What should I do next? And other questions for a newbie.

[ian3588]

Hey people,

I am a newbie at this. I am almost done with my first brew. It is a moose drool clone. I used the minimash process. I know that it is not going to be perfect but I think it will be okay. I was wondering if any of you have a good brew to try next? I want to perfect the minimash process before moving to all grain. In fact I don't even know what all grain is.

Another question, is it okay to have a little sediment in my secondary fermenter? I know these are dumb question but I'm just learning.

 

[TuttleCreekBrewing]

Welcome and congrats on your First Brew! Nice job jumping straight into partial mashing -- I wasn't that brave and started with extract. Partials are so much more fun though!

I recently bottled my Tallgrass Buffalo Sweat that I made from partial mash, and damn did it turn out good. I recommend trying it!

A little sediment in your secondary is fine. It will settle out and as long as you don't stir it up when you rack again for bottling/kegging, it'll stay out of your finished brew.

One thing I've found since starting this amazing hobby is that the people here on HBT are extremely helpful and friendly, so any questions you have, make sure to ask!

 

[freisste]

None are dumb questions. In my understanding, minimash plus extract equals all grain. So if you can mash, you can do all grain (process wise, maybe not equipment wise).

What styles do you like? I'm sure to can find a minimash recipe for any style (maybe check the recipe forum on HBT.

 

[ian3588]

Thanks guys. What does the term "racking" mean exactly?

 

[ajf]

Welcome to the forum.
For your next brew, I would try something that you like, and check out the Recipe Database section on this forum but stay away from lagers unless you have the means to keep the temperature down to ~50F while fermenting, and down to < 40F while lagering. If you like moose drool, I don't think I would like to guess what other things you would like.

As for sediment in the secondary, that is perfectly normal. It shows that the secondary is doing what it ought (clearing the beer). However, if you skip the secondary and keep the beer in the primary for about 3 weeks, you will get very similar results with a lot less cleaning up.

-a.

 

[mikemet]

Im making a porter- I kinda feel like between fermentation and bottling- nothing is going to beat cracking out a porter in December this year. Im going to toss in Molasses also.

 

[EnjoyGoodBeer]

Thanks guys. What does the term "racking" mean exactly?

Racking: Is moving your beer from your primary to a secondary vessel, or I guess moving it to your bottleing bucket too.

 

[unionrdr]

Well,my first partial mash is almost done with it's second week of fermentation. It's a midwest pm kit. Cascade pale ale. If you like sierra nevada pale ale,then this would be good. There's a dead guy clone in the recipe section somewhere too.

 

[Hamsterbite]

Sounds good to me!

I would skip the secondary fermenter though. The whole reason everyone used to do it this way was to reduce/eliminate autolysis...get the beer off the yeast cake before too many dead/dying cells off flavor the beer. Nowadays, with better overall knowledge of ferm temp control, and the advances in yeast packaging/handling we're not putting the same kinds of stresses on yeast for this to be a detectable problem...at least not in the short term. If you're following John Palmer's book How to Brew, make sure you've got the latest 3rd edition (2006). He explains the recent shift in more detail and why. The online version of his book (although free) is 1st edition and still recomends always using a secondary fermenter.

Remember, everytime you handle/rack your beer, it's a risk. A risk of oxygen exposexposure (which accelerates the staling process) and exposure to wild yeasts/bacteria infection. In short, the benefit to doing a secondary does not outweigh the risk...not anymore.

There are still some legit reasons to secondary though. Basically, any beer that needs to stay in a fermenter for a long period of time, like high gravity barleywines for example. Sour beers, barrel aged beers, fruit beers, lagers etc...but most HB beginners are probably going to be focussed on your more basic ales. Get your sanitary process down, and then move on to those beers if you so desire, but you want to give yourself the opportunity to experience a few of the things that can go wrong with sanitation. I did not experience a (detectable) infection until my 5th extract batch. Some may never get an infection, but then again we don't all have the benefit of having a good teacher, or being able to observe another homebrewer in action.