Noob questions

[BL41R]

Hey whats up homebrewers, we have only been researching for a couple weeks and we have a few questions so far..

For the top off water, does it have to be sterilized/boiled before being added? We are using bottled spring water.

With a normal kitchen gas stove, what is the biggest pot I can use that will maintain the ideal temp during the boil? We don't have an area to use a burner, and it is like 0F outside where we live.

If i plan on using the bottling bucket as a fermenter, it should be my secondary yes? I will siphon into the bottling bucket, and then bottle straight from the bucket after a few weeks?

We plan on starting with a single hop pale ale (citra) and we were wondering if you guys had any suggestions as to what malts/yeast we should use. Thanks in advance!

 

[NateLTB]

Hello from the Evergreen state!

Back when I extract brewed I always topped off with tap water and never had a problem with it. Bottled water will definitely be okay for that.

I always did extract on an electric stove so I'm no help with question #2.

I use my bottling bucket as a primary and do secondary in a glass carboy. When secondary is complete I'll transfer back into the bottling bucket with my corn sugar and bottle from there. I only do secondary if I'm dry hopping the beer.

Malt & Yeast is a personal preference. There are some pretty great recipes on this website that will get you going in the right direction. For my pale ales I like to use a California Ale yeast to let the hop flavor shine through.

Good luck with your brew. Cheers!

 

[BigFloyd]

Bottled spring water is fine for top-off. I'd suggest that you chill it to near freezing before brewing. You want the wort to be around 60-62*F when you pitch yeast.

For the stove top, it depends in the BTUs of your biggest burner.

Skip the secondary entirely unless you're doing a fruit beer or need to long-term age. Simply leave it in the primary 2 weeks, check gravity, wait 4 days, check again. If the numbers are the same, it's done.

A 5 gallon bottling bucket isn't big enough to ferment any more than 4 gallons. You'll need enough headspace for the krausen. Most fermenter buckets are 6.5 gallons for a reason.

 

[oddroot]

You could go with Edwort's Haus Pale Ale (google or forum search)... Very simple beer and likely just sub out the Cascade for Citra and turn out a nice beer. I did it with Centennial and it turned out real nice. If it's your first brew, keep it simple and go with some US04/05/Nottingham - aka a dry yeast... No worrying about starters, and you can just direct pitch the yeast and it'll go.

 

[wilconrad]

For the top off water, does it have to be sterilized/boiled before being added? We are using bottled spring water.

I'm gonna disagree with what others have said; I'd boil/cool it before adding. It's not that much extra work and will reduce the already small chance that you have a problem.

 

[BL41R]

thanks for the quick responses...

Why are the people at the brew store telling me to use a secondary? Don't I want to remove the dead yeast from the bottom?

thanks again

 

[wilconrad]

thanks for the quick responses...

Why are the people at the brew store telling me to use a secondary? Don't I want to remove the dead yeast from the bottom?

thanks again

2 reasons:

1. They want to sell you their equipment kit, which includes a secondary fermenter
2. It's the "traditional" process

Leaving your beer on the yeast for the amount of time we're talking about here won't be a problem. Just be careful not to stir up the sediment when you rack for bottling.

 

[sweetcell]

thanks for the quick responses...

Why are the people at the brew store telling me to use a secondary? Don't I want to remove the dead yeast from the bottom?

thanks again

that's old school thinking.

once upon a time, when yeast wasn't as good as it is today and homebrewers didn't understand thinks like temp control, nutrients, oxygenation, etc., you indeed wanted to get the beer off the (bad) yeast as quickly as possible. per this line of thinking, a secondary was required because the beer wasn't ready to bottle yet but you didn't want to leave it on the cake.

nowadays it isn't necessary. if you pitch healthy yeast into a well-made wort, you can leave it on the yeast for a month and have zero problems. the dead yeast (autolysis) boogeyman isn't real. many people, myself included, rarely if ever use a secondary. my beer stays in primary for 3+ weeks, gets dry-hopped in there when needed, and is transferred directly to the bottling bucket when it's done. no secondary needed.

so either the shopkeepers are traditionalists... or they're just trying to sell you an extra (and superfluous) piece of equipment.

 

[NateLTB]

thanks for the quick responses...

Why are the people at the brew store telling me to use a secondary? Don't I want to remove the dead yeast from the bottom?

thanks again

2 reasons:

1. They want to sell you their equipment kit, which includes a secondary fermenter
2. It's the "traditional" process

Leaving your beer on the yeast for the amount of time we're talking about here won't be a problem. Just be careful not to stir up the sediment when you rack for bottling.

Wil Conrad is 100% correct. New secondary fermenter for you = additional sale for them.

You really don't need a secondary unless your adding fruit (like somebody already pointed out) or dry hopping. I usually will leave my primary alone for a month just to give the yeasties a little more time to clean up the brew after fermentation.

 

[BL41R]

ok awesome! great thank you so much for the advice. Do you guys recommend the 6.5g bucket as a primary? It doesnt need a spigot, I will just siphon off the top into the bottling bucket?

The store tried to sell me plastic carboys to ferment in but i think they are too small. We are doing a 5g batch.

 

[wilconrad]

Do you guys recommend the 6.5g bucket as a primary? It doesnt need a spigot, I will just siphon off the top into the bottling bucket?

Yes & yes

The store tried to sell me plastic carboys to ferment in but i think they are too small. We are doing a 5g batch.

5 gal carboys typically hold a little more than 5 gal; a 5 gal batch fits with some headspace. I wouldn't use them as a primary, but they're good as a secondary if you do ever decide to use one. I like them because I can see what's going on in there. Personally, I prefer glass carboys to plastic ones because there's no risk of scratching them, but some people don't like the glass because they can break and remove appendages. I use the "brewhauler" and I still have all my fingers, but it's a matter of personal judgement/risk-tolerance.

 

[skuhn2004]

A 6.5gal bucket makes a perfect fermenter for a 5 gal batch. Before you close it all up take a few minutes to inspect the seal. New lids can have plastic burrs that will keep it from sealing properly. Then your air lock won't bubble and you will be reading the numerous threads on the subject.

Sent from my EVO using Home Brew mobile app

 

[BL41R]

I think we are going to do an IPA instead. Should we still only use a primary?

 

[wilconrad]

I think we are going to do an IPA instead. Should we still only use a primary?

Yep

 

[BL41R]

awesome! thank you guys so frickin much.

 

[BL41R]

i'm looking for a good IPA recipe.. the flavors we want are citrus and grapefruit, something like a hopped up version of zombie dust. It is our first time so we want to do extract. Our favorite hop is citra but we were looking at some recipes with cascade also.

Do you have any suggestions?

 

[wilconrad]

This looks like a well accepted zombie dust clone and it has an extract option. You could turn up the hops if you wanted to.

 

[BL41R]

can someone explain what FWH is to me? what is different between that and a regular hop addition right at the beginning of the boil?

 

[MelonHeads]

FWH = first wort hops. Usually done when doing all grain as you are transferring wort from mash tun to boiler. I really don't understand how FWH would apply to an extract brew...

 

[BigFloyd]

i'm looking for a good IPA recipe.. the flavors we want are citrus and grapefruit, something like a hopped up version of zombie dust. It is our first time so we want to do extract. Our favorite hop is citra but we were looking at some recipes with cascade also.

Do you have any suggestions?

Citra and Amarillo play well together to give a citrus/grapefruit note to a pale ale. I use them together in my summer pale (not as hoppy as an IPA). Bittered with 0.5oz of Warrior @60, 1oz Citra @ 5, 1oz Amarillo @ 1.

I ferment in 6.5 gallon buckets and have been very pleased. I never use a secondary since I don't do fruit beers and I age in either corny kegs or bottles. Definitely buy a bucket lid tool (they have them at Lowes in the paint dept). Mine have spigots added which I clean/sanitize well each use and I'm careful to check for leaks. It makes taking hydro samples a snap.

 

[BL41R]

FWH = first wort hops. Usually done when doing all grain as you are transferring wort from mash tun to boiler. I really don't understand how FWH would apply to an extract brew...

6.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 70.6 %
1.00 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 11.8 %
0.50 lb Carafoam (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.9 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 5.9 %
0.50 lb Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM) Grain 5.9 %
1.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (60 min) Hops 25.1 IBU
0.75 oz Citra [12.40%] (First Wort Hop) Hops 12.5 IBU
1.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (15 min) Hops 12.4 IBU
1.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (10 min) Hops 9.1 IBU
1.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (5 min) Hops 5.0 IBU
1.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (1 min) Hops 1.1 IBU
3.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops -
SafAle English Ale (S-04)
or
Wyeast 1968




Why is the 1.00oz and the .75oz separated?
what is the difference between the 1.00oz and the .75oz additions?

 

[wilconrad]

Don't sweat the FWH, it's a technique that really only makes sense for all-grain brewers. I'll revise the recipe in beersmith and send to you.

 

[zdbrown1]

ok awesome! great thank you so much for the advice. Do you guys recommend the 6.5g bucket as a primary? It doesnt need a spigot, I will just siphon off the top into the bottling bucket?

The store tried to sell me plastic carboys to ferment in but i think they are too small. We are doing a 5g batch.

For a five gallon batch a 6.5 gallon primary would work just fine. It does not need a spigot if you are going to rack into your bottling bucket. I use a mixture of glass and plastic carboys but buckets work just fine and are a lot easier to clean.

 

[BL41R]

My local homebrew store is telling me I really should use a secondary. They said it's because of how much hop I plan on using. He said it will be cloudy if I don't use a secondary.

 

[wilconrad]

My local homebrew store is telling me I really should use a secondary. They said it's because of how much hop I plan on using. He said it will be cloudy if I don't use a secondary.

This is a subject of great debate on HBT. Personally, if clarity is really important to me I will use a secondary. Don't get me wrong, you can absolutely brew clear beer without it, but it's just easier, in my experience, to rack the beer off all the junk in the primary and let it settle again in the secondary. The downside to doing this is you are subjecting your beer to one more round of handling and exposure to potential infections, etc. And it's more work.

Up to you; the LHBS is correct, in my opinion, that brewing clearer beer is easier when using a secondary fermenter. You can have nice clear beer with either method, though, if you rack carefully out of your primary.

 

[BL41R]

They were making it sound like my beer will taste like ****, grainy and cloudy..

 

[danimal615]

The beer will taste fine. Flavor shouldn't be changed much one way or the other. The secondary might help with clarity, although the majority now seem to think the yeast will actually clean up after itself if left in the primary 3-4 weeks. I think you would be fine with out a secondary.

 

[boydster]

They are telling you the amount of hops you are using is going to make your beer grainy and cloudy? That doesn't make much sense to me. Hops don't make beer taste grainy.

I don't secondary unless it's adding oak or fruit. My beer comes out clear enough to read through. Secondary if you want, it won't ruin your beer by any means, but it sounds like the people giving you advice at the lhbs either want to sell you an extra fermentor or they are talking out their butt.

 

[wilconrad]

They were making it sound like my beer will taste like ****, grainy and cloudy..

Yeah, that's just false.