A beginner's questions

[berkeleybrew]

Hi everyone,

I am brewing my first batch which I started on Tuesday 6/6/06. Anyways, I have a few questions.

I have have a secondary carboy, and was wondering when i should siphon off the promary into that, and for how long.

Another question I have is if it is a problem that I never used my hydrometer to monitor the acohol content, and how I can ensure that a proper alcohol content is maintained throughout the process.

My last question has to do with bottling, is it suffient just to say boil recycled old bottles, or should I also use the iodine solution?

Thanks to everyone who provides their input.

Berkeleybrew

 

[m_f]

Primary 1 week, secondary 2 week is the common rule of thumb.

Alcohol: you just need a gravity measure before going to the primary and another one before bottling to know abv.

Sometimes, if at doubt I check when in the secondary in case I see some activity to be sure that fermentation is complete.

 

[Blender]

Generally, you should let it sit in the primary fermentor for 7-10 days. I let mine sit in the secondary for 10-14 days depending on much of a hurry I am in. Don't worry about not having using hydrometer. It is a nice tool to determine how your beer is progressing but your beer will be fine without it.
There are a few solutions to clean bottles. I use PBW and clean them beforehand and turn them upside down. I sanitize with iodaphor (iodine) on bottling day.If you have a dishwasher it works well for the bottles to drain as you sanitize them. Screw top bottles are a little tricky to cap with a wing capper. Good luck and keep us posted. What kind of beer did you brew?

 

[berkeleybrew]

Thanks guys, I brewed a stout, that was just a recipe from the brew store I went to. What is PBW? Also, how important is the speed in which you cap the bottles once all the beer is in them? I've gotta say though, I'm hooked.

 

[Blender]

PBW = powdered brewers wash. Good stuff. Not sure I understand the speed question. I cap around 12-18 at a time while my other bottles drain on the dishwasher rack. You got a bottle filler?

 

[berkeleybrew]

yeah, i guess i mean once uve filled all of your bottles, how important is it that you cap the bottles quickly, i guess i've heard that "bad" things can happen if you take too much time to do this. I may have heard wrong, i don't know.

 

[berkeleybrew]

oh, also, for the pbw that you explained, i have sodium percarbonate, maybe thats what your refering to

 

[Somerville]

yeah, i guess i mean once uve filled all of your bottles, how important is it that you cap the bottles quickly, i guess i've heard that "bad" things can happen if you take too much time to do this. I may have heard wrong, i don't know.

"Bad things" are contamination. Though, when you ask the capping-speed question, I can tell you already know that. In terms of capping speed--I ponder that everytime I bottle--you can only go so fast. You just have to trust that the alcohol present in the bottle will fend off contamination and a little hope. Don't worry about that. Just make sure you don't spill one of those bottles. When you have about 50 bottles around you un-capped, you want to be careful of the domino effect :fro: .

I recommend that you buy a book. I know I know, you want to brew right now, but they are really good for referencing. All of a sudden on brew day, you'll think, "how far into the boil do I add irish moss?" and you'll have your handy book with you to index it. My recommendation is the Dummies Guide for Homebrewing (it's incredibly user-friendly).

Your from Berkeley? I live around San Mateo--nice to see another Californian.

 

[berkeleybrew]

Thank you sommerville, yes I am from berkeley. Although, i will be in north carolina for school, and hope I can continue brewing there, I think I've found a supply store so it should work out. Anyways, to avoid the domino effect I was thinking of putting all the bottles in a box. I do have a "book" on brewing, but it doesn't go into too much depth on the bottling. Thanks for your help