First brew day, couple of nagging questions

[arborman]

Gonna do my first brew day Saturday... I am pretty much all prepped, but I have a few concerns.

The first concern is where I am going to ferment. I am doing a brown Ale, so I need to keep the beer at around 68? If so, the best room in my house happens to be my office. The room temp in there is the most consistent, from around 55 to 65. I can also turn on an electric baseboard heater to control the temp, but not sure what the optimal ambient air temp should be targeted for? I bought a carboy heater just in case I need it. So, what should I be shooting for in ambient air?

My second, more concerning question: Blow off. I cannot afford to have a blow out in this room, since its in my office. I have read some nightmare posts of explosions, etc.... and I do not want to be in that boat. Would I be best just going to a blow off tube instead of an airlock? Any disadvantage to doing this?


Lastly, the deluxe kit I bought instructs to go to a secondary. Even the extract kit tells to go to secondary. I am getting a headache reading to use it from one source, but hear from others to not secondary. Personally, I would prefer to not have to do the extra shuffle of beer... Which leads me to how long in the primary? 6weeks in primary and 2 in bottle?

Thanks for the help, great resource this form is

 

[dstranger99]

1. Just put the bucket in water with an ice bottle, it should stay between 68-72
2. Doubt you'd have a blowoff, airlock is fine
3. no secondary, just primary for 30 days.

 

[unionrdr]

Try to keep the fermenter temp at 65-68F. A bit lower if you can will work,depending on the yeasts temp range. 3-4 weeks in primary is a good average. I use a blow off rig for the first few days,as initial fermentation can be quite vigorous.

 

[ScottG58]

My beer got better when I skipped the secondary and left it alone in the fermenter for three weeks. I only do secondary now in. Beer I want to bulk age or in lagers. White Labs and Wyeast have websites that will give temperature ranges on your particular yeast. I would not use the fermenter heater without a temperature controller. If your temperature gets too high, it will create off flavored and higher alcohols. I just started putting the blow-off tube receptacle in a shallow storage bin to catch overflow. The bottom line, however, beer is forgiving. I liked my worst beer.

 

[dstranger99]

Try to keep the fermenter temp at 65-68F. A bit lower if you can will work,depending on the yeasts temp range. 3-4 weeks in primary is a good average. I use a blow off rig for the first few days,as initial fermentation can be quite vigorous.

I'm not sure what you guys are doing, but once that bucket lid is snapped in place, I've never had a blow-off issue, with carboys yes, but never buckets.

 

[Irishwhiskey]

Here is some advice that I got

The general consensus on this forum is that it is NOT necessary to transfer to secondary. While many do it to improve clarity, it has been brought up that simply leaving your beer in the primary for 3 weeks will do as much to improve clarity as transfering to secondary.

Most people who DO transfer do it for the following reasons:
1) adding oak, dry hopping, fruit or another additive to the beer, which can best be done off the yeast cake.
2) Long term bulk aging that they prefer to do in a smaller glass vessel, as opposed to a bucket fermenter
3) Free up a primary (larger) fermenter to start a new batch

In your case, it would seem the only reason to transfer would be #3 . . . so if you aren't planning on brewing again soon, I would just leave it in the primary for a few more weeks (a total of 3 weeks is generally best) Start checking your gravity every few days after about 12 days. When you have stable gravity near your desired FG on 3 readings, it's ready to bottle.

If you DO decide to transfer, I generally wait until the bubbling has nearly stopped.

 

[twalte]

I am always paranoid of blowoff since my fermentation area is carpeted. If you are concerned, jut get a large vinyl hose from the hardware store and put one end in your fermenter and the other end in a container holding sanitizer. Cheap insurance in my opinion. Not a great photo, but the carboy on the left has that setup.

Once the kreusen settles down, you can replace it with an airlock with no worries.

 

[HopHeadGrady]

/\ - A friend of mine just had a carboy explode in his garage due to a faulty brew hauler. Please be careful brother...

60 + batches now and I have yet to have an explosive fermentation. I have brewed a lot of styles and gravities too.
I must be lucky.

I would say get a round rubbermaid laundry basket thing and put the fermenter in that. You'll be fine.
I had a fermenter in my home office too for a while

 

[twalte]

/\ - A friend of mine just had a carboy explode in his garage due to a faulty brew hauler. Please be careful brother...

After reading about brew hauler failures, I bought a cheap cart from Harbor Freight lined with pipe insulation to move the carboys between the house and garage. I only use the brew hauler to lift it on and off the cart. I don't need a 5 gallon explosion in the house to deal with.

 

[beergolf]

Fermentation temp will depend on the yeast you are using. Look up the recommended temp range and try to keep it at the lower end for that yeast. Fermentation will add a few degrees so if your ambient is at the lower end of the range you should be good.

If you are fermenting in a bucket you should have plenty of room so itt probably will not blow off, but it is possible. You can make a blow off tube by putting a piece of tubing over thhe center portion of the airlock and running it into a bucket or bottle of water with some starsan in it. I always start with a blow off tube.

Here is a pic in this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/blow-off-tube-rigged-airlock-292352/

No need to move it to a secondary. Depending on the OG the amount of time wil change. A lower OG brew wil be fine in about three weeks. A bigger OG brew may need a couple of months. You probably are good at 3 weeks in the primary.

After it is done, bottle it up and let it condition and carb up for 3 weeks at 70 degrees. After the three weeks are up put a couple in the fridge for a minimum of 24 hours. Open, pour and enjoy your first homebrew......

 

[BrewerinBR]

Fermentation temp is based on the yeast but in general Ale yeast like 65 to 70 some higher some lower. The temp sited is not the ambient but the internal wort temp which can be higher than ambient by 10F. So for most ales this:

the best room in my house happens to be my office. The room temp in there is the most consistent, from around 55 to 65.

is good.

My second, more concerning question: Blow off. I cannot afford to have a blow out in this room, since its in my office. I have read some nightmare posts of explosions, etc.... and I do not want to be in that boat. Would I be best just going to a blow off tube instead of an airlock? Any disadvantage to doing this?

A blow off tube can simply be a tube from the grommet in the bucket lid to a milk jug with sanitizer in it. Or a tube from carboy or what ever. Nothing real fancy needed. The purpose of a blow off tube is to prevent messes. Yeast form Krausen which can clog an air lock, which will then cause the CO2 given off by the yeast during fermentation to build up inside the fermentation vessel. At some point the CO2 pressure may overwhelm the friction holding the airlock in place (or worse the bucket lid or rubber plug) causing a sudden release of CO2 and with it krausen and fermenting wort. In other words a mess!

Lastly, the deluxe kit I bought instructs to go to a secondary. Even the extract kit tells to go to secondary.

Using a secondary is a personal choice for most brewers some do some don't. I do not for most of my beers. I let mine sit for 28 days and then dry hop (as necessary) and crash in the cold for 7 days. Then bottle.
As a beginner I would follow the directions on the kit and learn the process of brewing. After getting to understand what happens when and learning why start to refine the process to your particular needs, wants and desires.

Hoppy Brewing and Good Luck... also welcome to the passion we call home brewing!

 

[arborman]

Thank you very much everyone for the input. I think I will do the blowoff system to give me one less thing to worry about. Hopefully, I will be able to dial in my temps and keep things smooth.

I am going to ditch the secondary. Since I got another free 6 gal carboy with my order, I will brew up a second batch right away. Now I have 3 glass carboys, but since one is only a 5 gal. carboy, I guess it will be of no use unless I ever do decide to use it as a secondary.

Thanks again for the great info

 

[beergolf]

Thank you very much everyone for the input. I think I will do the blowoff system to give me one less thing to worry about. Hopefully, I will be able to dial in my temps and keep things smooth.

I am going to ditch the secondary. Since I got another free 6 gal carboy with my order, I will brew up a second batch right away. Now I have 3 glass carboys, but since one is only a 5 gal. carboy, I guess it will be of no use unless I ever do decide to use it as a secondary.

Thanks again for the great info

You can always use the 5 gallon carboy to o smaller batches. I use mine for 4 gallon batches somtimes.