Hello ! And a question ..

[stdywell]

Hi all. Brand new here. Trying to learn. My son asked me if I would home brew with him, so here I am. We bought the Brewers Best Irish Stout kit as well, as we love dark beer and are having a ball doing this.

We started the batch on 4/29 and had bubbles in the airlock after 24 hrs at a rate of about 1-2 per second. Today (may 2) it has slowed considerably, one every five secs or so. Plan to leave it there till 48 hrs after seeing no bubbles then rack it to a carboy for a couple weeks. A sniff around the airlock release holes smells beer-ish and delish.

I do have a question... If for some reason I wanted to take a hydrometer reading mid-way thru this first stage, how much am I risking by opening the bucket lid and exposing the batch to oxygen ? I understand the contamination risks, just wondering about the o2 risk. Is it ok to take a reading if I thought something was wrong and then let it continue ? Again, I think all is good right now, just a rhetorical question.

Thanks all !

Doug

 

[lazarus0530]

Me personally I don't ever use a secondary. I leave it sit on the "cake" for three to four weeks.
Only when I dry hop do I move to a secondary.
I would take a reading on the 21st day then again on the 23rd day. If it hasn't changed then I rack it (bottle or keg)
Congrats on your new hobby. My dad won't help me brew it but he sure the hell helps me consume it!

 

[HawksBrewer]

You won't be at risk, but why open it up? If you are not adding any adjuncts in secondary, just leave it in the primary for 2-3 weeks and bottle/keg from there.

Do not use bubbling on the airlock as any indication of ANYTHING. Only use hydrometer readings.

That said, just leave it alone and your beer will thank you later and you will thank it as you enjoy every last drop. Cheers.

 

[duboman]

Hello and welcome to the obsession err umm hobby!

First of all come to understand that an airlock is a device, not a gauge. Activity in the airlock means absolutely nothing when evaluating your beer.

If you brewed the beer on 4/29 you need to wait at least two weeks before considering doing anything. At that point feel free to open the bucket and grab a smaple with a sanitized turkey baster and take a reading in a separate jar, then drink some of it so you learn about the beer and its development.

Important-what temperature are you fermenting at? If you are above 70F-move your bucket to a room that is in the 60's or your yeast will throw off flavors you do not want and may not be able to get rid of. Your yeast are everything to how your beer turns out!

Second, you brewed a big beer to start and that's fine but you will need to exercise patience. My recommendation would be to keep the beer in the primary bucket for 3-4 weeks total. Fermentation will be done but this gives the yeast a chance to help clean up the beer. If you want to free up the bucket and have a carboy as well then after the two weeks you can transfer it and brew another batch. One important note: before you ever transfer a beer out of the primary for any reason you need to verify it has completed its fermentation. To do this you take a gravity reading once per day for 2-3 days. If the reading is the same you're good. If not, it needs more time.

Third-bottling, In the bottling forum there is a stickie that describes the entire process and is very thorough-read it, it has a thread int there by Revvy and learn it and follow it.

Finally, this is a great site! There are a tremendous amount of experienced brewers here to help but most Noob questions have been answered in ad nausea detail so do yourself a favor and search what you are looking for first. Also remember, there is no truly right or wrong way to go about anything, lots of opinions and it's all based on what works best for each system and each brewer. find something that works for you and you're golden.

Enjoy the hobby and get another kit so you can get started on another batch, trust me, the first one will disappear quick! Cheers!

 

[BrewScout]

Important-what temperature are you fermenting at? If you are above 70F-move your bucket to a room that is in the 60's or your yeast will throw off flavors you do not want and may not be able to get rid of. Your yeast are everything to how your beer turns out!

+1... Temperature is one of the most important things you need to take care of. My very first batch came out of the bottle like jet fuel because I just put the fermenter in the closet and let it go. Temperature hit around 76 - 77 degrees which is fine for a saison but not for a blonde. As for new brewers, " Me included" patience is extremely important. Just let your brew sit for at least 2 weeks in primary. Then after " and only after" you get consecutive gravity reading for 3 days, you can bottle. I know it is exciting and you really want to taste your first beer but, waiting will give your first brew a much better chance at being a GREAT beer!

 

[helibrewer]

I'm a father brewer also...it's a great hobby to teach your kids patience

 

[stdywell]

Thank you all for your comments. Spoke to my son and we will not rack until its time to bottle. Plan on doing another kit this weekend, brewers best Weizenbier. My wife is not a fan of the heavy dark beers as my son and I are. Has anyone tried that kit ?

 

[Jayhem]

I started with Brewer's Best kits as well. They make great beers! I've only been brewing for 6 short months but I've brewed 50 gallons of beer in that time! The biggest thing to remember is that fermentation temperature means more to your beer's taste than anything so long as you have good sanitation. The yeast creates heat (exothermic) as it ferments the sugars so your beer can get 8-10 degrees F higher than the ambient air temp! This means your fermenting bucket needs to be kept at about 60-62F ambient for the first week and then slowly bring it into the mid-high 60's. 21-28 days in the fermenter and it's time to bottle!

Happy brewing!