Questions about primaries and secondaries

[mpenn35]

Ok, so I'm new to brewing and just bottled my first batch recently. One of the brews I'm planning on doing in the near future is a Cooper's Stout. I plan on adding some chocolate nibs and either cherries or raspberries to a portion of this stout, but not the whole thing. That being said, what would I be better off doing?

Starting everything together in my glass carboy, then after a week or two, moving some of the stout to my plastic bucket and adding the nibs and fruit to one of those

OR

Splitting everything from the start, with part of my batch in the carboy and the other part of the batch in the bucket the entire time, before adding nibs and fruit


I'm still a little confused about secondaries. My first brew was a wheat beer, and it stayed in the carboy for three weeks before I moved it to the bucket, added corn sugar, and bottled the same day. Should I have moved to the bucket sooner? Basically, I moved to the bucket so I could add the sugar more easily and to make it easier to bottle.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[david_42]

I only use secondaries for adding fruit or some other adjunct that benefits from the presence of alcohol or has a flavor that is best infused and quickly bottled or kegged. In your case, I would let the beer settle for two weeks after the fermentation is done. Then rack half of it and bottle. Then rack the remainder and add the nibs and fruit. Let them sit for a week and bottle.

 

[TapeDeck]

In the primary for a long time is fine. In the secondary for a long time is fine (though if you've noticed, a lot of folks here are skipping secondary altogether, on this forum) but

A). in the secondary, since most fermentation is done, you don't want a lot of air... so if you're putting half batches into 2 separate secondaries, you will want to get smaller carboys.

B). once it's in the bottling bucket, get it out of the bottling bucket and into bottles. The bottling bucket is the staging for putting the beer away. I mean, you can use it for a secondary just fine, but once the sugar is in, obviously, the beer is more or less done. The bottling bucket is for exactly what you said: adding priming sugar, and getting the beer into bottles.

How did your wheat beer turn out?

 

[mpenn35]

Ok, I really appreciate the help. One thing that had me confused was how a lot of directions and recipes I read talk about "stirring" while in the primary, which is pretty difficult to do without a three and a half foot long stirrer in the carboy. I wasn't quite sure if I did it backwards or what.

Also, my carboy is 18.9 liters, which is essentially five gallons. Do I need to buy a 6.5 for this five gallon batch I'll be doing?

And lastly, I'm still confused on the hydrometer testing...the way I understood it, when you pour the wort and water into the primary, you seal it up with the airlock and don't remove it until you're ready to move to secondary or to bottle. What am I missing here?

Sorry for all the questions!

 

[mpenn35]

Oh, and I'm not sure how the wheat beer turned out yet. Just bottled it on Saturday, so I've got about 19 days left before I can crack one open. I may cheat and open one up after two weeks, if I can't help myself.

 

[aidan]

Oh, and I'm not sure how the wheat beer turned out yet. Just bottled it on Saturday, so I've got about 19 days left before I can crack one open. I may cheat and open one up after two weeks, if I can't help myself.

2 weeks is usually enough for bottle carbing, so nothing wrong with trying one after 2 weeks, actually nothing wrong with having a sample at any stage (I like to drink what I'm bottling while I'm bottling). Plus I believe wheat beer is best young anyway.

 

[mpenn35]

Ok, I'll probably be trying it at the two week mark. The kit said a week, guy at the home brew store said 10-15 days, and everyone on here says three weeks...hard to figure out what to go by on this first go round.

 

[RM-MN]

Different beers take different amounts of time to be ready to bottle and some people have the process so organized that they can shorten any of them. With your first brew and especially since it is a wheat you should try one at a week to see what taste you get. Wait a week and sample another to see if it has changed. By week 3 they should all be ready and you can drink them as you choose.

On the flip side, I brewed a spiced winter warmer last winter and was disappointed with it because it seemed so watery. At about the 3 month time it finally matured and was great. Different beer. Higher alcohol and lots of dark grains and that made the difference.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

2 weeks is usually enough for bottle carbing, so nothing wrong with trying one after 2 weeks, actually nothing wrong with having a sample at any stage (I like to drink what I'm bottling while I'm bottling). Plus I believe wheat beer is best young anyway.

Great advice. I've never met a beer I didn't want to drink. Though I've met a few I didn't want to finish...

 

[TapeDeck]

2 weeks is usually enough for bottle carbing, so nothing wrong with trying one after 2 weeks, actually nothing wrong with having a sample at any stage (I like to drink what I'm bottling while I'm bottling). Plus I believe wheat beer is best young anyway.

So I'd never consumed what I'm making before it gets into the bottle... and last night I bottled a coffee stout... my recommendation here would be to get a pour before you add the priming sugar, because either this batch is a little over-sweet, or I just got a bunch of sweetened beer, from not thinking about it before I poured a glass.

Also, I'm trying the "fill a small plastic water bottle with beer and cap it" thing, so that all of my glass bottles can stay locked up in a warm dark place, while my plastic bottle is now a squeeze-test for how the carbonation is going. I would have never thought of that on my own. Further evidence of this site being awesome.

 

[sweetcell]

My first brew was a wheat beer, and it stayed in the carboy for three weeks before I moved it to the bucket, added corn sugar, and bottled the same day. Should I have moved to the bucket sooner? Basically, I moved to the bucket so I could add the sugar more easily and to make it easier to bottle.

Any help is appreciated.

you're almost certainly fine on the wheat beer. unless you made it high gravity, 3 weeks in primary should have been plenty. moving to a bucket before bottling is exactly what you should do. sounds like you're doing just fine

 

[mpenn35]

you're almost certainly fine on the wheat beer. unless you made it high gravity, 3 weeks in primary should have been plenty. moving to a bucket before bottling is exactly what you should do. sounds like you're doing just fine

Thanks, I think I just got a little ahead of myself reading about people doing brewing that's a little more complex than where I'm at right now. I'm not a big wheat beer fan, but I figured it's a good place to start before I get into learning how to do my favorite kinds of beer (stouts and IPAs.)

 

[DoctorMemory]

Do I need to buy a 6.5 for this five gallon batch I'll be doing?

I have a 5gal carboy, and it really doesn't leave a lot of room for the krausen. If you do use it, consider using a blow-off tube instead of a regular airlock. I'm trying to decide if I want to make my carboy a secondary and pick up a 6.5gal bucket for a primary.

 

[mpenn35]

I have a 5gal carboy, and it really doesn't leave a lot of room for the krausen. If you do use it, consider using a blow-off tube instead of a regular airlock. I'm trying to decide if I want to make my carboy a secondary and pick up a 6.5gal bucket for a primary.

Thanks for the input. I think I'll look for a 6.5 gallon carboy or bucket, but I'll probably pick up a blow off tube too since they're pretty cheap.