Probably should have done this before cooking up my first batch last night, but oh well. Got a beginners kit from Austin Homebrew Supply and have an amber (extract kit) fermenting right now, and a pale ale kit in the mail. Planning to do a secondary fermentation on it. Any suggestions or tips for the upcoming steps, or in general?
Welcome the forum and to the hobby!
Many people have decided to leave the secondary fermentor in the box for most beers anymore. A week or 2 longer in the primary will generally clar the beer and not transferring to the second vessel reduces the risk of oxygen. You can do a secondary if you like. I did many of them when I started out too.
Just something to think about.
Paul
Welcome. If you like to clean and sanitize, you too can brew beer.
My recommendation is to prioritize the bombardment of information to fit your desired goals. Only use the information you need at this point in your journey. Evaluate and decide for yourself if it’s right for your brewery.
The example is Slowbrew’s recommendation above: he gave good advice on secondary fermentation. You may choose to still use secondary fermentation …that is your choice. Many do. But his advice gives a pretty good reason not to discovered by others who’ve gone before you. Which is why many do not.
Cheers!
My best advice is to relax and enjoy the journey of becoming a brewer. There is a lifetime of learning available, or you can keep it really simple. There are many ways to do many things. Learn to chose what’s for you by knowing what you want from the hobby, and by trying things out before believing the hype.
At this point, cleaning and sanitation is important. Making sure the beer is done fermenting before bottling is important. Keeping it fun is important.
I highly suggest a book called How To Brew by John Palmer. If you are an auditory learner, you might enjoy podcasts like BeerSmith, Basic Brewing Radio, Experimental Brewing, and Brew Strong. Try to start with early episodes that talk about home brewing processes.
Welcome and enjoy
Thanks, all. I have read most of Palmer, and that was sort of the path I had decided I wanted to go. Do a few extract kits first following the recipes to the letter, then eventually progress to the point where I am capable of creating things on my own. That’s partly why I want to do a secondary, to get the experience of the process.
There’s nothing wrong with knowing from personal experience.
FWIW, Palmer says don’t do a secondary.
Welcome. You have received a bunch of good advice above. Enjoy the best hobby ever.
Welcome.
FWIW, Palmer says don’t do a secondary.
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Palmer says noobs shouldn’t, but that it’s a process that benefits almost every style. If I don’t do it this time, I still want to do it in one of the next few batches that I brew.
Again, yes you should. And compare what you get out of doing one and not doing one. Actually, that could be a great first experiment. Palmer may be right, or may be wrong.
There’s nothing wrong with transferring to secondary. I did it many times when I started brewing. My considered opinion is that you only need to transfer to secondary if you’re going to dry hop, the reason being that the lipid rich yeast cells absorb the hop oils and other desirable hop components, and you will leave that behind in the fermentor when you keg the brew if there’s a lot of yeast present.
If I dry hop I wait until fermentation is at one bubble per minute or less (an arcane measurement system if ever there was one before transferring and dry hopping. I once dry hopped an active brew, and the brew room smelled great, but the beer didn’t because all the aroma went out the air lock. Live and learn. lol
Charlie
Great insight, thanks. I think dry hopping is a ways off for me, but I’ll keep it in mind.
That’s another reason I want to do it.
What do you guys recommend as a good next style for me to do to expand my knowledge base?
It looks like you have Amber and Pale Ale covered. I recommend a stout for St Patrick’s Day. If that’s not your cup of tea maybe an Irish Red or even Blonde.
One of the first kits that I got was the White House Honey Porter kit. Mine was through Northern Brewer. As I recall there were steeping grains and extract. Got some good reviews from friends on that one.
That could allow you an intro to working with grains as well as extract.
Palmer says noobs shouldn’t, but that it’s a process that benefits almost every style. If I don’t do it this time, I still want to do it in one of the next few batches that I brew.
Sent from my SM-J510L using Tapatalk
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From this very forum…
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=15108.msg191642#msg191642
“Therefore I, and Jamil and White Labs and Wyeast Labs, do not recommend racking to a secondary fermenter for ANY ale, except when conducting an actual second fermentation, such as adding fruit or souring. Racking to prevent autolysis is not necessary, and therefore the risk of oxidation is completely avoidable. Even lagers do not require racking to a second fermenter before lagering. With the right pitching rate, using fresh healthy yeast, and proper aeration of the wort prior to pitching, the fermentation of the beer will be complete within 3-8 days (bigger = longer). This time period includes the secondary or conditioning phase of fermentation when the yeast clean up acetaldehyde and diacetyl.”
Welcome to the addiction ahem I mean hobby!
The first piece of advice I got (I started with kits as well, Mr Beer, and I still extract brew) is to ditch the yeast in the kits. I don’t know about Austin Beer, but Mr Beer came with a pack of generic “Mr Beer Ale Yeast”. No idea how old it is or what strain it is. Likely a neutral ale like WL01 or US-05.
As you get into more complicated styles, many of them are yeast dependent. A lot of Belgian style beers derive a lot (if not all) of their flavors from the yeast. Matching up yeast derived flavors with hop and malt derived flavors is the fun part for me.
Welcome to the fascinating world of homebrewing. My suggestion is to brew beers that you like - repeat them until you have a process down and the results are consistent - batch to batch. Then look to tackle new and unfamiliar styles, with the knowledge that your basic process is solid. Then give beer to your friends and they will be there as you evolve and give you a reason to brew more often. Cheers!