I am planning on brewing my very first batch this coming up weekend based off a recipe a friend gave me for a great starter not sure where it came from but i tasted his and couldn’t put it down.
6lb gold LME for the fermentables
2 oz Special B, 8 oz caramel 80, 2 oz Roasted Malt for specialty grains
Dry yeast
and 2 1 oz hop additions…1 at 60 minutes the other at 5
Everything i have been reading has me split on if i should let it ferment in the primary for 3-4 weeks and then just bottle…or 1 - 1 1/2 weeks in the primary then rack to a secondary.
Obviously i want to make a great first beer but im not trying for perfection. i want to get the basics down first. The only advantage i can see of using a secondary is clarity…but would leaving it in the primary result in any kind of off flavors that i should be worried about?
You will get the same clarity with either option. Time allows the solids to drop out of suspension. If it’s 3 weeks in one vessel, or 1.5 in one and 1.5 in another.
Save yourself some cleaning/sanitizing and use let it sit for 3 weeks in one vessel.
[quote=“Sittin”]yes i only knew it as brown ale…im more of a hop head but i wanted to start with something that wouldn’t be to hard.
thanks for the advice…ill just be leaving it in the primary for 3 weeks ish then racking into a bottling bucket…will let u know how it turns out[/quote]
Stable hydrometer readings will tell you when fermentation is complete. By the time three weeks goes by it may be done. If it isn’t, and the fermentaion continues in the bottles there is a very great chance the bottles will explode in a week or two.
So i finished my brew day at at 630 saturday night…ended up using Muntons dry ale yeast 6g pitched at 72 F…
after doing some searching on various forums im reading both good and bad things about this yeast
so the question now that i cant seems to find is lag time for this yeast to start doing its thing…
being close to 48 hours after pitch i would expect to see something coming out from the airlock but nothing…is this normal and im just getting paranoid for no reason or should it already have shown so sign of fermentation?
its currently sitting at 66 degrees in a dark closet.
thinking it was not sealed right got a spray bottle with some starsan in it and sprayed around the rim looking to see if any bubbles appeared but didnt see any so i think i have a good seal
and i should mention that i did not rehydrate the yeast. i just sprinkles it all around the top before i put the lid on the fermentor
I always say to not be concerned until 72hrs. Very rarely will it not take off by then. If you have a brew store near by, it would not hurt to get a back up pack just in case.
