Correct a mistake from a first time brewer

[baltimorebrew]

I did my first solo brew this weekend. I watched the DVD a few times and read the instructions many times. Somehow I missed one key thing. I did the primary fermentation in the 5 gallon plastic carboy. I even thought it was suspicious when I measured where 5 gallons was that it was so high.

Anyway, I realized the mistake when I woke up and the airlock popped off and foam was coming out. I sanitized the blow off hose and set it up properly.

2 questions:
Will it be ok to continue?
Should I just do 4 weeks in the primary and skip secondary? I’m afraid of how much extra space there will be if I rack to the 6.5 gallon carboy as that is the only other one I have.

[dobe12]

It will be ok. I don’t know which kit you made, but skipping the secondary is usually recommended. Most likely, your beer will be ready to rack in 2-3 weeks. And yes, since it’s already fermenting, you’d do more damage than good if you racked to another fermentor now. Just leave it go. I’m sure the worst is over.

[baltimorebrew]

Thanks for your quick reply. I did the Caribou Slobber, very excited since it had a lot of good reviews.

Can’t wait for my next one, it’s not as scary to brew as I thought it would be, even with making minor mistakes

[loopie_beer]

[quote=“baltimorebrew”]I did my first solo brew this weekend. I watched the DVD a few times and read the instructions many times. Somehow I missed one key thing. I did the primary fermentation in the 5 gallon plastic carboy. I even thought it was suspicious when I measured where 5 gallons was that it was so high.

Anyway, I realized the mistake when I woke up and the airlock popped off and foam was coming out. I sanitized the blow off hose and set it up properly.

2 questions:
Will it be ok to continue?
yes everything is fine. As the CO2 is expelled it pushes all the air flow up and away from fermenter thus keeping contaminants away. You can just leave the blow off tube on.
Should I just do 4 weeks in the primary and skip secondary? I’m afraid of how much extra space there will be if I rack to the 6.5 gallon carboy as that is the only other one I have.[/quote]
lots out there in regards to secondary or not. I’m from the school of secondaries as I see it clear my beer quicker. I understand your concern of headspace but your beer will have dissolved CO2 in it and will protect it by off gassing once racked. Chances are you dont need a secondary. My advice would be to keep this one in primary and finish it. Next time use the correct fermenters and see if secondary helps or beer or not.

[sampothepancake]

Welcome to your first screw up. My first brew day, I misread the instructions and added my hop schedule backwards. I found out it is actually kind of hard to really screw a beer up.

A lot of brewers don’t bother with a secondary anyway, so I wouldn’t worry. You might want to bottle sooner than 4 weeks though.

[radagast]

I did the same thing myself on my first batch. I assumed (always a bad idea As long as you use the blow off hose, you will lose some beer out of it because of the foam but the beer will turn out just fine.

:cheers:
Rad

[baltimorebrew]

Great, thanks guys! Can’t wait to taste it.

[old_guy]

Just one thing, rely on your hydrometer to tell you when the beer is done. Take a couple or 3 consecutive days readings, and if it doesn’t change and it’s in the finished range then bottle or keg it.
One thing I tell new brewers is to have patience, and don’t be in a rush. Good luck.