First Time Brewer

[Tclem2000]

I'm new to the brew world and have chose a Home Brew Pilsner to begin with its now in my primary and needing to know if i should move to a secondary or just leave it longer and bottle when its time ?

 

[Iamslow]

What are you using as your fermenter? Bucket, carboy, conical?

Bucket - hard to get clean beer out the little spigot with all the slurry down there.
carboy - you can get clean beer out and you save yourself extra work from not having to clean another carboy.
conical - you wouldn't be asking this if you had one.

don't forget to cold crash.

 

[kev211]

Welcome to the hobby! And I think you'll find on this site that the answer to your question is a resounding LEAVE IN PRIMARY!! Moving to secondary only increases the risk of infection ad oxidation. The concept of moving to secondary is based from brewing a long time ago when the yeast produced more off flavors when the beer sat on them for a while. Todays yeasts are very refined and dont have this issue. Really you only need to secondary if you are aging over fruit or oak or otherwise

 

[Tclem2000]

Using a glass carboy,but how long would you suggest leaving it and when should i cold crash?

 

[kev211]

Leave it as long as its fermenting (i.e. the gravity is still changing). Did you check the gravity with a hydrometer?

General rule of thumb is ~2 weeks or more. But the only way to know if its DONE fermenting is to take consecutive gravity samples a few days apart. If the gravity doesnt change then its done and you can cold crash at that point.

 

[Aristotelian]

Best practice is to take gravity readings and wait until you have stable readings, meaning the yeast is done fermenting, but two weeks is a good rule of thumb. Then cold-condition for a month in order to clear up the beer.

 

[Tclem2000]

I'm only 4 days in and can't wait for the next step so in short, I'm getting nervous I want to make sure the next thing i do is the right step.

 

[Vask]

I am a noob as well! After fermentation is complete and moved into a keg should we cold crash before we Carbonate . And what is a desirable cold crash temp ?

 

[kev211]

I am a noob as well! After fermentation is complete and moved into a keg should we cold crash before we Carbonate . And what is a desirable cold crash temp ?

Yes and no. Yes in the sense of, you can definitely cold crash before moving to a keg. A lot do. I do not. When you transfer to keg you should/probably will purge with co2 and put the keg in your kegerator/keezer/bucket of ice/etc. At this point you will effectively be cold crashing and all the yeast and trub will settle to the bottom. The first pint or 2 will be cloudy but that's whatever. I prefer this method. Quick, easy, end with tasty beers. But it's your beer so you can do as you please

In the case of the OP, you may be bottling to start (not everyone is lucky enough to start their first batch with kegging ) in which case cold crashing before bottling would be wise to avoid sediment at the bottom of every bottle

 

[Vask]

Great thanks that's exactly how I cold crashed my first beer .I've only brewed one batch and yes I bought a keg . Wanted to avoid bottling at any cost . On this second batch I may bottle a few for give aways