Please be prepared for incoming "newb" questions

[4arrows]

Krausen formed, bubbles rising, airlock sputtering away. Fridge with temperature control holding it to a steady 66F.

 

[balrog]

YAY! You're on your way!

 

[MattyIce]

Cool man! Great call on going with temp control straight out the gate!

Thoughts for the future...I recommend you use fridges for both fermentation AND kegging when that time comes. I currently have a chest freezer for a ferm chamber, and I hate dealing with the moisture/water buildup...just makes more sense to me to use an appliance that is designed to maintain a temperature that is a LITTLE closer to ferm temps.

Congrats on getting started, let us know how bottling day goes. I'm in Allen if you ever need anything.

 

[andy6026]

While I did see one person comment that they like to secondary, he didn't give any particular reasons why. So I'll chime in.

I find that when I bottle or keg straight from primary that I inevitably get more hop debris and trub into the keg/bottles. This is especially the case if it's a particularly hoppy beer and if I dry hop. My circumstances are such that I inevitably have to physically move the primary immediately prior to racking to the bottling bucket - and this certainly, for me, would stir up more undesirables. Transferring to secondary made a huge improvement for me in this regard (but I still dry hop in primary).

My advice is to try it both ways a few times each, and if you find that using a secondary is too much effort and risk for little or no return, then by all means don't bother in the future.

 

[slym2none]

My advice is to try it both ways a few times each, and if you find that using a secondary is too much effort and risk for little or no return, then by all means don't bother in the future.

Words of wisdom.

 

[Bosh]

Biggest thing now is not to do anything silly to screw stuff up because you're overreacting to some small hiccough. That and maintain sanitation and you should be OK.

Another good beer to try is something mildly dark and sweet like a brown ale or a mild or a not very harsh stout as the darker roast flavor can cover up imperfections. Just go easy on the specialty malts. You don't want lots of crystal or to go really heavy on the roasts, just a light touch.

 

[rich5665]

+1 on the Brown Ale. But then I'm partial to dark beers ☺

 

[4arrows]

Ok, so Krausen fell completely 2 days ago, airlock less active. I racked to secondary yesterday. I know that many here say it is not necessary, and I completely understand why, however I had to correct a mistake I made on brew day. When i topped up my 5 gal carboy, I forgot to think about needing a bigger than 5 gal carboy to hold 5 gal of beer. So when I racked to secondary 5 gal carboy, I boiled and cooled some additional top up water and gently added with the auto siphon. I hope this doesn't adversely affect anything. Lesson learned... Bigger carboy for primary.

Question: how long should you cold crash for before bottling? I was thinking about bottling next weekend if I do not see any additional signs of fermentation in the next few days. Is cold crash just for a day or two? or longer?

Additional question: if I cold crash, do I calculate my priming dose off the cold crash temp? bottling temp? ???

 

[JimRausch]

4arrows- you actually use the highest temp your beer reached after it is finished fermenting. Reason being that CO2 is produced during fermentation, but none after. Higher temps will drive off the CO2. Then even if the temp drops, there's still only the CO2 that's remaining from after the high temp. So, say your beer hit 80 before cold crashing. Even if you crash at 33, use the 80 as temp to calculate priming charge..
Oh, and if I have time, I like to cold crash for 3-4 days. But I have bottled after a 24 hour crash.

 

[4arrows]

Thank you Jim,

And though I sound a bit dense, i just want to clarify, I am using a temp controlled fridge set at 66F, beer has been in there the whole time. It will go straight to cold crash. So the temp I will use for priming calculation is 66F?