Stout, I'll probably want to do a secondary, but for most ales sounds like I should just get a few more ale pails...with all the interest from friends and coworkers...5gal just doesn't seem like enough!

I made a Mr. Beer batch which essentially produced a "light" ale but I was unimpressed by the head retention (or lack thereof). That aside, while simple, the beer tastes great and I'd like to make a larger batch. It came with a west coast pale ale hopped malt extract and booster (which I believe was just brew sugar) any thoughts on replicating that for a 5gal batch? And what steeping grains should I use to keep it simple, yet achieve head retention?

 

[Homercidal]

I may be mistaken, but I think Carapils is a steeping grain. I've used than on more than a few of my Ales, and it's helped the head retention. I've always used it in conjunction with crystal/caramel malts, which I recommend for adding a hint of sweetness and mouthfeel as well.

There are numerous quality recipes on this site. Maybe take a look around and see if you can find something that is similar to the one you want to scale? Or post the ingredients list and someone here can scale it up for you.

Oh, yeah. I do a minimum of 3 weeks in primary, sometimes 4-5, and skip the secondary for most ales. Minnimum of 3 weeks in bottle, although you won't go to jail for taste-testing one or bottles before the 3 weeks is up.