Hello everyone I'm super new to Brewing I wanted to get into brewing for the love that i have for beer. I have travel too many different corners of the Earth and tried a lot of different beers some beers some people will not have the opportunity to try. So I purchased a extract kit from Northern Brewer the Northy 12 Belgian Quad the reason I chose this kit in particular because the majority of the time I'm out of the Country for 60 days at a time and it has a 4-month fermentation process. I was wondering do I really need a second fermentation can I leave it in the primary fermentation for the four months and then bottle condition it ...any help would be appreciated to the fullest.... cheers
New brewer here
- Thread starter NolaMonk
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catdaddy66
Well-Known Member
I brew a Westvleteren 12 clone which is a Belgian quad and have done both. The beer has been amazing every time I have brewed it. It was clearer with a secondary but I don't think it matters due to the SRM.
I feel obliged to say that while I rarely use a secondary fermenter with this beer, they are largely unnecessary and risk infection, oxidation and a good ol' messy accident! That being said... My best effort was when I racked it to a carboy after primary fermentation.
I feel obliged to say that while I rarely use a secondary fermenter with this beer, they are largely unnecessary and risk infection, oxidation and a good ol' messy accident! That being said... My best effort was when I racked it to a carboy after primary fermentation.
Thanks a lot it's my first brew and I would love for it to turn up excellent what no infections, mold are germs.. and as I notice on other posts sanitize sanitize sanitize
ReaperOnefour
Well-Known Member
I agree with catdaddy. I've been brewing for for about 3 years now, & I've never used a secondary. So far ( knock on wood.) all my beers have turned out great. I always leave it in primary for 2 weeks, then bottle. After that I bottle condition for 2-3 weeks, then throw them in the fridge for about a week. Like I said, the beer has always turned out great. So I'm sure you will be ok if you primary for 2 weeks then bottle. Hope this helps, have fun, & welcome to home brewing, & to the forum.
When aging a strong beer like that for 4 months, it gets to the point where using a secondary may be beneficial. But, perfect racking is a learned skill, not for novice brewers. A slight error in process may well cause more damage than any benefit it may have yielded.
Leave it in primary, then package.
What yeast did you buy with it?
What kind of fermentor are you going to use?
Leave it in primary, then package.
What yeast did you buy with it?
What kind of fermentor are you going to use?
Thanks brew brother i appreciate all the help and im glad i came across this site y'all are awesome
Thanks i appreciate it so much ....yeah i don't need any errors beer abuse should be a crime lol im sticking with y'all advice ....yeast im using is DRY YEAST (DEFAULT): Safbrew Abbaye because the temperature shipping across county and the temp in New Orleans is horrible this time of the year
Fermentor is 6.5 gallon Big Mouth Bubbler I choose this one in particular because of the easy cleanup
Shipping dry yeast surely is safest during extreme temps. Store in fridge or freezer until use. Is this the yeast?
Do you have a way to control the fermentation temps at least for the first week? How about during aging? A place in the home that stays around 68-70F even when you're away for business?
Plastic Bubbler or glass?
The first floor of my home stays around 69F all the time. i have closet under the stairs and I'm thinking about immersing about 1/4 of the fermenter in a tub of water.
The bubbler is plastic unfortunately, I will have to buy a glass one soon. as I noticed everyone's talking about glass fermenters after I purchase the plastic one I wish I would have found this site sooner.
That's a good temp. If the closet stays a little cooler that's even better.
Fill that tub up as much as you can, a few inches below the rim. You can add frozen water bottles to that water jacket to keep it even lower. That water jacket is a very efficient heat sink, likely on a similar level as a ferm fridge in regard to temp evenness. Wrap a sleeping bag around and over the whole setup to keep the cold in.
Once the fermentation slows way down, you want to let it go by itself at (ambient) temps of 70-74F or so to help it finish out, so finding a little warmer place would be beneficial at that point. I use a small aquarium heater in my "swamp cooler" to reach the higher temps.
There's nothing wrong with the plastic (PET) fermentors, they're very safe. And won't break (easily) leaving one with possible debilitating injuries like large glass vessels can. We have a whole thread on those "accidents" if you need more persuation to stay away from glass fermentors, or at least threat them with the highest respect when handling them.
I have no experience with long term fermentation in plastic vessels like the Bubbler. This in regards to O2 permeability, which IIRC is very low for PET. As long as the lid is sealing well, the headspace should remain rich in CO2 over the 3 months of aging.
Got it taking notes never thought about the ice bottles and sleeping bag.Thanks brew brother for all the info your awesome and i owe you a tall glass or two.
Read this before you decide on a glass carboy: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/broken-glass-carboy-horror-stories-compendium.376523/
