My friend and I just bought the Deluxe Brew Kit. New home brewers. We boiled the wort with no spillovers - sanitized everything - can’t think of anything we did wrong (outside of our very limited knowledge since we’re new to this) And we have two issues that we are concerned with…
1.) We are getting hardly any bubbles in the blow-off assembly.
2.) There is a thick white substance at the bottom of our primary ferment tank.
We have had our wort and water mixture in the carboy for 9 days now.
Looks pretty normal to me. The stuff at the bottom is yeast. Primary fermentation very well be finished, so you wouldnt see many more bubbles. The best way to check is to take a gravity reading for a few days straight. If the reading stays the same for a few days then primary fermentation is finished.
Agreed with everything the good Dr. says. She looks done. But… when visible signs of fermentation are done, the yeast are not finished. They slowly, and uneventfully, ferment the leftovers and byproducts that they skipped over during the first vigorous fermentation. This usually takes a couple days, so they are probably finished there as well. Then the yeast and proteins and hop particles gradually settle and compact on the bottom. You want to give her a good week for this to happen- so figure on a good 2 weeks total. But as DrShoom indicates, the only way to can tell if your beer is ready to package are to get 2 stable SG readings over a 2-3 day period. Don’t bottle until you get that. And if it fits your schedule to not bottle for another couple weeks, that’s just fine. The beer will wait.
If that is the Caribou Slobber kit that came with the a little extra time will REALLY help this beer. It will give the malts more time to really express themselves and bring out the more subtle malt flavors (toffee, chocolate, raison, etc). I have the CS in the fermenter as well going to let it sit there for 4-6 weeks, then bottle condition for another 4-6 weeks, If I can wait that long…It’s a good beer after three weeks, but better after three months.
Bottle her up, and try one after a week, another after two weeks, and, if any is left (set a sixer back) try it again after a few months. This will give you a much better idea what conditioning does and how the maltier beers age.
Our kit came with the 6 Gallon carboy that we’re using and a 5 Gallon carboy for a secondary fermentation. I don’t understand what the second stage is for… Because it sounds like its not needed for this particular brew. What do you all think?
Our kit came with the 6 Gallon carboy that we’re using and a 5 Gallon carboy for a secondary fermentation. I don’t understand what the second stage is for… Because it sounds like its not needed for this particular brew. What do you all think?[/quote]
Most folks say to skip secondary. Maybe use it if adding stuff, like fruit or dry hop. Otherwise, it doesn’t do much. I will say, though, I secondary all the time. Mostly because I do dry hop, and it opens up a fermentor for the next batch.
Long story short, don’t do it because the instructions say to. It really isn’t necessary for the beer.
[quote=“uberculture”][quote=“luke_mclain”]It is the Caribou Slobber!
Our kit came with the 6 Gallon carboy that we’re using and a 5 Gallon carboy for a secondary fermentation. I don’t understand what the second stage is for… Because it sounds like its not needed for this particular brew. What do you all think?[/quote]
Most folks say to skip secondary. Maybe use it if adding stuff, like fruit or dry hop. Otherwise, it doesn’t do much. I will say, though, I secondary all the time. Mostly because I do dry hop, and it opens up a fermentor for the next batch.
Long story short, don’t do it because the instructions say to. It really isn’t necessary for the beer.[/quote]
Assuming the stuff settled on the bottom isn’t siphoned - Does moving the beer to a secondary fermentor reduce cloudiness?
The beer will clear just as well in the primary as it would being moved to a secondary vessel. I will give my beers at least three weeks in the primary. Careful siphoning and careful pouring into the glass will yield a crystal clear beer.
I tilt my fermentor, with a piece of 2 x 4, the day before I siphon to the bottling bucket. This allows getting the maximum amount of beer into the bottling bucket and being able to keep the end of the auto siphon above the yeast/trub layer.
I have the Velvet Rooster in a primary right now. This one will more than likely be in the primary for at least five weeks for flavors to build.
