1-2-3/when to bottle question

[roth_nj]

i bought the true brew kit a couple weeks ago and this past friday i brewed my first batch. everything went great and its been bubbling away like crazy.

the instructions in the book that came with it say that after 7 days the fermentation should be complete and its ready to bottle. ive done some reading since then and i know to test it with the hydrometer. btw it had an O>G. of 1.041.

my question is, the book says to prepare the priming sugar, then to transfer the beer to the secondary and mix in the sugar. then bottle it.

ive been doing some reading on here and ive noticed the 1-2-3 method. where its primary for 1 week-secondary for 2 weeks-and bottles for 3 weeks.

my question is, do you transfer from the primary to secondary and add the sugar at that time? or do you just transfer to another bucket and let it sit some more, and then add the sugar when bottling?

 

[Spunkmeyer]

You put the sugar in right when you bottle. The yeasts eating that final batch of sugar is what gives each bottle its carbonation. You transfer from either primary or secondary into a bottling bucket (where you should put the sugar water) and then rack it into the individual bottles.

Personally, I'm skipping a secondary altogether these days, and just keeping it in primary for 2-3 weeks. I figure the longer it stays undisturbed in one place before bottling, the less likely I am to infect it or otherwise screw it up somehow.

Good luck!

 

[IrregularPulse]

The secondary is a clearing vessel. ALOT of people on here don't even use them. If you don't just leave it in primaryt for 3 weeks (weeks 1+2). FOr the sugar, When you're ready to bottle, you boil your sugar in like 1 cup water, then add that (a littel cooled from boiling) to your bottling bucket, Then transfer your beer on top of the sugar water. THis will ensure it gets mixed in well, THen transfer from bottling bucket to Bottles via spigot or bottling wand.


*YOU JUST BEAT ME TO IT!*

 

[roth_nj]

thanks

mabey i wasnt too clear in the first post i was just cutting down the steps for the sugar. i know what to do and understand what it does. i just wasnt sure if in the 1-2-3, you are supose to add the sugar when transfering from the primary to the secondary, or when bottling...

my kit has the 6 gallon plastic bucket. so the secondary would be just another 6 gal bucket set up the same way just to let it sit some more to clear up?

 

[j_blaze]

Congrats on your first brew! Sounds like its coming along nicely.

The priming sugar is usually used right at the time that you plan to bottle your brew. It's to give the yeast a little extra bit of food so that they can produce the carbonation that will be trapped inside of your then capped bottles.

So if you plan to put your beer in secondary, hold off on the priming sugar until your done in secondary and ready to bottle.

Hope that helps,

Cheers

 

[roth_nj]

thanks for the quick responces

 

[MikeG]

If you have one primary and a bottling bucket (no secondary) then adjust the rule to be 3-3. 3 weeks in primary, 3 in the bottle.

After 3 weeks in primary, when you rack to the bottling bucket you'll add the sugar then and bottle it right away and the last 3, in the bottle remains the same.

 

[monty73741]

sounds like a brewers best kit to me. Get a seconday. it clears the beer PLus it has less slush in the bottom of the bottle IE easier to clean. but if you dont Dont worry about it. FOR brewer best kits I do a week in primary, week in seconday & bottle but i bottle age for a month. I stumble upon this by accident. It make the beer so much better

 

[Revvy]

You can skip the secondary and leave it in primary for a month, then bottle...the yeasts will have the opportunity to clean up after themselves once fermentation is complete...I've been doing this for my last few batches and they are amazing...they are clearer, crisper and cleaner tasting than when I secondaried.

 

[paul_h]

There's no hard rule for when to transfer, if you are using a secondary, you rack when the fermentation is pretty much done. Not after 1 week, 2 weeks or whatever, but when you hydrometer tells you it's pretty much done.
The secondary is handy for light ales and pilsners, when you want to chill the beers to drop the yeast out of suspension, making it clearer. That's why you don't transfer to secondary until it's done fermenting, as you don't want to drop the yeast out of suspension until fermentation is done.
If you don't care about how clear the beer is, avoid the secondary altogether. That's the only reason why secondary exists. A beer left on primary only for 3 weeks or more can be just as good as a brew done with a secondary fermenter in every aspect.
Secondary fermenting is only common because some people say it clears the beer up and gives them a cleaner beer because it's thought removing it from the trub helps this. Some disagree, I've never bothered with secondary. But no matter what side you believe, it's got nothing to do with a 1-2-3 week rule, secondary is for after fermentation has completed in primary.

 

[roth_nj]

so now its fermenting at 70-72F

if i go the secondary route, do you let it sit in the secondary at a cooler temperature?

my assumption was just to transfer to the secondary and let it sit as it was during the primary phase.



and can someone clear something else up for me? im new to this and trying to understand all the terminology. what does the whole racking refer to? people have used it a few times in this thread and im just curious

 

[Revvy]

Same temp as primary, unless you are going to "crash cool" to get the yeast to drop out...Use the search for an explanation of that process...

Racking refers to moving the beer from one vessel to another through a siphon. From Primary to secondary, secondary to bottling bucket, secondary to tertiary, primary to keg or Tertiary to bottling bucket...You get the idea...

It's most commonly used to refer to moving from primary to secondary...but it can be to any vessel, except bottle...becasue we simply call that "bottling"