New to brewing

[ravegti]

Hello everyone,

Brewing my first batch and I have a couple questions.

1. My first batch of beer is brewing and has been in the fermenter for 3 days. There has been no bubbling through the 'S' shaped airlock. I know that this doesn't necessarily mean anything, considering there is about an inch of foam on the top and a little bit of condensation at the top of the fermenter. But where the airlock connected to the lid of the fermenter, I can smell the beer. I'm assuming this means there is an air leak. Is this bad? Does it need to be air-tight? It seems to be air-tight, but the fact that I smell it makes me think otherwise. If there is a leak, it has got to be tiny. This would prevent the airlock from bubbling, right?

2. To take hydrometer readings to see when to move to the secondary, what is the best method? Should I take the lid and airlock off and just stick the hydrometer in there? The bottom of the fermenter has a spigot for bottling, should I just drain a sample's worth into the hydrometer's case and measure like I did before adding the yeast?

3. When it is time to move to secondary, should I just drain through that spigot directly into the carboy, or should I siphon and try not to bother the sediment on the bottom? Is the sediment supposed to go into the secondary? I guess I just don't know if that sediment is thick or if it will easily travel through the spigot while transferring.

Thanks in advance.

 

[shecky]

Welcome. Hopefully I can help a bit:
1. Don't worry. If you've got krausen, you're good. The co2 will push out anything bad trying to get in.

2. You can just pop the lid partially off to get a reading. Many folks use a wine thief. I use your basic turkey baster. Just make sure it's sanitized first. Don't use the spigot. You'll get mostly trub.

3. Siphon. Get an autosiphon. Worth every penny. Don't drain from the spigot. You'll run the risk of getting too much oxygen in the beer. Not good. When siphoning, make sure it's quiet, ie get the siphon tube to the bottom of the carboy and don't let the beer splash.

 

[Nurmey]

Welcome to HBT!

An air leak is no big deal at all. The CO2 is coming out of the leak faster than anything can get in and leaks are too small for anything to get in anyway. It will prevent the airlock from bubbling which is one reason that bubbling airlocks don't mean much.

It is best to remove a sample from the bucket to take a hydrometer reading. This can be done with a sanitized turkey baster but I prefer a wine thief. The spigot may give you a bunch of trub in the hydrometer tube and won't be accurate. After the reading, do not put it back in the bucket. Drink it!

I don't have a spigot but I wouldn't use it anyway. I use an auto siphon and hose to gently move my beer from one container to another. It pretty easy to use without getting a bunch of trub. OTOH, if you do get some trub, no big deal since the secondary is for clearing the beer.

 

[MikeG]

Gratz on your first brew!

1. See answers above.

2. I'm going to offer an alternative, leave it in primary for 3 full weeks, you don't necessarily need to rack to a secondary. Search the forums here but many experienced brewers don't use a secondary.

3. No matter what, don't let the beer splash to introduce oxygen. +1 on the auto-siphon, it just can't be beat. If you are on a budget, go to the local pharmacy and get those little suctions that suck snot from a baby's nose. It works, just not as efficient as the auto-siphon. Either way, sanitize everything.

When racking (either to secondary or to the bottling bucket), siphon the beer and make sure the tube is not splashing the beer in as mentioned above.

Oh, the real advice I can give...be patient and give it time!

Cheers and good luck on your first beer, even if it tastes like crap you'll love it!

 

[ravegti]

Thanks for the quick replies!

So it is okay to remove the fermenter lid as needed, as long as you make sure nothing falls in? When reading the instructions they make it seem like the fermenter needs to be air-tight, no exceptions, no aerating for the process to be successful.

I'll try the turkey baster, great idea!

 

[mmb]

Thanks for the quick replies!

So it is okay to remove the fermenter lid as needed, as long as you make sure nothing falls in? When reading the instructions they make it seem like the fermenter needs to be air-tight, no exceptions, no aerating for the process to be successful.

I'll try the turkey baster, great idea!

Sure, it's ok to remove the fermentor lid. Don't let anything fall in and don't sneeze with the lid off and you should be fine.

Once you pass active fermentation you want to have the fermentor air tight so that nothing can get in to the beer. When fermentation is active the yeast are producing CO2 and it makes the inside a high pressure than the outside, keeping air out and forcing CO2 out to equalize pressure. As fermentation slows the pressure equalizes and you need to be concerned about air getting in if temperature changes. You'll see terms like "suck back" where the pressure inside the fermentor is lower than outside and air attempts to get in through the airlock to, again, equalize pressure.