Beginner questions

[SkidR0we]

Hi there,

I have currently picked up my third beer kit, having already had two experience with Cooper's kits. With the Cooper's kits, I kept it simple and followed the instructions. After 7 days, I started checking the gravity, and when it was stable for 2 days, I bottled. I have to say, the resulting beer wasn't too bad.

This time around, I bought a Festa Brew Wheat Beer kit, which is pretty much 23L of wort where all I need to do is pitch the yeast.

Now, I'm not too sure how to proceed. The fermenting vessel I use is the Cooper's one with the valve in the side, which is not airtight. They say it doesn't need to be as there is a layer of CO2 during fermentation that keeps the beer fresh.

Will I get decent results if I just leave it in the primary much like my Cooper's batch and bottle it when the gravity is stable?

I have a secondary fermentation vessel I COULD use, but I've read lots of places that some people don't even bother doing secondary fermentation. I've heard 1-2-3 is the generally accepted way to go about things, so 1 week in primary, 2 in secondary , and 3 in bottles. However, what does the 2 weeks secondary achieve? Is it necessary?

Any thoughts? I like to keep things simple, so any unecessary steps I can eliminate I would.

 

[chickypad]

I won't get into the general argument for and against secondaries except to say that I only use them for fruit and other flavor additions. It would be perfectly fine to follow the same schedule as you did with your Coopers kit if you wish. Wheat beers in general are some of the easiest beers to turn around quickly and shouldn't need aging. I wouldn't worry about an airtight seal as long as you are not going to leave it in primary for an extended time. When using buckets I never bother to completely seal them.

 

[SkidR0we]

Thanks for the reply chickypad. I'm curious about something. For those that only do a primary, when it comes time to bottle, I assume that you transfer everything over into another vessel in order to batch prime, or you do bottle directly from your primary FV? The first batch I used coopers carbonation drops, the 2nd I put a teaspoon of sugar into each beer ( not sure how thats going to work out, its only been a week ). If I batch prime, I would mix my sugar and transfer my beer into my secondary vessel, and then bottle from there? It would just be easier to bottle from the coopers FV since it has a handy valve in the side.

 

[chickypad]

I don't bottle much anymore but when I do yes, I transfer to a bottling bucket with valve that I attach the bottling wand to. Sounds like your Coopers fermenter is essentially a bottling bucket, if I were you I'd get a couple plain buckets to use as primaries and use your current one for bottling.

 

[KepowOb]

Generally you'll mix your priming sugar with some water and boil it, then put it in a bottling bucket. Siphon your beer into that, then bottle.

You'll get nice even carbonation from batch priming, and get your beer of the trub, since you don't really want that getting into your bottles.

 

[SkidR0we]

What I love about the coopers fermenter is that its easy to test the gravity, I just open the valve and pour into the tall container and measure. If I ferment in a plain bucket, is there an easy way to test the gravity? I assume I need to siphon some out in a tube?

 

[KepowOb]

I siphon a small sample out, but some people on here just sanitize their hydrometer and drop it in. That's not really an option if you're using a carboy though.

Siphoning is more work than opening up a tap, but it's still really easy and fast.

 

[chickypad]

Or use a thief:
wine thief
plastic thief

 

[SkidR0we]

Thanks for all the great replies.

So this is my plan. I will ferment in a what I think is a 30L bucket I just got, and once the gravity is stable over a few days, transfer over to my Cooper's FV, batch prime, and bottle from there.

Now, for what will probably be my last question of the day.

The bucket I will use to ferment has a cover on it ( of course ). Is it OK to just lay the cover on loosely for the fermentation process, or should I drill a hole in it and put one of those rubber stoppers and what ya callums to stop the air from getting in? I figure just the cover layed on top should be alright, seeing as there's a layer of CO2?? I don't plan on letting the beer sit for long after fermentation is done, so maybe this is ok?

 

[MarsingRedneck]

Thanks for the reply chickypad. I'm curious about something. For those that only do a primary, when it comes time to bottle, I assume that you transfer everything over into another vessel in order to batch prime, or you do bottle directly from your primary FV? The first batch I used coopers carbonation drops, the 2nd I put a teaspoon of sugar into each beer ( not sure how thats going to work out, its only been a week ). If I batch prime, I would mix my sugar and transfer my beer into my secondary vessel, and then bottle from there? It would just be easier to bottle from the coopers FV since it has a handy valve in the side.

For myself, I do 4 weeks in the primary, then I boil 3/4 cup corn sugar with 2 cups of water and put into the bottling bucket. Then I rack my beer from the primary to the bottling bucket, stirring some with a big spoon so it's well mixed and bottle into my Grolsch bottles and bottle condition for 3 weeks. At 3 weeks, I refrigerate a 6 pack for a week before drinking so anything in the bottle will settle at the bottom so when I pour my beer into frosted cold glass , it's pretty darn clear.

 

[danath34]

Thanks for all the great replies.

So this is my plan. I will ferment in a what I think is a 30L bucket I just got, and once the gravity is stable over a few days, transfer over to my Cooper's FV, batch prime, and bottle from there.

Now, for what will probably be my last question of the day.

The bucket I will use to ferment has a cover on it ( of course ). Is it OK to just lay the cover on loosely for the fermentation process, or should I drill a hole in it and put one of those rubber stoppers and what ya callums to stop the air from getting in? I figure just the cover layed on top should be alright, seeing as there's a layer of CO2?? I don't plan on letting the beer sit for long after fermentation is done, so maybe this is ok?

that sounds fine. if you do a beer that will be in the fermenter for a longer time though you'd want an airlock

 

[KepowOb]

Thanks for all the great replies.

So this is my plan. I will ferment in a what I think is a 30L bucket I just got, and once the gravity is stable over a few days, transfer over to my Cooper's FV, batch prime, and bottle from there.

Now, for what will probably be my last question of the day.

The bucket I will use to ferment has a cover on it ( of course ). Is it OK to just lay the cover on loosely for the fermentation process, or should I drill a hole in it and put one of those rubber stoppers and what ya callums to stop the air from getting in? I figure just the cover layed on top should be alright, seeing as there's a layer of CO2?? I don't plan on letting the beer sit for long after fermentation is done, so maybe this is ok?

I've seen other people on here say they use a loose top (or even, that their top doesn't seal tight anyway), and not have any problems... but I'd say to get a proper seal... it just seems to invite so many less problems, from possible infection to it being a lot easier to rig a blowoff, if needed... if you brew a batch and the kraussen really takes off, and the lid is loose... well you'll have a nice mess on your hands.

 

[SkidR0we]

Well I decided to go with the loose top, and poured my wort into the container. Apparently, my container wasn't 30L, and barely 23L, so the wort was only an inch from the top. Afraid there wouldn't be enough room for the Krausen and that it might overflow during fermentation, I frantically sanitized my Cooper's FV, and transferred the wort over into that one.

Hopefully I won't have any issues.

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[unionrdr]

Sounds like you got a 6 gallon bucket. Put a spigot on it & use it as a bottling bucket. I have the older Cooper's Micro Brew FV. I took the pin valve off the "little bottler" wand & attached a length of 3/8" tubing to it to rack to my bottling bucket to bulk prime.
I boil 2C of water in a small sauce pan for a couple minutes,then add a weighed amount of priming sugar to it off the heat. Stir until water goes clear again,cover & cool till ready to prime in the bottling bucket. Here's a couple priming calculators I use; http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/
You'll need to get a small digital kitchen scale to weight the priming sugar with. I got one from Walmart for $20. Also handy for weighing hops,grains,extracts,etc.