this is my first brew ever caribou slobber extract kit started DEC. 29. directions say 1 to 2 weeks primary, 2 to 4 weeks secondary for conditioning and then bottle. and the another 1 to 2 weeks before drinking.
so i have been reading a lot of post and some people say not to do the secondary and just leave it in the primary. and then just bottle it. so what is the correct procedures and the length of time i need to
do do them correctly. a outline would be helpful to me and others new to brewing.
For your first couple of brews I would not do the secondary, I know I did not. put the brew in the fermentor and leave it in there for 4 weeks. This will provide less chances to infect the beer and help keep you from worrying about every little thing that you see with the beer. Also after a week and a half you will stop checking on it every 2 hours and just let it do its thing giving it time to become a good beer. after 2 or 3 batches then I would start using the 2nd fermentor and see if it is something you want to use. I have done like 9 batches now and only use the secondary for longer aging. Cheers and welcome
P.S. many on here will tell you that most problems come from freaking out and trying to correct a problem rather then just letting it be.
Primary only vs. primary and secondary is a debate that can only be decided by the brewer (you). The advantage of no secondary is 1. less cleaning, and 2. slightly faster turnaround for drinking your beer. The advantage of using a secondary is the beer is clearer with less sediment in the bottle/keg.
Try it both ways and see if you prefer one method over the other.
I’d like to add that I think that two weeks in a bottle is too early in my opinion. I have always felt like two week old beers tasted terrible in comparison to a four or six week old beer. But being a new brewer, good luck waiting that long!
I’m a new brewer as well, mid-way through my caribou slobber. This is my first brew.
One thing that is never mentioned in training materials is the gravity of beer. Look into that. Order yourself a hydrometer. There’s some videos on gravity in the learning section as well on this site.
Basically, it’s not about number of weeks for fermentation, it’s about measuring gravity of your beer and seeing if it’s finished. iBrewMaster is a fantastic app that has all of NB kits listed in it and all of the necessary information such as gravity readings.
So, once your beer reaches proper gravity, fermentation is done and you can decide to move it to secondary carboy for conditioning or bottle.
I chose to do secondary just because I’m new and need the practice. There is a small risk involved in moving beer to secondary, just make sure you sanitize everything with starsan.
[quote=“nextexile”]One thing that is never mentioned in training materials is the gravity of beer. Look into that. Order yourself a hydrometer. There’s some videos on gravity in the learning section as well on this site.
Basically, it’s not about number of weeks for fermentation, it’s about measuring gravity of your beer and seeing if it’s finished. [/quote]
▲▲This can’t be stressed enough.
[quote=“Glug Master”][quote=“nextexile”]One thing that is never mentioned in training materials is the gravity of beer. Look into that. Order yourself a hydrometer. There’s some videos on gravity in the learning section as well on this site.
Basically, it’s not about number of weeks for fermentation, it’s about measuring gravity of your beer and seeing if it’s finished. [/quote]
▲▲This can’t be stressed enough.[/quote]
I was shocked to see that NB doesn’t include a hydrometer in their basic starter kit. There are very few other pieces of equipment that I would call basic to any brewing.
my first batch ever…caribou slobber was gone way before it should even been starting to drink…so yeah good luck waiting on your first batch, but it was still good beer
after a while you will have plenty in the pipeline and patience will be easy
[quote=“Barliman”]Primary only vs. primary and secondary is a debate that can only be decided by the brewer (you). The advantage of no secondary is 1. less cleaning, and 2. slightly faster turnaround for drinking your beer. The advantage of using a secondary is the beer is clearer with less sediment in the bottle/keg.
Try it both ways and see if you prefer one method over the other.
J[/quote]
The same amount of sediment will fall out of solution from leaving it in 1 fermenter for 4 weeks as will fall out from being in 1 fermenter for 2 weeks and another for vessel for 2 weeks.
The amount of sediment in the bottle depends on how much sediment is sucked up on the siphon tube. You loose more beer in the transfer process. Keep the siphon 1/2" away from the cake on 1 vessel. Or keep it 1/2" away from the cake on 2 vessels. One is .5" and the other is 1" of lost beer.
Unless I’m dry hopping or it needs to age for a few months I don’t transfer. I just go 4 weeks in the fermentor and then in to the keg or bottle. I’m sure I could get away with 3 or even 2 weeks on “smaller” beers, but no harm will ever come from me waiting an extra week or two.
[quote=“srharrison”]this is my first brew ever caribou slobber extract kit started DEC. 29. directions say 1 to 2 weeks primary, 2 to 4 weeks secondary for conditioning and then bottle. and the another 1 to 2 weeks before drinking.
so i have been reading a lot of post and some people say not to do the secondary and just leave it in the primary. and then just bottle it. so what is the correct procedures and the length of time i need to do do them correctly. a outline would be helpful to me and others new to brewing.[/quote]
No such thing as the “correct” procedure. Take what you read from all the sources and make your process. You may follow 1 person completely, or take bits and pieces from several sources.
You can make this very precise and a lot of work. Or you can figure that beer was made in the Colonial time with very little knowledge and no one died from it.
No such thing as the “correct” procedure. Take what you read from all the sources and make your process. You may follow 1 person completely, or take bits and pieces from several sources.
You can make this very precise and a lot of work. Or you can figure that beer was made in the Colonial time with very little knowledge and no one died from it.[/quote]
So far, this has been the advice I have been using in my first few brews and I am very happy with the results!
As with any endeavor, good input and a thought-out decision tend to pay healthy dividends. Thanks for all the valuable input! 8)
Here is my personal timeline:
My 1st brew, a year ago, I bottled after 1 week, and starting sampling a week after that.
Yeah, I couldn’t wait. But I do remember it was still pretty good.
Since then I’ve played around with primary only, primary plus secondary, adding things to secondary, and various times in both.
What I do depends on my recipe, and partially on timing(ie. do I need the primary for another batch). But I always leave it in primary for a minimum of 2 weeks.
As a general rule, the longer I leave it alone, the more clear it turns out.Flavor is usually smoother too.
Thanks for all the great input. Here is what i decided to do. I want to start another brew. So i guess the best thing for me to do is rack to secondary( going to wait a full 2 weeks) that way i will have my primary too start my next batch. If i had another primary i would have gone the 4 weeks then bottled. this way i won’t have to wait as long to start another brew. thanks again
The same amount of sediment will fall out of solution from leaving it in 1 fermenter for 4 weeks as will fall out from being in 1 fermenter for 2 weeks and another for vessel for 2 weeks.
The amount of sediment in the bottle depends on how much sediment is sucked up on the siphon tube. You loose more beer in the transfer process. Keep the siphon 1/2" away from the cake on 1 vessel. Or keep it 1/2" away from the cake on 2 vessels. One is .5" and the other is 1" of lost beer.[/quote]
+1.
Leave it in the primary for the entire time, use a cold crash for 1-2 days prior to siphoning, and for pete’s sake, don’t simply drop the autosiphon in the fermeter. Instead, hold it suspended just above the cake line, and your beer will be clear enough.
If you like, use a large binder clip on the outside of the autosiphon to mark the spot. Simple & effective. The binder clip will be tight enough to keep itself in place on the autosiphon, and big enough to hold it at the mouth of the carboy (or can be carefully positioned with a bucket, too).
[quote=“BrewingRover”][quote=“Glug Master”][quote=“nextexile”]One thing that is never mentioned in training materials is the gravity of beer. Look into that. Order yourself a hydrometer. There’s some videos on gravity in the learning section as well on this site.
Basically, it’s not about number of weeks for fermentation, it’s about measuring gravity of your beer and seeing if it’s finished. [/quote]
▲▲This can’t be stressed enough.[/quote]
I was shocked to see that NB doesn’t include a hydrometer in their basic starter kit. There are very few other pieces of equipment that I would call basic to any brewing.[/quote]
I got the middle grade starter kit from them and they included the hydrometer, beer thief, and test tube. They also went into testing gravity on the dvd that comes with it.
