Hi,
I've been reading up on homebrewing for the last couple of weeks, today is the day to head to the LHBS to pick up my beginners kit! Despite reading a lot of this forum, and How to Brew, I'm still a little confused about the fundamentals I guess. If anyone would be so kind as to answer that'd be great.
1) Is 'primary fermentation' simply from the brew day until the SG readings are stable?
2) Is 'secondary fermentation' just the period after that where the yeast is still active and as I've read here on the forum "cleaning up after itself"? What exactly does that mean?
3) My kit comes with a primary fermenter (plastic bucket) and a secondary fermenter (glass carboy). From what I've read on the forum my understanding now is that you don't need a secondary fermenter per say, but it's used to limit the exposure to oxidation? Is that right, and is that the only reason? For a first brew should I use it or not?
4) Is the primary fermenter usually the plastic bucket only because it's got a bigger volume to handle the primary fermentation? You could just as feasibly use a glass carboy for this stage?
5) Finally, when it comes to bottling, (which can be any time after the SG readings are stable, but should not really be before 2-3 weeks since brewday) you need to siphon again into a third vessel to mix your priming sugars with your beer before bottling? What do people use for this?
Ok one more question or two, about equipment.
My kit comes with an airlock, but no kind of blow-off tube. It seems like getting a blow-off tube would be a good precaution right at the start?
I also need to pick up a big pot to brew in today. Should I get a one large enough to do full boils in in future (7-8g volume?), or just get a smaller one for now?
From reading here, I guess the larger ones need a really strong heat source to get them to boil (I only have an electric stove so I'm skeptical) and also do they need an immersion cooler to cool them? The plan at the start was simply an ice bath. If they need an immersion cooler I'm sticking to a smaller pot for now. What's people's advice on this?
Thanks for any insight - apologies if these are really dumb questions.
David
I've been reading up on homebrewing for the last couple of weeks, today is the day to head to the LHBS to pick up my beginners kit! Despite reading a lot of this forum, and How to Brew, I'm still a little confused about the fundamentals I guess. If anyone would be so kind as to answer that'd be great.
1) Is 'primary fermentation' simply from the brew day until the SG readings are stable?
2) Is 'secondary fermentation' just the period after that where the yeast is still active and as I've read here on the forum "cleaning up after itself"? What exactly does that mean?
3) My kit comes with a primary fermenter (plastic bucket) and a secondary fermenter (glass carboy). From what I've read on the forum my understanding now is that you don't need a secondary fermenter per say, but it's used to limit the exposure to oxidation? Is that right, and is that the only reason? For a first brew should I use it or not?
4) Is the primary fermenter usually the plastic bucket only because it's got a bigger volume to handle the primary fermentation? You could just as feasibly use a glass carboy for this stage?
5) Finally, when it comes to bottling, (which can be any time after the SG readings are stable, but should not really be before 2-3 weeks since brewday) you need to siphon again into a third vessel to mix your priming sugars with your beer before bottling? What do people use for this?
Ok one more question or two, about equipment.
My kit comes with an airlock, but no kind of blow-off tube. It seems like getting a blow-off tube would be a good precaution right at the start?
I also need to pick up a big pot to brew in today. Should I get a one large enough to do full boils in in future (7-8g volume?), or just get a smaller one for now?
From reading here, I guess the larger ones need a really strong heat source to get them to boil (I only have an electric stove so I'm skeptical) and also do they need an immersion cooler to cool them? The plan at the start was simply an ice bath. If they need an immersion cooler I'm sticking to a smaller pot for now. What's people's advice on this?
Thanks for any insight - apologies if these are really dumb questions.
David