Do you have (3) 6.5 gallon carboys? If so, there’s no need to wait to brew. Leave the slobber in the primary until you’re ready to bottle and brew up the EPA in another carboy. You’re not going to get much clarity from going to secondary. Plus it’s a brown ale so it’s not like you can read a newspaper through it. The best thing you can do to improve your homebrews is control the temperature of the beer during fermentation. Make sure that you are keeping the beer temp consistent and in the range of the yeast. Fermentation creates heat so you can expect the beer temp to be higher than the ambient air temp. If you have large temp swings or higher ambient temps, look into a temperature controlled fridge/freezer, fermentation chamber, or a swamp cooler. All three searchable on this forum. Have fun!
[quote=“mvsawyer”]…You’re not going to get much clarity from going to secondary. Plus it’s a brown ale so it’s not like you can read a newspaper through it…
:cheers: [/quote]
that’s not entirely true…
My recent honey brown w/6 week secondary: an english brown ale with fresh honey from washington state.
I only have (1) 6 gal and (2) 5 gal. I’m going to go swap one of the 5’s for another 6 today
You bring up an interesting point about fermenting temps. My temp on the carboy temp gauge reads 58-62 with 60 being green. Is that too cold? I see in the instructions it says 65-75, but I have never seen that temp at all i my 3-4 days so far of fermenting.
I basically poured it into the carboy, sat it on the floor and have left it.
I should also add…this is MN and at night I do turn my heat down to 61 on the main level, but the basement does stay plenty warm, but I’m sure that changes the air temp back and forth from day to night.
I have it sitting off the ground so it’s not directly on concrete and I just now opened up another vent in the area where the beer is slowly but surely fermenting.
Might as well grab another kit with that carboy The temp is a bit low, but that will just take fermentation longer. You could warm it up 5* but if you’re doing it at the expense of heating a basement, I’d leave it at 60. Make sure you test your gravity before you move into the secondary. You need to have at least 2 consecutive days of the same reading to know fermentation is finished. Then it’s safe to secondary and brew up batch #2 (or #3).
I already have an Extra Pale kit and just need a place to ferment it now So I will get the 6 gal carboy this week and be brewing again this weekend and then have 2 beers fermenting…yay !
Per other people suggestions I will leave this in the primary for 3 weeks and not move it to 2ndary.
Summer time brewing will be easier for me…my basement stays nice and cool…
I really don’t want to be building ferm boxes and such just yet. I will see how they come out on the basement floor first.
A cheap an easy way to keep beer at temp is what’s referred to as a “swamp cooler.” A large tub filled with water. Set your carboy in it, and add ice packs when the temp gets too high, or use an aquarium heater if temps get to low. Basements are great for consistent temps though since there is so much insulation
Exactly how I started. After I brewed my first beer, I was ordering another carboy for the second batch. I think by the 4th or 5th (first lager), I was ordering another. I still run out of stock so I’m thinking one more fermenter is in order.
I just saw on Amazon a 6gl carboy for $30 bucks. I have to get my expenses in check (because of Christmas) before i can procure anymore brewing equipment or brew kits.
Northern brewer has plastic 6gal fermenters for $28 + $8 flat rate shipping. This means you can get the fermenter plus beer kits and other equipment and still only pay $8 for shipping.
Ok, so today I had nothing better to do so I decided to increase my beer skillet and move the slobber to a secondary. It all went very smooth, but this clean up sucks I guess at least it takes up more of my weekends I have free.
So the original gravity was about 1.054ish and the final gravity I took today was 1.022ish. I tasted the brew and it was a bit tart I thought, so hopefully over the next 3-6 weeks it will change a bit. I did try the real drool and honestly did not care for it, so I’m hoping this turns out more like Newcastle. The taste was a bit bland as well.
Extra Pale Ale in the other primary right now, hope I did a better job with that one.
1.022 might be a bit high for FG. Did you take a ready 2-3 days ago and get the same? Two weeks in primary is really on the low end in my experience for moving any beer to secondary. But, It may drop a few more points while in secondary.
[q]1.022 might be a bit high for FG. Did you take a ready 2-3 days ago and get the same? Two weeks in primary is really on the low end in my experience for moving any beer to secondary. But, It may drop a few more points while in secondary. [/q]
This was my first FG reading. I will let it sit in secondary for a week and then take another reading. I really don’t care about the ABV on this on, just want it to taste good.
[quote=“GarretD”][q]1.022 might be a bit high for FG. Did you take a ready 2-3 days ago and get the same? Two weeks in primary is really on the low end in my experience for moving any beer to secondary. But, It may drop a few more points while in secondary. [/q]
This was my first FG reading. I will let it sit in secondary for a week and then take another reading. I really don’t care about the ABV on this on, just want it to taste good.[/quote]
It should taste good. ABV is never an issue for me either, but if the yeast don’t get a chance to finish fermenting all the sugar, it could be “sweeter” than you’d like…but it’s still beer.
