The glass carboy will last forever with repeated scrubbing and cleansing.
The other kit must be using some kind of plastic bucket for a fermenter, right? That’s fine short term but the plastic will scratch with repeated cleaning and scratches can hide wild yeasts and bacteria that can spoil your beer.

:LOL: They’re not quite that bad. I started with a small Mr. Beer kit and made some acceptable tasting beers with it but IMO you’re not going to make beer that you will proudly hand a friend to taste until you grow beyond what Mr. Beer will do.

I assume then that the ones without a carboy just have a single fermenting bucket?

The carboy is for the secondary fermentation stage. You will siphon off the primary into the carboy, leaving all the crap (dead yeast, etc. called trub) that has settled to the bottom behind. There will still be live yeast, suspended in the wort to continue the fermentation process. Basically it helps you produce a clearer, less hazy beer and helps prevent some off flavors being introduced by sitting on the trub too long.

I would recommend getting the kit with the carboy.

Thanks, guys. :thumb:

I'm just curious of why would the plastic bucket scratch. Wouldn't you clean it with a dish rag and then sanitize it by rinsing with bleach mixture or sanitizing solution? At what point would it get scratched?

Is a P.E.T. carboy okay? Or would you guys recommend glass carboy?

Plastic is soft, even using a soft rag and being careful you will still eventually scuff the surface.
Glass is much harder, you can use an actual carboy brush to clean it.

Glass.
You could get tricky and plunk down the coin for a conical fermenter.
I’ve wanted one of these since I first saw them, just don’t brew enough to justify the cost.

http://morebeer.com/search/103794/be...Beer_Fermenter

http://www.marijuana-picture.com/gal...lver_pearl.jpg

Aint it pretty

I have a plastic one. It's fine. Do you plan on brewing a shit ton or like once every couple months.

One thing to either make or invest 40-50 bucks in is a wort chiller. The difference is taking an hour or so to cool the beer down vs. like 5 minutes. (you need to get your boiling beer down to 70 degrees ASAP)

That's a nice piece of equipment. But couldn't you just put your boiling pot in a sink full of ice water?

That's what takes an hour or so.

And you need a lot of ice and a big sink for a 6 or so gallon pot.

I see. I may grab one of those down the road. But for now, I don't want to spend the extra $$.

OOOOOOkay!

I did my first couple of batches using the ice method and they turned out fine. It is much quicker using the chiller, however.
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Your worts most vulnerable time is between when you stop boiling and when the yeast starts fermenting. That's what makes a wort chiller nice is you can shorten the time your wort is exposed before you pitch your yeast to it. But a sink full of ice will do the job if you're careful, like Dartgod I did my first couple of batches that way.

Okay, got my kit and I'm ready to brew my first batch this weekend. A couple questions for you guys that know this stuff.

- I will be using the glass carboy for the fermenting stage. Correct?

- Then I will siphon it into the plastic bucket for the bottling process after the fermentation period (1 week? Or was that 2 weeks? - need to go back to John Palmer's site for reference). Do I have this right? The reason I ask is that the plastic bucket also has a hole in the top for the airlock. My understanding is that I should ferment in the carboy and transfer to bucket after this stage in order to get rid of some of the sediment prior to bottling.

- Its okay to pour hot boiled water into the glass carboy?

bucket....then carboy. edit: guess it really doesnt matter, thats just the way i do it.

No, you have to cool the beer down to 70 F then put in it the bucket.

no set amount of time. i keep mine in longer than 2 weeks before even transferring to carboy

Wish I would have caught this thread again a week ago.

I have a glass carboy that I really want to get rid of. For me the plastic Better Bottles are just superior because of saftey factor alone. I have heard horror stories of people dropping and breaking the glass carboys that really makes me nervous when I have to use mine.

What size of glass carboy did you get? If it is the 6.5 Gallon size then you will use it for primary fermentation, if you only got the 5 Gallon carboy then that is more of a secondary fermentation (which is really only necessary when you are making a beer that requires more conditioning time such as a lager or a high gravity beer). From what you are describing, it sounds like you got both a fermenting bucket and a glass carboy, did you get another bucket for bottling?

What type of beer are you making? 2 weeks is a good amount of time for most beers, and pretty much the absolute minimum time I will will ferment for.

You should not pour boiling water into the glass carboy. Temperature shock could cause it to break. What I have done in the past is boiled the top off water, let it cool for a while on the stove, then pour it into a sanitized fementer (bucket or Carboy) and then throw my airlock on and put it in fridge to cool down while I do the rest of my brewing. If you don't have a fridge, just let it hang out with the airlock on while you are brewing, but make sure you check the temperature when combining.

Secondary is really just needed for extended periods of conditioning. Autolysis (The main reason you transfer to a secondary) has been proven to take a lot longer than previously thought to occur. I had an experimental batch of a very light Blonde Ale that was in the primary for 2 1/2 months to see if my brewing club could detect any autolysis, it was consensus that they could not detect any. I have read other people's accounts that have said the same thing, as does Mr. Palmer himself.

So I guess in summary, the transfer from the primary to the secondary has more chance of harming your beer than leaving your yeast on the beer for anything less than a few months. I have used secondary once in my brewing life and had no discernible different.

See, this is why I'm confused on this. This shows it fermenting in the carboy.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter8-2-2.html

Absolutely correct on this point. To clean my plastic I let it soak in oxyclean or PBW overnight, then I dump out all but just a bit of the liquid, stuff a rag in it, and use centrifugal force to clean the inside. Works very well, and no chance of a heavy, wet glass carboy slipping out of my hand. To me that is more benefit than possibly having to replace my carboys 5-10 years down the road.

I have a keg, cause bottling sucks major wang....

So does cooling down without a wort chiller...

Before I had a carboy I would transfer the beer to the keg, wash out and sanitize the bucket, then syphon the beer right back into it. But, I ended up ponying up for the carboy cause i like to stare at it like its a saltwater aquarium.

Link to the kit you bought, please.

It's probably a larger carboy. Mine is a 5 gallon carboy, so if i fermented in it, it would blow the top off.

The bucket is 6 gallon, so there is room to breathe while fermenting intensly.

Then transfer to the 5 for conditioning.

This is the kit.

http://brewgadgets.com/beerequipkits.htm

The True Brew Handbook
7.8 Gallon Primary Fermenting Bucket with Drilled and Grommeted Lid. This bucket also comes with a spigot so that it can be used as a bottling bucket.
5 Gallon Glass Carboy
(Perfect size for making beer because of the limited head space)
5 Gallon Stainless Steel Kettle with Lid
The True Brew Bottle Filler
Fermometer Adhesive Fermentation Thermometer
True Brew Rack & Fill Kit
Hydrometer
Red Emily Double Lever Capper
Bottle Brush
Carboy Brush
24" Food Grade Plastic Spoon
3 Piece Airlock
C-Brite Sanitizer 8-pack
And Your Choice of These True Brew Ingredient Kits which includes all the ingredients and bottling caps

You want to ferment in the bucket, partner.

Oh, and I got the True Brew Brown Ale kit.

Yep, the process they want you to use is primary in the bucket, transfer to the carboy after at least 2 weeks for conditioning, then use the primary bucket as your bottling bucket.

For a brown, 2-3 weeks in the primary would be fine.

on a side note, my second batch of winter ale (with crushed up cinnamon, allspice, and ginger) is getting transferred to carboy tonight.

...giggity.

Ok, so let me review just to be sure I'm fully understanding.

After the boil and cool down of the wort, I put it into the bucket. 2-3 weeks later, I transfer to the carboy for conditioning? At what point and in which container do I add the priming sugar?

Sounds delish!

I have brewed to capacity for sister's wedding in a week (7 5gal Corny kegs), which means I have no beer on tap for me :(

Another question. What if I wanted to brew another batch while this one is ready for the conditioning stage? Can I bottle from the carboy so that I can use the fermentation bucket for a different batch? The kit came with a rack and fill kit.

What do you guys do if you ever decide you want to brew a lager? I don't have an extra fridge in which to do that (wishing now that I would have kept my old fridge when we got a new one a couple weeks ago instead of giving it to my niece).

Yes to all. Dmac may be more apt to answer you on how long to secondary because I just don't do it.

As far as adding the sugar, after you let it hang out in the secondary for a while, you will boil the 5 oz or so of priming sugar in with a little water, throw that into your sanitized bucket, siphon from the carboy to the bucket. (I would put the hose in a position so that it would gently swirl the beer while transferring, so that it would mix the priming sugar evenly). Then transfer to bottles.

Yep.

I use the 1-2-3 rule

1 week in the primary, although you want to make sure that the specific gravity is pretty close to the final product and activity in the airlock has almost ceased.

Then I transfer to the carboy (secondary). Make sure all your transfer equipment; siphon, tubing, carboy, etc. is properly sanitized. You won't get every last drop transfered over. Just leave all the dead yeast and other crap in the bucket.

2 weeks in the secondary and then transfer back into the bucket for bottling. Again, make sure everything is sanitized well including your bottles and caps.

3 weeks in the bottle (minimum) before drinking. I prefer to wait 6 weeks myself, but will usually pop one open after 3 just to make sure all is well.

You also want to measure the specific gravity before starting the fermentation. You can compare it to the final gravity measurement and get an accurate idea off the alcohol content.

If it was me, I would go get another bucket that is just a bottling bucket. That way you can have two batches going at once, and not have to worry about emptying the primary to have bottling bucket.

Also,theoretically, you could just bottle from the primary or secondary. They have little pellets of priming sugar that you just put into each bottle, then transfer the beer into the bottles. This would probably leave you with a bit more sedimentation in your bottles though. I personally have never used those priming tablets though.

I do a 2-1 rule myself.

2 weeks in the primary. 1 week in the secondary. And i dont bottle, so usually a 3-4 days just sitting in the keg carbonatin.

I wouldn't attempt to have more than one batch going until you have 2 or 3 under your belt and understand the process well.

If you want to lager, you will have to have some sort of way to keep your temperatures down. Now is a perfect time to lager if you don't have a dedicated fridge; cold basement temps or possibly garage? It just about being able to keep it at a fairly consistent 50 degrees or so (depending on your yeast).

There is always the Steam beer alternative, lager yeast at ale temps, as well.

Heh heh. That's probably a good idea. I'm just kinda gung ho right now. :D

Screw that! Balls to the wall Lzen!

I would be more in agreement with this. 1 week in primary is just not enough time to let the yeast do there full job.

No oxidation, easier to keep sanitary. Plastic scratches pretty easily, and those scratches are when bugs and mold and stuff can dig in an live. You're not going to have that problem with a glass carboy.

:eek: Tell sis she owes you big time. ;)

I have to admit I haven’t brewed in years, mostly because my free time has been spent on my Jeep, but this topic has inspired me to dust off my brew gear and brew up a batch.
Since Mrs. Radar’s English pen pal is coming back this year and he kept raving about “bitters” but we couldn’t find a comparable microbrew, I’m going to brew a batch of it. I figure if I get after it now I should be able to have it ready by the time he gets here in June.

Your Mrs. has a dude in England that she writes letters to?

Sure. He came and spent two weeks with us last year. Had a blast too.

Oh...

Ok then.

:thumb:

http://www.gifsoup.com/view/94500/jer-o.gif

First batch is in the fermenting bucket in the basement. Airlock is bubbling and temp. is around 63. In about a month, I should have a brown ale to drink. :)

I know, I even let her outside unsupervised.

Last night, the temp was getting low (around 60F). So I put a couple towels and a strand of Christmas lights around the bucket. Temp this morning was about 68F. :)

Don't be too scared if it is in the 60-68 range, as long as it is still fermenting then you are good. Just remember that if you do get in that lower range (60 and below), make sure to bring it up to around 68 degrees for a diacetyl rest a few days before racking. Diacetyl causes a slick, butter like quality in the beer and is cause when the yeast ferment to low and are not allowed to consume all the diacetyl present. Believe me, I know, I made a batch and was always told, low temps are good, just avoid high temps at all costs. While good advice, no one made me aware of the issue of diacetyl and it tasted like buttered popcorn (worked really good for some beer battered fish though, lol). Just making sure it hits 68-70 degrees a few days before you rack is all that you need to do.

Christmas lights, brilliant!

So how did the process go? Any issues?

Yeah, did ya boil over??

No boil over. Process went pretty well. Only issue was cool down took a while. Didn't occur to me at first that I should have been using a sink full of ice water instead of just ice. ;)

Wish I could take credit for the Christmas lights idea. I saw that somewhere else (youtube?).

ahem....

WORT CHILLER

LOL

Ah come on, you got to do it in a ice bath a couple time before you can truly appreciate a wort chiller. :)

Lol. I hear ya. I told you I would probably eventually grab one. I just didn't want to spend any more than I already have at this point. ;)

Popped open one of my first batch of home brew (brown ale) on Sunday. It was only a week after bottling, but it actually tasted pretty good. By this Sunday I think the carbonation should be at full strength and it will be even better. Thanks again to everyone for the great advice on getting me started. :thumb:

Congrats on a successful brew. :clap: After you’re positive they’ve had enough carbonating time throw a few in the fridge for a couple of weeks. You’ll be amazed how much they mellow and blend with some time in the fridge.

Sweet dude!

The only other tip I will give you is go easy on the sharing. I know you want people to taste what you have created, but trust me, it goes FAST.

So if you do drink a lot or share a lot, just know when to start the other one so you dont have to wait as long.

Canadian Ale.

Grains:
.5# cara pils
.5# Canadian 2 row barley (or any suitable 2 row substitute)

Extract:
4# light malt liquid extract(or 1 3.3# can if your supplier does not bulk extracts)
2# light spray malt

Hops:
2 oz. willamette hops (pellet)

Yeast:
WLP001 California Ale

Steep: 20 mins. Single rinse

Boil:30 mins, first oz hops at boil, 2nd oz at end of boil.

pitch yeast at 70 deg. primary 7-10 days Secondary 2 weeks. (First at ambient, second at 40 deg.) carbonate at 22psi for 7 days. Or prime and bottle. Age 30 days before refrigerating.

You will like it.

edit. If you are still bottling, secondary should be done at ambient (60-72) Its been a while since ive bottled.

You really wont need a wort chiller as long as you are extract or partial mash brewing. When you go all grain, you will. Oh and if you have a sanitary supply of ice, you can add 5# in the fermentation bucket to cool the 2 or 3 gals of wort you just brewed, then add sanitary water to the 5 gallon line. Thats what I do, but I have fresh spring water to my faucets which I can freeze in plastic bags. I know different areas present different challenges. Still take one gallon of safe water and split it into two gallon sized freezer bags and freeze them. Drop one into each of your next two batches, then pour the hot wort over them.

I am in the middle of two batches right now which will be in primary tonight. One is the Canadian that I posted.

I will brew lagers and pils next because my basement will be up to temp enough to ferment by then.

finished. two batches tucked away in our spare room. First brews since just after the holidays. Three weeks I brew a pils and I am pondering the other lager. I get two shots at these then its back to ales.

For a completey different beer from almost the same recipe I filed above. Add 1# cara amber to the grains (single rinse still ok, bigger rinse pot needed) and change the yeast to Wyeast British Ale 1135.

The Brew goes from a lighter ale with a nice herbal nose to a maltier and more full bodied brew. Thats without even changing hops or extracts. This is a good excercise to enjoy what a different yeast can do to your beer. The pound of grains will add some body and malt, true, as well as darkening the ale a bit. But the big difference here will be the yeast.

Anyone have any good supplier recommendations (looking for recipe kits, mainly)? If not, I'm gonna try out Midwest Supplies (thanks 1moreTRich). I was using Brewgadgets but wanted to find something perhaps a little cheaper.

I have now brewed 3 batches. The first one was a brown ale and it turned out pretty well. Most people that tried it enjoyed it. The one person who said he didn't was a regular Bud Select drinker so I take that opinion with a grain of salt.

The 2nd batch was a porter. I don't know if I messed up during the process somewhere, put some in the fridge too early, or its simply not a great tasting beer. It tasted a bit sweet. I will try it again now that it has had a few weeks fermentation time and see if it has gotten any better.

The most recent one is a pale ale. This turned out well, too. While its not as great a pale as Blvd or Sierra Nevada, it is pretty good and I will definitely be enjoying drinking those. Again, I tried it after about a week to a week and a half of bottling. I know it will get better with a little more aging so I'm happy with the way it turned out. I even loved smelling those extra hops when I was brewing this one. :)

I go to Bacchus & Barleycorn in Shawnee. Midwest Supplies is good if you're looking online.

Yeah, the only problem is that I live in Topeka. We have a place called Ale & Vino. I remembered seeing commercials for it years ago. So I went over to check it out and was disappointed. Their selection is lame. Pretty much just a little hole in the wall mom and pop shop in a crappy section of town.

Oh, and DMAC I still don't have a wort chiller. :p

I don't know what the prices are like, but you have a homebrew/wine making shop in Topeka.

http://www.ale-n-vino.com/index.html


EDIT: Just read your last post, so nevermind.

:loser:

Dont worry though...I'm just as much of a :loser:...

I unplugged the kegerator to plug in a shop vac real quick. Then forgot to plug it back in.

Luckily there was no beer in there but there was beef and chicken in the freezer that sat in the heat of the garage for over a week. It stinks bad dude.

For any of my extra supplies (my brew club does bulk grain and hop buys) I almost exclusively use http://www.brewmasterswarehouse.com/. Their prices are comparable and they have great customer service. Their brewbuilder is awesome and you can search through other brewer's recipes for ideas. You get a 10% discount when you use the brewbuilder to buy ingredients with code BBBYO.

As for the porter, usually when it turns out on the sweet side, it got racked before the yeast were done or you had a stuck fermentation. How long did you let it sit in the primary? Did you take a gravity reading when you bottled it?

Just a tip, if you love the hoppy aroma of pales and ipa, try dry hopping (add some hops in the carboy around 3-7 days before you rack it to bottles). It gives it such an extra dimension. I don't make a pale or IPA without dry hopping.

Oh the aroma is so flowery. Makka me hoppy happy.

:drool:

Thanks for the tips. I will definitely try dry hopping next time.