First post and first batch

[giono2]

Just looking for a few opinions before I do my first brew this weekend. I put together my own kit from a few different places online and ended up with a 6 gallon bucket for primary and 5 gallon bucket for secondary fermentation. I didn't get an airlock because I liked the idea of a tube into a bucket of liquid better. Should there be any problems using this setup for both primary and secondary fermentation? I went a little cheap because I'm notoriously difficult to buy gifts for and my wife said even though it's a new hobby any nice things have to be saved for a christmas list (sorry to bring that up so early in the year).

Also, the idea of bottling bores me silly; how many batches should I make to learn the ropes of it all before moving on to kegging with a corny keg?

 

[david_42]

I kegged my second batch. First one, if you toss out the BrewSack, which is what we did. I started with cornies and mini-kegs, because I was brewing with someone else & I didn't have room for cornies. Dumped to minis by batch five, PITA.

I seriously doubt I would have gotten past the third batch if I had been bottling.

 

[mblakely]

The blow off tube will work well for your primary. But I would not use it for the secondary (clearing). Durring the primary fermentation there is rigorus fermentation action, and therefor the need for the excess gasses to escape. Durring this process, an airlock may not provide a large enough avenue for the gasses to escape, so a blow off tube may be desired.

However, in the clearing stage, the fermentation is all but complete, at least it is not happening at the prior rate. A collection of CO2 at the top of the carboy (or bucket) is desired to help protect against air borne contaminates. I would splurge on the couple of dollars (euro's?, ducketts, ect) to get a quality air lock for the clearing.

Good luck with your brew! What are you planning to brew?

I didn't add enough corn sugar the first time I bottled, so it took me twice to get the theory and practice down. If you don't want to bottle, don't. This is your beer and you should do with it what you like. You could drink it (flat) out of your clearing bucket, and some of us do.

Cheers
Matt

 

[giono2]

all sounds good. With regards to bottling, do I toss the sugar into each bottle, or into the bottling bucket? If it goes into each bottle, how would I go about determining how much sugar to put into a gallon jug? I have some growlers laying around the house from a local brewpub.

 

[Orpheus]

all sounds good. With regards to bottling, do I toss the sugar into each bottle, or into the bottling bucket? If it goes into each bottle, how would I go about determining how much sugar to put into a gallon jug? I have some growlers laying around the house from a local brewpub.

You put the sugar (usually 3/4 cup or 5 oz. of corn sugar/dextrose) into a pint of water and boil it for ten minutes. Then you add the warm water/sugar mix to the bottling bucket and siphon the beer into the bucket. This makes it easy to then siphon the primed beer into any containers you wish (bottles, growlers, etc.)

 

[Exo]

A good S-type airlock will do you fine. Probably be able to find one for 2bucks or less.