Open air primary fermenter

[jmcd105]

Hi everyone,
This is my first post here, I am sure I am already asking something similar that has been asked before but I tried looking and found nothing specific to what my instructions on my kit are telling me.

My question is how long I should leave my beer in my primary fermenter for?
It has been in there for just over 30 hours. It is in a bucket with the lid on but not snapped down, just like the instructions said. I will include a picture of what it looks like. There was a lot of bubbling activity but has slowed down quite a bit, to pretty much nothing. My confusion is coming from the fact the instructions in my kit say it is dangerous to leave the beer in the primary for more than 5 days (or when activity has stopped), but when I read on here people talk of leaving it in there much longer than that, or if it is time to transfer to my secondary now, as the instructions say?

I will be transferring into a carboy with an airlock from here for "secondary fermentation". Here is the link to the instructions I am using with the same kit.

http://bestcasebeer.ca/instructions/

Thank you in advance, I really hope I am not asking something that has already been covered multiple times.

 

[Aristotelian]

Most of us skip the step of racking to secondary and just finish the fermentation in the primary. If you decide to skip the secondary, you should close the lid airtight, but drill a hole in the top in which you can stick an airlock to let CO2 escape. Otherwise, you can follow your kit's instructions and rack to secondary.

 

[BobOki]

Personally this sounds like a horrible idea. Firstly you are leaving the beer exposed to outside elements, germs, and this sounds like a great way to get an infection. Secondly moving beer to a secondary is deemed in most cases by most people here as an extra unnecessary step unless you are doing extra additions or other such things.

If your carboy can hold the entire batch, I would just put the pot in your sink to do a cold bath to get the temp down to around 70f then pour it in your carboy and add additional water to that, then pitch into your carboy after aerating it. Seal it and put in your bubbler and enjoy fermentation.

*edit* look through the forums for rehydrating dried yeast, the instructions on that site are kinda poo.
*edit 2* You might consider drilling a hole in that bucket and pitting in a spigot, then using that bucket as a bottling bucket. So after your fermentation is done in your carboy, then you would use a siphon to suck out the beer into the bucket at that point (I do mine through a filter to keep any poo or dry hops out) and add your priming solution (or use fizz drops). You then elevate the bucket, attach the bottling wand to the spigot you installed at the bottom of the bucket, and then fill those bottles up said and done.
*edit 3* Here's a spigot: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BWMR49E/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Aristotelian]

If your carboy can hold the entire batch, I would just put the pot in your sink to do a cold bath to get the temp down to around 70f then pour it in your carboy and add additional water to that, then pitch into your carboy after aerating it. Seal it and put in your bubbler and enjoy fermentation.

He has already pitched and fermented for a few days. Don't confuse him!

At this point he either needs to transfer to the carboy or seal that bucket (and add an airlock).

 

[jmcd105]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Alright, so next time, drill a hole in the lid for an airlock and leave it ferment in there until it is time to bottle, or get a bigger carboy (the one i have is 23L , with very little space for anything but the wort) and do all the work in there instead of using the bucket.

For this batch I am thinking I should rack into clean carboy with airlock until time for bottling. Now should be a good time to do that then according to the instructions online...?

 

[BobOki]

He has already pitched and fermented for a few days. Don't confuse him!

At this point he either needs to transfer to the carboy or seal that bucket (and add an airlock).

yes, sorry, I was thinking forward and should have stated for his next brew. Yeah, for this brew just put it in the carboy, seal it and put in a bubbler, leave it there until it is done fermenting.

You have time to order that spigot if you want to convert your bucket into a bottling bucket ;P

Just read that he has very little headroom in his carboy. I personally would still use the carboy, and just put a blowoff tube in and have it drain into a container of starsan solution. Plenty of posts or pictures of a blow off tube.

 

[RJS]

For this batch just snap the lid after 5 days, keep closed for 5 more days. Then at 10 days just rack to keg or whatever packaging system you use.

 

[jmcd105]

He has already pitched and fermented for a few days. Don't confuse him!

At this point he either needs to transfer to the carboy or seal that bucket (and add an airlock).

The instructions say nothing about the sediment at bottom and the krausen. When I transferred into the carboy I leave all this in the bucket or it should be put in with the rest of the liquid?

edit: Reread the instructions and it does say not to disturb, but just looking to verify.

 

[jmcd105]

my carboy has a spigot, Im thinking it would have been more handy on the bucket than it would have been on the carboy. luckily, I have the technology to add one myself!

 

[RJS]

Why transfer, just leave it. I see by the pic that high krausen is over, just leave it with lid snapped and co2 headspace will keep it safe for now. After ten days just package everything but the sediment. If you bottle, transfer carefully, if you keg transfer carefully.

 

[jmcd105]

This batch as been transferred already. The next batch I will leave in the bucket, and just have an airlock on the bucket from day one. Thanks for the input!

 

[Puddlethumper]

This batch as been transferred already. The next batch I will leave in the bucket, and just have an airlock on the bucket from day one. Thanks for the input!

Best thing at this point is just leave it alone and let it do it's thing for a week or two. No hurries and no worries. In the meantime I would strongly suggest that you invest in a brewing hydrometer, wine thief and sample jar. All are available from your local home brew supplier (LHBS) or on line for $35-$50. These will be vital tools as you continue in the hobby.

In about 10 days place the hydrometer in the sample jar. Then, using the wine thief (sanitized with StarSan), pull and transfer enough beer from your fermenter to float the hydrometer. Once it floats take a reading of the specific gravity (SG). It should, at this point, read somewhere between 1.010 and 1.018. Write down the reading. (Do not pour the beer from the sample jar back into your beer as you might introduce an infection). BTW, its good at this point to taste the beer in the sample jar. It will be interesting and informative but mean very little to you at this point in your brewing. However, you will be starting a "taste data base" in your mind that will become extremely valuable as time goes by.

Wait a day and take another sample. Compare your SG reading to yesterday's. If the SG has dropped the beer is still fermenting. Leave it alone another 5 days or so. DO NOT BOTTLE A BEER THAT IS STILL FERMENTING. If the SG is the same as yesterday it is "probably" done.

Take another sample on day three. Three identical samples in a row within the range of 1.008 - 1.015 tell you the fermentation is completely done and you can bottle safely. If the readings are above 1.015 you might want to post here for input. Perhaps the beer has been kept too cool or there has been some other fermentation inhibiting issue. Don't bottle this until you have explored the matter further.

If you took an SG sample before pitching your yeast you could now compare the numbers and figure out the Alcohol By Volume (ABV) for your beer.

Find a priming sugar calculator to figure out how much sugar you need to add to the bucket at bottling. Follow the bottling instructions provided in your kit or, better yet, do some research on this forum about bottling and you should be good to go.

Good luck and cheers!