New brew questions

Brewing again for the first time in many years. Only done a few batches before. Im getting conflicting info and data on even some basic things and would love some opinions.

First - is splarging required? I did exact malt and hop pellets.

Second - best method to get wort from pot to fermentor? I just grabbed the pot and poured it into plastic fermentor that had 2 gal of water waiting (per instructions). Then topped to 5.5 gal.

Third - I'm doing a British pale ale Bass clone. Is secondary fermentor required?

Fourth - when should you transfer to secondary? Most folks say after initial ferment but what does that mean? I cant see what's happening since it's in a plastic fermentor. I brewed Sunday and this morning (wed) I'm getting a bubble every 12 seconds.

Fifth - what drives whether to blow off or air lock only? I put 5.5 gal in my plastic bucket with airlock and did not blow off.

Thanks in advance for any help. You can probably tell I'm an anal, accountant type guy. .

 

First - Splarging?? I'm guessing you mean "sparging"? If so, no. For extract batches you don't sparge. To sparge, basically means to rinse. Which you do primarily with all grain systems.

Second - Your method is just fine. It's whatever works best for you. You need oxygen in your wort at the point anyway for the yeast to start, so that's one good way of introducing it.

Third - it's debatable. I rarely ever secondary anything unless I'm going to add something like fruit, or oak chips, or something of the like. Clarity is never an issue for me. However, there are lots of people here who swear by secondaries. To your question though, no it isn't "required".

Fourth - if you decide to transfer, you should do it after the main bulk of the fermentation is done. To tell, you need to check the gravity on it and make sure that it's not still dropping. Do it a couple of days in a row and if it's stable, then transfer. Bubbles are not an indication of fermentation and should not be considered an indicator of if it's still going. Temp changes, or even air pressure changes can cause bubbles.

Fifth - a blowoff tube is a precautionary measure really. If you're doing a high gravity beer, like say over 1.060, it's recommended you use one to keep your airlock from clogging with krausen and blowing the lid off your bucket. Search the forums for that sometime! The messes it makes are amazing! I usually just use one all the time, just in case. But I switch to an airlock once the krausen drops. Since you're likely already past the main fermentation anyway, you should be fine with your airlock at this point.

 

First: nope, not with extract

Second: Sounds great to me.

Third: No secondary required

Fourth: If you do the transfer to a secondary, wait til the specific gravity is stable for 3 days. You aren't there with activity still going on

Fifth: Blow off tubes are used when the Krausen has no where to go except out of the bucket/carboy. The tube takes it away. My experience with bucket fermenting has been that an airlock is usually sufficient since they are 6.5 Gallon buckets (i.e. 1.5G of space to contain the krausen). You might need one for a heavily active fermentation. You won't need one at this stage of the game. Usually only when fermentation takes off at the start.

 

Thanks guys! These were super helpful and put me at ease that this just might turn out ok! What a great community this is.

Just a quick follow up question. Since I have decided to keep the brew in primary, I assume I add the length that the recipe had for primary (7 to 10 days) and the length for secondary (7-10 days) and bottle this batch sometime between day 14 and 20 after brew day?

Thanks again!