First 5 gallon Batch- Single hop IPA

[mjatk]

Hello All, Long time lurker as a 1-3 gallon batch guy.. I have now invested in the required equipment for a 5 gallon batch and have it in the fermenter now!

I put it in the fermenter last night, and this morning it was going wild.


Pre Boil Gravity 1.048
Post Boil 1.052

Nugget Hops
s-04 Dry Ale Yeast

Any Tips or Tricks for a Newbie to bigger batches? anything to watch out for? Planning to rack to secondary after 7-9 days. and then Keg it out of secondary after another 7 days.

View attachment IMG_0743.MOV

 

[pshankstar]

Congrats on the successful brew day and upgrading to 5 gallons! What was your grain bill for this brew?

 

[dstockwell]

No need to transfer to secondary, unless there is a reason you need too.

 

[pshankstar]

Agreed, no need for a secondary. The only time I do that is when I am adding frozen fruit to the brew.

 

[jmitchell3]

Only pointer I'd have is be sure to pitch a sufficient number of healthy yeast cells into your bigger batch! other than that, looks great. congrats and happy brewing!

 

[Atlmustang]

Nice set up. I would recommend using US-05 as your yeast next time. I use it in my IPA's and it's really good for IPA's and pale ales. It's even great in stouts. It's a great strain of yeast. It'll give you higher attenuation than 04 and it's a bit cleaner with less off flavors than 04.

As others have said, no need to rack to secondary. I have never done it and never will. Remember, the less contact your beer has with tubes, buckets, carboys, etc. the better. I would hate to have an infected batch due to racking to a secondary vessel.

Other than that, nothing different from a 1-3 gallon batch in terms of process. Well, except you will have more to drink! Cheers!

 

[mjatk]

Thanks guys for the tips. Any recommendations on time in primary then? I am not dry hopping or planning to add anything during fermentation.

I am moving it to a corny and force carbing. Hoping to have it ready to drink 13 days after fermentation. Possible?

 

[kh54s10]

I have gone from 3 weeks to now 14 days. It is really done in 7-10 days so 4 more days to be sure. So you could probably keg it at 8 or 10 days, force carb and be drinking it at 13 days. Depending on the recipe the beer might be better with a little age on it. Like a Porter or Stout. They are better with a little aging.

 

[mjatk]

Got it, I will just not be impatient then haha. Plan will be:

Primary- 14 days total
Rack to Keg, cool it for a day
Then set and forget for 7-10 days

Drink it on New Years!

 

[Atlmustang]

On all my IPA's and lighter color beers I always go 14 days in primary, rack to the keg (no need to let sit for a day and cool) and set to 20 psi for 3 days. Set to 10-12 psi and drink away. 17 days total grain to glass.

The 20 psi depends on the size. If you do a 3 gallon it only needs to be 20 psi for 2 days, for 5 gallon it can be 2.5 to 3 days in my experience. No more than 3 days at 20 psi.

 

[mjatk]

Update: After hitting my target FG (1.012) and it being consistent for 2 days, I decided to rack it to the keg. So that made for 9.5 days in primary. I now have it in the fridge getting to temp..

Tomorrow morning I will connect the CO2 at 20-25 for a day, then drop to a serving pressure of 8psi @ 37°F, and let sit for 2-3 days.

Not that anyone cares, but I will keep you posted!

 

[PADave]

No need to secondary. Why is your pot all black? That's a sign of bad burner adjustment, incomplete combustion.

 

[mjatk]

No need to secondary. Why is your pot all black? That's a sign of bad burner adjustment, incomplete combustion.

That was my first time using it, and i did think that was odd. What do you recommend as a fix?

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Racking to secondary is pointless. Not necessary at all and just another opportunity to potentially infect the beer. And unless you are aging or adding something like fruit to the beer then it is completely not necessary.

And if you insist on secondary specific time frames such as "at day 7 I'm racking to secondary" are premature. What if fermentation is not complete. And... There's a lot of stuff still in solution form the fermentation that hasn't settled out.
I typically wait about 2 weeks then re-evaluate any racking. At least when I used to rack to secondary.

And I'll be honest I usually just keep letting it sit for at least 3 to 4 before I even consider thinking about kegging or bottling.
That gives it time to clarify.

 

[PADave]

That was my first time using it, and i did think that was odd. What do you recommend as a fix?

There should be an air adjustment on the front of the burner. Adjust it till the flame is all blue. If you get any orange flame there is incomplete combustion, which is also producing carbon monoxide.

 

[tracyk]

Adjust the air shutter that is on your burner until you see blue flames. This will give you the correct air mixture. To much orange is usually the lack of air combustion which is producing the black soot on your kettle. A nice blue flame will produce better results and you will not be spending time cleaning the black soot off.

 

[mjatk]

Thank you guys!

 

[IndyBlueprints]

Most of mine are done in 14 days, but this time of year my basement ferments at 68F, so they ferment a little slower, so I give 3 weeks. I only rack to 2ndary if I dry hop in the carboy. I rack off into another carboy, fine with gelatin and cold crash for 2 days before kegging.

Although I've done it many times, if you force carb at 20-25# for a couple of days, you can never be sure exactly what your level of carbonation is. If you have the patience, set it at 11-12# and let it sit 7-10 days, and you know it's going to be carbed right.

 

[pshankstar]

Update: After hitting my target FG (1.012) and it being consistent for 2 days, I decided to rack it to the keg. So that made for 9.5 days in primary. I now have it in the fridge getting to temp..

Tomorrow morning I will connect the CO2 at 20-25 for a day, then drop to a serving pressure of 8psi @ 37°F, and let sit for 2-3 days.

Not that anyone cares, but I will keep you posted!

So how did it turn out? Curious minds want to know!

Oh BTW, I care and that's why I'm writing this. LOL HAHA

 

[mjatk]

So how did it turn out? Curious minds want to know!

Oh BTW, I care and that's why I'm writing this. LOL HAHA

It turned out great! I am very happy with it considering the quick turn around. 1st sampled it on day 12, company drank it on day 14 (yesterday), and it wasn't bad, but it definitely can use some time. All had great feedback, a couple guys that also brew mentioned that they were picking up some ester tastes.. I contribute that to the s-04 and my bath tub temp of 68°...

Company only ended up drinking 12-15 pints, so I will now let it cold condition for a couple of weeks, and give you all an update then! Hoping it clears up a lot.