It's done (first batch)

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cutarecord

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Yay finished my first batch!

5 lb wheat extract
1 oz hallertau hops for boiling
1 oz hellertau for finishing
1 pkg Munich yeast

Pitched at 68F
OG: 1.048

How's the color look to you guys? Will it change much?
 
it looks almost as white as the forum background! (I don't see a picture)
 
Lol woops

Here she be

image-188059621.jpg
 
Ah you still have time to wait, you still need to bottle :).

Once it is conditioned the color won't change very much but it may clear up. It will look lighter than it does in the carboy due to having less liquid for the light to pass through.

Congrats on your first batch! It only gets better and more exciting from here.
 
Yeah I just finished the wort and starting primary fermentation today. There is a lot of time left for me. But I should be drinking in about a month. Since its a wheat, do you see any advantage to secondary fermentation? I have another carboy but from what I've read secondary will only clean up the beer. Being a wheat I assume cloudiness wont be a big deal.

Generally what types of beer should be fermented in a secondary?
 
OH I SEE! It still needs to ferment too. Well then yes your color will probably change slightly but it will be due to a LOT of clearing since right now everything is still in suspension.

You have obviously been reading plenty already and have learned that to secondary is no longer in the commandments of homebrewing. As for my opinion on secondary, it is just another step where contamination and adding oxygen into the wort is possible. I prefer to only secondary if something will be aging longer than 2 months, if I am dry hopping, or if I am adding any other type of fruit to the beer. It is ideal to make these post fermentation additions in a second vessel because you can rack your beer on top of the ingerdients while leaving the trub/yeast cake behind, rather than adding them to primary and mixing up your nicely settled beer.
 
Wheat beers are traditionally a little cloudy so a secondary is not necessary as was stated before, that being said I still run my wheats through a secondary to get them a little cleaner... My friends have a harder time telling my brews form production brews if they are super clean and I have gotten comments as well as changed peoples minds about home brew because the beers are a little clearer.

I also don't worry that much about contamination considering the brew should be done and it is much harder to contaminate a finished brew but you can oxygenate so just be careful not to slosh and splash. :tank:
 
If I do decide on a secondary fermentation of a 5 gal batch it should 100% be in a 5 gal carboy? I assume a 6.5 gal will run too high risk for oxidation....

The secondary will clean up even a wheat?
 
I don't think oxidation is an issue with extra head space in the fermenter, it's from introducing oxygen into the wort by either shaking it or splashing, etc while racking to a bottling bucket. And there shouldn't be any problem with going from a carboy to a bucket or vice versa as long as you follow good sanitation practices while racking.
 
I only have 6.5 gallon carboys and have never had to worry about the exra headspace, the big concern is making sure your siphon line is submerged at the bottom to not cause any splash or excess movement.

As for the secondary helping to clear the beer, I have found that my wheat beers from extracts will clear and brighten through a secondary especially if I am kegging it because I don't introduce any more particles from the carbonation process. Either way it all depends what you are going for, when I get lazy I skip the secondary but I usually find that I like the extra time to aid in the conditioning off of the trubb.
 
Well since I'm new to home brewing my focus is quality. I feel like of I spent the time am passion to make my own beer as opposed to buying it, I should do anything I can to produce everything as best as I can.

With that said, how long should I let it sit in the secondary fermenter? Also, I will be bottling ( I'm sure I'll get into legging once I have cut my teeth ) this batch. How long should it be in a bottle to condition after secondary fermentation?
 
For a wheat beer I would let it sit in the secondary for a week. The bottle side is a little harder I usually give at least 21 days but I open one bottle at first to check the carbonation before chilling the whole batch, if the sample is good to go I get the rest cooled down in the fridge a good two to three days before I open them to help with keeping the carbonation in solution. I have found that if I don't chill sufficiently first I get a weak carbonation and not the product I was expecting.
 
Don't be afraid to give the beer time in the bottle, there are some great you tube videos of a guy that opens a bottle everyday to show the progression over time and it is worth a watch for the new brewer.
 
Pretty standard is 1-2 weeks in secondary and another 1-2 weeks for bottle conditioning. When we were first starting out one of the best things we started doing was whirlfloc tabs. While I wouldn't really use it for a wheat beer, if you start doing other clearer beers whirlfloc will really help. I know some here say its not necessary and to each their own, we just found whirlfloc makes a cleaner finishing beer.
 
Well I had considered some fining agents for my next batches. I am currently set up to be brewing about three batches in constant rotation. My next brew will be an English bitter. I will want that much cleaner do I was thinking Irish moss and secondary fermentation. It will also be partial mash so I'm pretty excited to get started!

I was really concerned that 5 gal of beer in a 6.5 gal for secondary would be too much oxygen but I think it's time to dive in head first
 
Careful, before you know it you'll be saying you need 1 more carboy, and 1 more keg, and 1 more brew kettle. The constant pursuit of deliciousness is a serious money grabber. I know from personal experience. The one other recommendation if your really think you may get into the hobby would be look at investments that will make your brew day easier. The easier it is to accomplish the brew day the more likely you'll enjoy it.
 
yeah i kinda assumed that this would become a huge hobby for me. (I get a little obsessive)

SO...

I already bought:

6.5 gallon carboy, wine thief, hydrometer, buckets for sanitizer, 10 gal brew kettle, racking cane, tube with shut-off valve for bottling, bottle capper, bottles, caps...

I was also just GIFTED, what i later found out, a 6.5 gal pyrex jug i am going to use as a carboy!

I just looked at it as an investment (I also have no wife or children to speak of so spending money on this is not challenged!)

Things i want:

Propane burner set up
Immersion chiller
2 kegs / CO2 and Nitrogen
Bottle washer
Mash tun
1 more carboy so I can brew 3 batches simultaneously with the proper offset to have a new brew every other week....

Yeah i see how quickly this becomes an obsession...
 
I quickly learned to buy the equipment that I would want and would grow into... saved some major bucks that way even though it was a little more expensive up front. Some of my overspending included buying a 4 gallon kettle followed by a 7 gallon rather than just going to the 10 gallon. From your list of items to buy I would put my money and effort at the burner and chiller. Those two items will transform your brew day and can help improve the quality of your beer by getting your beer chilled faster. Also the extra carboy is always good incase you want to dry hop or do longer all batch conditioning which can tie up an extra carboy much longer :)

I hope you enjoy your new hobby... or is it obsession???
 
It's def a mixture of both. I'm currently planning out the next 8 months of brewing. After this first batch I've quickly realized how much time management is involved. I would almost say its one of the key elements to becoming a series home brewer.

Got any tips about time management or planing brews? I now see its best to have a few brews planned a few months in advance for seasons and special occasions.
 
I really depends how much you drink and what types of beers you like, the heavier the beer the longer the what time. My extract brew time is around 3 hours from beginning to end with a 5 gallon 60 minute boil so i can do two brews in one day pretty easy. That being said when I started brewing and realizing that I liked it and wanted variety a started doing a lot of brews at the same time. This is also important for where I live because we get hot in the summer which makes it more of an effort to control fermentation so I lay away my summer beers in the early spring.

What I recommend if you are looking for variety and some quick turnaround time is to pick a quick beer like a light hybrid or cream ale, wheats are quick as well and a longer porter, stout etc is interested and start them at the same time that way you will be drinking the light while the heavier beer is working its magic. When I was getting my production going I had more than 5 beers either in various stages of fermentation or bottled... this let me rest a few as well so I didn't feel the need to crack into my most recent beers. From there I just keep brewing to stay ahead of demand, based on how much we are drinking I will start the next batch early to either give it more time to condition or be ready in case we throw a party and run out. I also use beer softwares to help with the timing and remembering when I take certain steps, there have been batches that I didn't mean to leave in secondary for two months but did by accident, still turned out great but again forgot about it.

I guess my main thought is don't try to rush the batches, have patience and if need be get and extra bucket or two so you can have more beer coming up that you will want to drink. I think you will find that once you have a few brews bottled that the timing is not as big of a deal because you are not running out of beer. As for seasonal my Holiday ale from 2009 tasted best in 2010 and was still really good in 2011 but not great in 2009... so those do require planning and I suggest talking to people that have made the beer to see what their timing looked like and if it will work for you.

I hope that helps some.
 
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