Deciding on a kit...have questions

[Stormtrooper]

A couple of quick questions before I select a kit...


Glass versus plastic carboy?

How important is two stage (secondary) fermentation?

 

[duboman]

A couple of quick questions before I select a kit...

Glass versus plastic carboy?

How important is two stage (secondary) fermentation?

Welcome to this great community! You are in for a great time for sure-that being said and not to be off putting, there are more than several threads on this forum addressing both of your questions, a simple search of your question will get them, these two questions are a huge debate with many pros and cons and answering again here will simply duplicate countless replies and debate of which are already well document in thousands of posts

 

[nukebrewer]

1. Personal preference. Better Bottles are seeming to be a popular choice. Personally, I've been using Ale Pales my entire time brewing.

2. Unless you want super clear beer and can't cold crash, then it's probably not worth it, IMO. I've only used a secondary once and it's for a lager that is currently lagering. The only other time I can think of it being a necessity is when racking on to fruit or something like that.

Good luck with your brewing!

 

[strambo]

#1 I'd recommend an 8 gal bucket. Super easy to use, blowouts-not a problem. For carboys, I like Better Bottles and have a couple.

#2 Not very important at all to start. Down the road add a carboy to secondary things like fruit beers, to dry hop (you can also just do it in primary), or to bulk age high gravity beers for a month or 3. I also use my 5 gal Better Bottle to primary ferment 2.5 gallon batches of higher gravity or experimental batches.

I only have 1x 8 gal bucket, 1x 5 gal BB and a 3 gal BB to bulk secondary age high gravity 2.5 gal. batches. My next addition will be another 8 gal bucket so I can have 2x 5 gal batches in primary at once.

As far as clarity, I don't do anything...no additives, rarely cold crash, no secondary. Just about any beer will be crystal clear after a few weeks in the fridge...until then, hazy beer taste the same! Ironically, the one beer I wanted to be clear (I cold crashed and secondary aged it) was my Golden Strong ale...it looks like murky pond water after many weeks in the fridge and I don't know why, oh well.

 

[Bryaninphx]

I've personally only brewed extract and about 8 total beers now. I use plastic and it seems to work great as a cheaper alternative..aaaand it's MUCH easier to clean out.

As far as a secondary goes, I think it really only is needed for helping to clear a beer or re-pitch yeast. I think something like a Saison or Hefe doensn't really benefit a ton from this.

...My $.02 from a beginner brewer.

 

[Transamguy77]

Personally I use Ale Pales and I primary for 3+ weeks. As was stated before do some research and make your decision that way. Sorry if that's not much help.

 

[Schumed]

I like my glass carboys ...just invest in a carrier for them for safety...I prefer the carboys over the pales so I can see real activity

I use secondary a lot when doing fruit beers and dry hopping

 

[agcorry00]

Browse this stickies on this forum - they answered a lot of my questions before I even know I might want to ask them. Welcome to home brewing - it's ridiculously satisfying.