Questions after a week of fermenting

[IPANY]

I just brewed my first beer, a whispering wheat, and I have some questions I hope i can get answered before I attempt bottling.

1) Do I need to put my wheat beer in a secondary fermenter?
2) My temperature stayed around 68 degrees for the first 2 days and the dropped to 65-66, is that ok?
5) There was a lot of action in the carboy but then after day 6. Is it normal to have not much bubbling and a relatively clean-looking carboy?
4) How do i start the syphon with the racking cane?

Also, I read about people leaving the wheat beer to ferment for a real long time (like a month) is this necessary or is one week enough (i do intend to check specific gravity)?

I just don't want to mess it up after having read much material and after being patient.:rockin:

 

[TipsyDragon]

1) you don't have to put any beer in a secondary. its a matter of preference.
2) your beer is fine. it will taste slightly different but probably not enough to notice.
5) yep thats normal. the yeast are pretty much done doing their thing and are cleaning up after themselves now. give them a couple more weeks to get the job done.
4) first throw the racking cane away its a PITA. get yourself an auto-siphon you will thank yourself later.

technically once the specific gravity stops falling you can bottle your beer. but the extra time is better because the yeast are cleaning up after themselves and falling out of suspension giving you a better beer.

a little knowledge and no experience can be a bad thing. you see boogie men everywhere. just remember one thing RDWHAHB.

 

[ctufano]

Racking canes place def isnt with bottling. Budget permitting, grab an autosiphon, bottling bucket and a bottle wand.

This makes it so easy... In fact, you could autosiphon to bottlign bucket to cold chill for a week or two, then immediately bottle with the wand and be done or just rack to bottling bucket and then bottle without aging and crashing

In the bottling forum look for the sticky thread by Revvy -- great way to do it

 

[jds]

How do i start the syphon with the racking cane?

4) first throw the racking cane away its a PITA. get yourself an auto-siphon you will thank yourself later.

Budget permitting, grab an autosiphon, bottling bucket and a bottle wand.

I'm in the minority here, but I'm not a big fan of the autosiphon. They seem to me to be fragile, complicated, and hard to clean compared to a racking cane and tubing.

OP: You can start the siphon by filling the racking cane and tubing with (a) water, (b) boiled and cooled water, or (c) sanitizer (in increasing order of paranoia). Put a sanitized finger over the free end of the tubing to keep the water in the tubing. Insert the racking cane in the fermenter, make sure the free end of the tubing is below the level of beer in the fermenter, and then remove your finger from the end of the tubing. Voila! Gravity will do the rest.

I'm pretty paranoid, so I usually fill the racking cane and tubing with sanitizer. Once I start the siphon, I drain into a bucket until the line is filled with beer. Then, it's into the container.

It's actually easier to do the process than it it to describe it. Check out Yuri's video on it.

 

[IPANY]

Well the only thing I dont have is an auto siphon. I have the bottling bucket and wand. I see the auto siphon on youtube demonstrations and can tell that is the way to go. I couldnt find anything on youtube to do with a racking cane. It appears to be just a sturdier part of the siphon hose. anyhow i will use a brand new turkey baster that is sanitized to prime it unless there are other ideas.
thanks...

 

[rico567]

I have made the transition from standard brewing to primary-only with no ill effects. Particularly with a wheat beer, I can see no reason to secondary. I think it's important to mention that I use an extended primary of 3-4 weeks.

Exceptions to this, of course, are if I dry hop or need to do a bulk aging, such as with an imperial stout, barleywine or etc.

 

[Justibone]

Exceptions to this, of course, are if I dry hop or need to do a bulk aging, such as with an imperial stout, barleywine or etc.

Also secondary if you are trying to "fruit the beer", to quote a humorous commercial a couple years back.