1st brew

[FEARDIZ]

OK i've spent an hour or so reading post in this forum ( some good info ), so hopefully I can give enough info..

I started 2 days ago, with a kit from Brewers Best, recipe for Continental Pilsner. I used a stainless steel 2.25 gal pot for my brewpot, so I started with 2 gal of good old lake michigan tap water just as the recipe says. I only spilt a few teaspoons in the whole boil process, so that was good.

I poured the brew from the pot into my primary bucket, cooled it to about 80deg, in an hour or so, then filled the bucket to 5gal of 70 deg water then added the yeast and stirred.

My orginal gravity was 1.034, the recipe called for 1.044-1.048, so not sure what happened or what will be result.

After amost 1 day I'm getting bubbles in the air lock, 2 days after 'bucketing' the bubbles are pretty slow, about 1 every 30-40 sec. The current temp is 74 deg on the temp gage on the bucket.

So I'm a little confused, after the 3-7 days when my final gravity is correct, I transfer to the 2nd bucket 5 gal with the spicket at the bottom, and bottle?

Thanks
John

 

[Kayos]

You probably did not stir enough before checking your OG. IT can't be off that much when doing an extract kit. No worries.
You can use a secondary fermentation vessel. If you have a bucket with a lid and a hole for an airlock, rack the beer to that after a week. Then it sits in that for 2 weeks. Then you rack it to a bucket with a spout and bottle off of that. If you only have the one bucket with the lid and hole, give it 3 weeks in the original bucket, then transfer to the one with the spigot and leave the "gunk" at the bottom. Then add priming sugar and stir well. Then bottle.

 

[Professor Frink]

Welcome FEARDIZ. Like Kayos said, get a racking cane and siphon from the whole in the top of the fermenter into the second bucket, that way you can leave the trub behind. Looks like your brew is coming along real well

 

[FEARDIZ]

yea I only have the 2 buckets, the other one is 5gal with the spigot, so instead of as the directions say 3-5 days, do 2 weeks?
Do I need to worry about the temp during any of this or just forget about it and let it sit?

where can I get info on 'racking' I have some tubes etc like seen on http://brewgadgets.com/beergadgets/filtering.htm under 'True Brew Rack and Fill Kit'

thanks

 

[mrk305]

Racking just means siphoning. After it is boiled you want to avoid splashing it around and creating air contact, so instead of pouring it, you rack it, or siphon it to avoid hot side ( or after boil ) aeration.

 

[Professor Frink]

The temp is less important for secondary, I usually keep mine at room temp around 74 degrees. 2 weeks in secondary is a good amount of time for most beers - shorter (or no secondary) for wheats and heffes, longer for bigger beers.

 

[FEARDIZ]

ok so I should just leave it in the 1st bucket for 3 weeks then rack to 2nd bucket with spigot, add the sugar and bottle?
should I check anything along with way to just let it sit? It's in a pretty dark location and room temp, it may get into the upper 70's low 80's the next few days

 

[FEARDIZ]

can I use the 'bottleing bucket' ( 5gal with spigot) as my secondary and bottle from there? Or if I'm going to rack from the primary, I should use a secondary, then use the bottle bucket only for bottleing

going to the store today to get another primary or two and start some of Ed's Apfelwein

 

[Brakeman_Brewing]

you probably wont want to use the bottling bucket as a secondary simply because you want to leave sediment behind, there will be a good amount of gunk at the bottom of secondary as well.

i guess i would assume it would clog the spigot, or if anything transfer a bunch of sediment into the bottles.

im kind of a noob too but ive seen each stage a couple of times with similar kits and thats just my suggestion....

 

[DeathBrewer]

you don't want to use your bottling bucket as a secondary...there will be too much trub and it will get in the bottles or clog up your lines when bottling. if you do use a secondary, rack it...let it sit...then rack to bottling bucket

 

[FEARDIZ]

ok I bought 2 5gal better bottles today, I'll use 1 for this batch as secondary..
and I just made some of Ed's Apfelwein in the other

 

[Yooper]

Welcome to the addiction!

No matter how many carboys you have, you don't have enough! When I realized that, I began to recognize my addiction. That, and since I make wine, too, I realized I had a problem when I walked through the grocery store imaging how easy/hard everything I saw would be to ferment. Carrots, rutabagas, cantaloupes, cabbage (well only momentarily for the cabbage) are all now fair game!

But beer is my first love, and I will remain faithful to it.

Anyway, I love the better bottles and use them all the time. You'll get a lot of use from them.