kgs
Well-Known Member
Is it wrong to temporarily rack into, say, a sanitized bottling bucket, clean and sanitize the first bucket, then immediately rack back into it?
Longer story: like a lot of us I'm making every nickel count. Though I do plan to get another carboy I was actually going to wait until my LHBS got in another supply of 3-gallon Better Bottle carboys, because after brewing my first batch and reading up on the whole 2.5gal batch discussions, I'd rather experiment with more frequent, smaller batches. We only have so much space, and only one of us in this household really likes anything stronger than Corona Light. (It is what it is.)
I could leave the beer in primary. But after Monday, I can't bottle for another 10 days. (I should have waited another couple of weeks to make my first brew, knowing I was headed to a conference next week, but I got a little excited by the prospect of homebrewing.)
A sudden cold snap that rolled in yesterday is no doubt slowing fermentation, though right now things don't look so bad:
1/10 SG: 1.050
1/13 1.020
1/16 1.015
This is a Fuller ESB partial-mash clone called "3 in a Bed Bitters." It's doing its thang, as far as my n00b eyes and nose can tell. (There was no krausen... then much krausen... now just krausen on the side of the bucket... and actually, it is even tasting kinda good too.) But if its readings change again, then it sounds as if I need to hold off on bottling, which would point to racking to secondary, at least based on what what I'm reading in books and this forum (and the 8,000 podcasts I listened to on a 600-mile road trip on Thursday).
Plus if I'm going to buy another carboy I need to do it today, because the LHBS isn't open Sun/Mon... but I am concerned about contamination introduced by moving the brew twice.
I'm just mindful of the $ and don't want to be wasteful in either direction -- needlessly introducing contamination in my first batch, or buying a carboy I won't use for a while.
Thanks again... this is a great group!
Longer story: like a lot of us I'm making every nickel count. Though I do plan to get another carboy I was actually going to wait until my LHBS got in another supply of 3-gallon Better Bottle carboys, because after brewing my first batch and reading up on the whole 2.5gal batch discussions, I'd rather experiment with more frequent, smaller batches. We only have so much space, and only one of us in this household really likes anything stronger than Corona Light. (It is what it is.)
I could leave the beer in primary. But after Monday, I can't bottle for another 10 days. (I should have waited another couple of weeks to make my first brew, knowing I was headed to a conference next week, but I got a little excited by the prospect of homebrewing.)
A sudden cold snap that rolled in yesterday is no doubt slowing fermentation, though right now things don't look so bad:
1/10 SG: 1.050
1/13 1.020
1/16 1.015
This is a Fuller ESB partial-mash clone called "3 in a Bed Bitters." It's doing its thang, as far as my n00b eyes and nose can tell. (There was no krausen... then much krausen... now just krausen on the side of the bucket... and actually, it is even tasting kinda good too.) But if its readings change again, then it sounds as if I need to hold off on bottling, which would point to racking to secondary, at least based on what what I'm reading in books and this forum (and the 8,000 podcasts I listened to on a 600-mile road trip on Thursday).
Plus if I'm going to buy another carboy I need to do it today, because the LHBS isn't open Sun/Mon... but I am concerned about contamination introduced by moving the brew twice.
I'm just mindful of the $ and don't want to be wasteful in either direction -- needlessly introducing contamination in my first batch, or buying a carboy I won't use for a while.
Thanks again... this is a great group!