Hello

[jjv329]

On my 21st birthday my dad got me a home brewing kit. I brewed up an English brown ale for my first batch, which i bottled today. I had a few questions that i'm sure could be answer with a little more digging on my part. But here goes:
I didn't do a secondary fermentation but would I have to add more sugars if i did?
What is crash cooling(i believe that's what it's called)? Is it to help with clarity and settling of yeast or am i mistaken?
I would like to start brewing lagers is there an cheap ways to keep fermentation at a constant temp?

Thanks and Happy Brewing

 

[Haputanlas]

On my 21st birthday my dad got me a home brewing kit. I brewed up an English brown ale for my first batch, which i bottled today. I had a few questions that i'm sure could be answer with a little more digging on my part. But here goes:
I didn't do a secondary fermentation but would I have to add more sugars if i did?

No, typically one would use secondary fermentation to get the beer off the yeast, or to dry-hop.

What is crash cooling(i believe that's what it's called)? Is it to help with clarity and settling of yeast or am i mistaken?

Yes, you are correct. Typically you bring the beer temp down to somewhere as close to 32 degrees F without actually getting to 32. The cold temps render the yeast inactive and they drop out of suspension.

I would like to start brewing lagers is there an cheap ways to keep fermentation at a constant temp?

Thanks and Happy Brewing

I found a free chest freezer on craigs list and then bought a Ranco digital controller on Ebay for about $45 bucks. Doesn't get much better than that, and it's extremely consistent and reliable.

 

[Haputanlas]

By the way, many of us don't use a secondary fermentation. I typically leave my beer in the primary for at least 3-4 weeks. I wouldn't go out of my way to do anything different than you already have.

To me, it sounds like you feel you missed an important step in the brewing process. I just want you to know that you definitely did NOT miss anything. I would actually recommend skipping the secondary (Just my opinion and experience).

 

[oakbarn]

Ditto on skipping secondary. Did it for two years and then went on trip and had to leave in primary. The beer was great so we stopped doing secondary as a rule. We would if dry hopping but we use a Hop Rocket and never dry hop now. The only thing secondary can do is aerate the beer.

We skipped bottling and I personally have yet to bottle a beer. We started kegging. I do not think I missed anything.

Craiglist is a great source for free stuff. I check it several times a day. If you see something free, you need to get on it in a hurry. I have 3 freezers that were free and I also made an equipment cleaner by cutting off the top of a free dishwasher. In fact, I am going to check for free stuff right now!

 

[jjv329]

Well thanks for the info. I did check out craigslist and nothings free that works but a few for less than $100. So i'll have to check those out. I was looking at brewing books today, is there a particular book that stands out from the others?
Thanks Again,
Jon