Noob Brewer Question!

[RedneckBrewer]

Howdy all,

Just started in on this hobby and seems to be going pretty well as we have our first batch (nut brown ale) in the fermenter as of Monday.

Here's the question, our primary is a 6.5g bucket, which I assume that we'll bottle out of too seeing as how it has the spigot on it. The guy at our LHB shop told us to start that way and move it into a secondary 5g glass carboy in a week or so. Is that necessary to secondary ferment or do we just do it to keep from getting sediment into the bottles or do we just skip it hope and pray we don't suck up any of it while bottling?

The other thing we were wondering is when to take another gravity reading. Our OG was 1.033. I'm guessing we'll have to pop open the bucket, but I don't want to oxygenate it if we can help it.

Thanks y'all!

 

[jerryalan]

I started skipping the secondary. Instead I let it sit in primary for five days. Then start taking daily gravity readings. When it stops changing three days straight I move it to the fridge to cold crash for a week. This gets all the yeasts and other things to drop to the bottom. Then bottle being careful not to let the siphon tube pick up the sediment. I'll only use a secondary if I brew a beer that requires long-term aging.

 

[RedneckBrewer]

Sounds easy enough. Now I'll have to move stuff around to fix that sucker in the fridge...

 

[Yooper]

Sounds easy enough. Now I'll have to move stuff around to fix that sucker in the fridge...

It is! But, when we skip the secondary, we still rack to a bottling bucket. You don't want to add the priming solution to the bucket you are using, because you'll just have to restir up all the "stuff" you let settle out. Not to mention that it'll be difficult to dissolve the priming sugar properly.

The "primary" with a spigot is usually a bottling bucket.

Since your beer is in your bottling bucket, either buy another bottling bucket or rack the beer to the carboy so you can use the bottling bucket when it's time to bottle.

 

[RedneckBrewer]

It is! But, when we skip the secondary, we still rack to a bottling bucket. You don't want to add the priming solution to the bucket you are using, because you'll just have to restir up all the "stuff" you let settle out. Not to mention that it'll be difficult to dissolve the priming sugar properly.

The "primary" with a spigot is usually a bottling bucket.

Since your beer is in your bottling bucket, either buy another bottling bucket or rack the beer to the carboy so you can use the bottling bucket when it's time to bottle.

Sounds like racking it to the carboy is probably the way to go. When's the time to do that? After the fermentation has stopped or right before bottling?

 

[jerryalan]

Sounds like racking it to the carboy is probably the way to go. When's the time to do that? After the fermentation has stopped or right before bottling?

Right before bottling

 

[MikeRoBrew1]

If you need beer done fast, light ales can be ready to bottle in as little as 7-10 days but the taste will benefit from 3-4 weeks time to sit in the primary fermenter. Everything is nice and settled and easy to bottle.

 

[jerryalan]

If you need beer done fast, light ales can be ready to bottle in as little as 7-10 days but the taste will benefit from 3-4 weeks time to sit in the primary fermenter. Everything is nice and settled and easy to bottle.

I usually brew up a Paulaner Hefe Weizen clone when I need beer fast. Primary for two weeks, the force carbonate and drink three days later.

 

[JonK331]

If you're not going to use a secondary, do your primary in the carboy and then transfer to the bottling bucket to bottle. Also, taking gravity readings frequently is a great way to introduce infection. Just be patient, let it do it's thing and then test the gravity. There's no reason to start testing the gravity after 5 days. Let it go ten and then test.

 

[Yooper]

Right before bottling

Not in my opinion. If you're bothering to use the carboy and racking the beer, then use the carboy! Rack to the carboy in about 10 days, after fermentation has stopped and the hydrometer readings are unchanging over three days. Then leave it in the carboy for 2 weeks, and then rack back to the bucket just when you bottle.

 

[RedneckBrewer]

Not in my opinion. If you're bothering to use the carboy and racking the beer, then use the carboy! Rack to the carboy in about 10 days, after fermentation has stopped and the hydrometer readings are unchanging over three days. Then leave it in the carboy for 2 weeks, and then rack back to the bucket just when you bottle.

Is there a definite advantage to using the carboy for the 2 weeks as opposed to using it to store while we clean the bucket before bottling?

 

[RedneckBrewer]

If you're not going to use a secondary, do your primary in the carboy and then transfer to the bottling bucket to bottle. Also, taking gravity readings frequently is a great way to introduce infection. Just be patient, let it do it's thing and then test the gravity. There's no reason to start testing the gravity after 5 days. Let it go ten and then test.

Our carboy is 5g and our bucket is 6.5. If we use the carboy as a primary, is it more likely to blow up since there isn't that extra 1.5 buffer? We were planning on waiting until 7-10 before opening it. So I'm getting that the plan is on day 10 open it, take a gravity, close it back up, and repeat for 3 days?

 

[JonK331]

Our carboy is 5g and our bucket is 6.5. If we use the carboy as a primary, is it more likely to blow up since there isn't that extra 1.5 buffer? We were planning on waiting until 7-10 before opening it. So I'm getting that the plan is on day 10 open it, take a gravity, close it back up, and repeat for 3 days?

Ah okay, yeah better off in the bucket for primary but a bottling bucket with a spigot is not ideal for fermenting. i would suggest getting another 6.5 gallon bucket without a spigot for your primary. A 5 gallon carboy can be used for a primary but you would have to use a blow off.

To simplify things for your first brew I would recommend just letting the beer stay in the primary for ten days. Then transfer to your carboy for another 5-7 days. Then transfer to your bottling bucket and bottle. take Hydrometer readings at your transfers and leave it at that.

 

[RedneckBrewer]

Ah okay, yeah better off in the bucket for primary but a bottling bucket with a spigot is not ideal for fermenting. i would suggest getting another 6.5 gallon bucket without a spigot for your primary. A 5 gallon carboy can be used for a primary but you would have to use a blow off.

To simplify things for your first brew I would recommend just letting the beer stay in the primary for ten days. Then transfer to your carboy for another 5-7 days. Then transfer to your bottling bucket and bottle. take Hydrometer readings at your transfers and leave it at that.

That sounds easy enough to do. Since the carboy is right at 5 gal and we did 5g worth of beer are we going to have some leftover that isn't going to fit with the cap on? I'm assuming that at the 10 day mark the fermentation should be done and so moving it to the carboy won't create a bottle bomb? Also, if the hydro readings aren't the same at the transfers, is that going to create problems?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[jerryalan]

Not in my opinion. If you're bothering to use the carboy and racking the beer, then use the carboy! Rack to the carboy in about 10 days, after fermentation has stopped and the hydrometer readings are unchanging over three days. Then leave it in the carboy for 2 weeks, and then rack back to the bucket just when you bottle.

If you're going to age the beer in a secondary, then yeah, rack to the carboy and let it sit. But if you're skipping the secondary then you can leave it in the primary and rack it to whatever container you'll use as a bottling bucket just before bottling. Perhaps I misunderstood his intentions?

 

[RedneckBrewer]

If you're going to age the beer in a secondary, then yeah, rack to the carboy and let it sit. But if you're skipping the secondary then you can leave it in the primary and rack it to whatever container you'll use as a bottling bucket just before bottling. Perhaps I misunderstood his intentions?

I think the confusion came in that my bottling bucket IS my primary right now. So, I'll HAVE to rack to the carboy then back to the bottling bucket. The question is, after I rack it to the carboy, do I let it sit or can I clean and sanitize the bucket and rack it right back?