Moved my first brew to secondary

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xxdcmast

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So last saturday I brewed up my first ever batch of homebrew. According to the directions I recieved with the kit it reccomended 4 days in the primary. While reading on here I came across the 1,2,3 rule so I decided to follow that instead.

So since today was the 1 week mark I decided to move from my primary to my seconday. I am brewing a muntons amber malt extract kit. When first in the fermenter
OG=1.04
FG (before secondart) = 1.02

It looks like I might have been a little high on my FG. Overall the beer looked and smelled pretty good. While racking it to the secondary the liquid flowing through the tube was a nice golder color. It was a little cloudy but not too bad at all.

Once the siphon couldnt get any more liquid off the bucket I airlocked my carboy and then tasted what was left in the bucket. It definitely tasted like beer. It was a little bit bitter (green) and gritty (from the trub) but overall not too bad.

I am going to give it about 2.5 - 3 weeks in the secondary followed up with bottling and 3 weeks of aging. So far so good... I think.

Any thoughts or suggestions?


Also just figured I would share the deal that I got today on CL. Picked up 3 glass carboys for 40 bucks got a 6 gal, 5 gal, and a 3 gal.
 
Nice CL snag!!

How did you manage to keep your hands off your brewings???
 
With more experience, you will learn patience :).

1.02 is pretty high for a beer with that OG, I think you might have been better served warming it up and trying to get it lower before transferring.

The term secondary is a bit of a misnomer. You just transferred off the majority of the yeast, so you probably wont drop much (or any) from here. Many experienced brewers leave their beer in primary 2, 3, 4 or more weeks with positive results. I only use a secondary when dry hopping, some people use one for fruit additions. If not doing either of those things, I would not bother.

With that said, I would make sure you keep it relatively warm (~70 - 74) and maybe it will take off again. Even if it finishes there, It will be sweet, but will probably still taste great because its your first brew.
:mug:
 
Ok so one more question then how do I figure out what is "right" for an OG and FG. I have been looking at people recipes and brew notes and every one has a different OG and FG. How are you supposed to know what is correct for each batch?
 
i just did a mutons kit today and it had the FG and OG listed right on the instructions. mine said my OG should be 1.049-1.051 and i was at 1.052 so im guessing i did it right. check the front page of your instructions, it will probably be listed there.
 
I only use a secondary for my lagers or bigger beers. And I transfer when i'm 75% to FG.

so, a 1.080 OG to 1.020 FG drops .060. Once its dropped .045 (1.035) I transfer. This works out well for me.

1.040 - 1.010 drops .030, I'd transfer at 1.017/1.018.
 
i just did a mutons kit today and it had the FG and OG listed right on the instructions. mine said my OG should be 1.049-1.051 and i was at 1.052 so im guessing i did it right. check the front page of your instructions, it will probably be listed there.

The directions I have are OG=1.035-1.040 and FG=1.008-1.012. I figure all I can really do now is leave it in the secondary for a while and see what happens.
 
Well one other thing I forgot to mention was that this batch was roughly about 6 gallons. Not sure if this could be throwing my numbers off from where they should be.

Yea I have a few fermenters available to use a 5 gallon glass carboy and a 6 gallon bucket. I think I may stop by the LHBS tomorrow and pick up a brew kit. Im thinking maybe a nice porter or a stout.

Ive only been brewing a short time but I can already tell I like the glass carboys better than the buckets you can actually see whats going on with the beer.
 
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