A few questions from a newbie.

[Jhoe]

I am in the middle of my first brew right now. I've let it sit in the primary for almost two weeks now. It's a strawberry wheat extract kit. (well, a wheat excract kit with strawberry flavouring added.) I thought because it kept bubbling it just wasn't ready but i felt like it had been in there while. I read a post on here about some gases just being trapped in there so i just decided to pop it open and check the SG. It's at 1.012 right now. OG was 1.04. I checked it yesterday and today with the same readings. Would it be safe to bottle tomorrow if i get the same reading?

Also, i've read several posts on here about people leaving their brew in the secondary bucket for awhile? I was under the impression from my instructions that i should go straight from the primary, siphon into second bucket, then immediately bottle after adding the sugar. any info on this?

 

[hoppheadIPA]

Bottle it!!! No secondary, wheat beers are better young

 

[dcp27]

if the SG is stable you can bottle it, but if you can handle waiting another week i'd just leave it to give the yeast more time to clean up after themselves. its tough, especially on the first one, but patience is strongly needed in this hobby

as for leaving it in the secondary, its a pretty outdated technique and many here opt to just leave it in the primary longer instead. a secondary is essentially used as a clearing vessel, but 3+ weeks in a primary will be just as clear and even more conditioned

 

[Jhoe]

You aren't kidding around on the patience part man. I was ready to bottle this bad boy up 3 days after I dropped it. Ugh. Also, not sure how dangerous guessing is but the recipe called for 6 gallons. i noticed i didnt get a considerable amount of the extract out of the can so i went for about 5.5 gallons. the beer smells great so far, looks good.

Another question I forgot to ask. Does anyone have any advice on reading that blasted Hydrometer. It's a pain to read it with the foam on top of my beer. today I just kind of pulled the hydrometer up and swirled the bulb part around to make a clear spot and dropped it back down. that helped a little but im not sure if i should be swirling my beer around or not. lol.

 

[RM-MN]

Next time you brew using LME, put the container in a pot of water on the stove and let it warm up the LME. Use a spatula to get as much as you can(if it is in a can). I sometimes hold the container in a potholder and use a cup to scoop some of the hot wort back into the container to rinse out the rest.

With an extract kit, you can assume to have the OG specified on the kit if you got most or all the extract into the kettle. When you go to read the FG, use a sanitized wine theif or a turkey baster to pull a sample. I use the plastic tube the hydrometer came in and just squirt enough in there to float the hydrometer. Never return this amount to the fermenter. Drink it or dump it.

 

[Jhoe]

If anyone else wants to chime in that would be great. Right now I'm going with RM-MN on the whole waiting a little longer thing. I took a reading today though and got 1.012 again. so its been steady for three days. so far the score on here is one for bottle it, and one for wait

 

[SoonerDoc]

Longer is usually better (within reason), except for wheat beers. I've bottled a wheat after 12 days in the primary and it was great. Go whichever way you want, I think you'll be fine bottling now or waiting another week. Since it's a wheat and it's your first brew, I'd probably bottle now.

 

[Burtonair01]

Longer is usually better (within reason), except for wheat beers. I've bottled a wheat after 12 days in the primary and it was great. Go whichever way you want, I think you'll be fine bottling now or waiting another week. Since it's a wheat and it's your first brew, I'd probably bottle now.

And then how long should it sit in bottles before drinking it? Or is it good to drink now? I'm just wondering cause I'm waiting on all my supplies to brew my first batch and it happens to be a rasberry wheat. Sorry to hijack you're post.

 

[dcp27]

3 weeks is the recommended minimum in order to have it properly carbed and beyond any green off-flavors

 

[SoonerDoc]

Some here claim good carbonation in a week. I've never had luck getting decent carbonation in less than 3 weeks (or so). You can drink it right away if you don't mind flat beer.
Kegging will get it ready to drink a bit faster.