Noob question about carboys / demijohns

[naturals]

Hi all, first post, be gentle, YMMV, FTW and all that.

So I'm new to home brewing, I bought all the kit online and am waiting for it to arrive. I decided to go down the extract route for the first batch and I'm going to be roughly following the "Complete Joy of Home Brewing" methodology. Once I've done a couple of brews I'll move to all grain but more on that in the months to come..

One thing that's troubling me is carboys. The book says to buy a 19L glass carboy or equivalent plastic. I really wanted to go with glass so bought 5x 5L glass carboys for a stupidly cheap price. I see these things kicking around all the breweries in London so I know they must be usable.

Now my question is that the book says to boil up the extract and add it to water already in the (single) fermenter. My issue is that I'm likely to have four or so fermenters on the go. What's the best way of ensuring all four are a similar mix? Measure out the water then syphon across the malt extract? Does this need to be an exact science? Then when I get to adding yeast, again, is this going to cause any issues?

I should follow the advice in the book and "Relax. Don't worry. Have a homebrew" but as yet I aint got none of the stuff to drink!

 

[kombat]

Go to your LHBS and buy a 23L white plastic fermenter bucket with lid and airlock. Fussing with 4 little carboys will be more hassle than it's worth, and the bucket/lid/airlock combo should only run you $10-$15 or so, tops. It's less cleaning, less worrying about getting everything divided up equally, fewer airlocks to monitor, takes up less space, and so on and so forth.

 

[RobInOre]

Welcome!
Is your brew kettle big enough to hold your final volume? The main reason to put water in a carboy first is to prevent thermal shock from the hot wort breaking the glass. If you use your kettle to cool the wort and add water to the kettle to bring your volume up to 19-20L then you can split it from there. As for the yeast, I think I would make a starter and pour in into each vessel separately. I've never done this but it seems like it would work.

 

[KepowOb]

Kombat is probably right on this, but if you really want to do it, I'd say measure out your water and split it into equal amounts... trying to siphon equal amounts will be a disaster. You should just be able to measure them out and then use a funnel to pour it in (oxygen isn't a bad thing at this stage). I just don't know how accurate you'll be able to be (moreso with the amounts of wort in each), and you might get a slightly different gravity in each carboy.

It'll leave open more windows for experimenting with dry hopping or using different yeasts and what not, which could be fun.

Speaking of yeast, it'll probably also be hard to ensure you get an equal amount of yeast in each carboy as well...

 

[naturals]

Thanks for all your advice - I really do appreciate it.

I must confess I'm kind of set on using the glass carboys, partly because I already have them cluttering up my tiny flat, partly because they're kind of beautiful and bring back lots of memories, partly because the amount of beer I drink is so small that I don't know what I'd do with a fermenting bin full of the stuff! I guess I'll just have to buy a brew kettle big enough to cover the total volume so that I can pre-mix it all.

One further question - The Complete Joy of Home Brewing methodology suggest primary fermentation in a carboy, then transferring to a fermentation bin with the sugars, then once "hydrometer readings remain unchanged for 2 or 3 consecutive days, your beer is ready to bottle". How long should it take from adding the sugars to the hydrometer readings stabilising (or am I misreading this section somehow)?

 

[freisste]

It depends on a lot. You want it to take a little while to get there because that is a sign of a controlled fermentation. I could make a beer and ferment it hot with lots of simple sugars and be done fermenting in a day. It would probably taste like watered down nail polish remover. Control your fermentation temps to the bottom of the recommended range and it will probably take at least 5-7 days to ferment. A second week on the yeast and you will probably be ready to move forward.

For the most part, be patient and don't try to speed it up at all. If you are planning to serve a beer for a party or something, leave yourself about three weeks more than you expect to ensure plenty of time. Otherwise, just keep the pipeline full and you have nothing to worry about.

 

[kombat]

I must confess I'm kind of set on using the glass carboys, [...] partly because the amount of beer I drink is so small that I don't know what I'd do with a fermenting bin full of the stuff!

19L is 19L, whether it's in 4 small 5L jugs, or one 23L bucket. I don't see the problem.

One further question - The Complete Joy of Home Brewing methodology suggest primary fermentation in a carboy, then transferring to a fermentation bin with the sugars, then once "hydrometer readings remain unchanged for 2 or 3 consecutive days, your beer is ready to bottle". How long should it take from adding the sugars to the hydrometer readings stabilising (or am I misreading this section somehow)?

Whoa, be careful, I fear you're misunderstanding something here.

You brew the beer and transfer it to a fermenter (or 4, if you insist). You seal the vessel(s) with an airlock and let it ferment. This typically takes 7-10 days, but the way to make sure it's finished is to take a couple of gravity readings, 3 days apart. Then you transfer it to a pail with your priming sugar solution and IMMEDIATELY bottle it. The yeast will ferment that extra sugar inside the bottles, and carbonate your beer.

There's no waiting after you add the "extra" sugar. After you've confirmed that fermentation has finished, you add the "extra" sugar, then bottle, all in the same step.

 

[naturals]

Thanks Freisste - just to clarify you mean 5-7 days fermenting in the carboy with yeast? Once I add the sugar does it need to wait any longer before I bottle it?

The Complete Joy of Home Brewing is generally extremely clear but this section just seems terribly written.

 

[naturals]

Thanks Kombat - you replied while I was typing. It's all a lot clearer now.

EDIT: The logic with the smaller carboys is that I can maybe brew different beers in each. While I'm starting out I don't want to have a huge 19L batch of the same beer in case it's duff.

 

[KepowOb]

Thanks Kombat - you replied while I was typing. It's all a lot clearer now.

EDIT: The logic with the smaller carboys is that I can maybe brew different beers in each. While I'm starting out I don't want to have a huge 19L batch of the same beer in case it's duff.

I think we had all misunderstood each other from the start.

If you're doing small batches, and fermenting different stuff in each small carboy, then there are no issues at all. There is a big thread here dedicated to 1-gallon brewing, and a lot of people love the flexibility it offers.

 

[naturals]

There is a big thread here dedicated to 1-gallon brewing

Thanks for the heads up! I just located it and am avidly reading it now.

 

[kombat]

No problem. Note, however, that you're going to need a bottling bucket no matter what, since you cannot go directly from your small 5L jugs to the bottles. You need to carefully (no splashing!) rack the beer from the jugs/carboys into a pail of some sort (like the 23L food grade plastic one from your LHBS) to mix with your priming sugar solution and leave the yeast/sediment behind (don't worry - there will still be enough yeast in suspension to carbonate your beer). Then you'll bottle from that bucket and cap the bottles, then store them at 70-ish° F for 2-3 weeks while they carbonate.

 

[mikescooling]

Make sure to add the correct amount of priming sugar to the bottles, if you add too much they may explode. Most of brewing is very forgiving to mistakes, but not this part.

 

[naturals]

Thanks guys, I have a fermenting bucket on order (albeit without an airlock and tap - maybe a mistake but I can easily add them later). I will follow the sugar quantities to the gram!