First Brew

[BrewsterAZ]

Had my first brew day on Sunday. No major misshaps other than the fact that I had the wrong pot for my electric stove. It was hard to get a boil going.

Anyway. Took a count of airlock activity two days ago and it was going at about 1 bub per 10 seconds. Today it's down to 1 bub per 45 seconds. I'm thinking of moving it to a secondary soon as I want to do a second batch this weekend and will need my fermenter.

Should I do a gravity check before moving it? What I am asking I guess is do I want to make sure fermentation is done before moving to a secondary?

[ziggy]

It doesn't need to be done before you move it to secondary. It only needs to be done before you bottle it.

[brewinhard]

You will be better off if you leave the beer in primary for a full 2 weeks. This allows the yeast to completely finish fermentation as well as clean up any off-flavors they might have produced during the fermentation (acetaldehyde, diacetyl, etc). Unfortunately, rushing a beer is not a wise idea just b/c you need the fermenter. The yeast do not care about your timeframe. Let the first one finish, then brew another when your fermenter is open. Your beer will be better off for it.

[kswbeer]

brewinhard gives good advice.

Just remember that a lot of pro breweries have compressed processes, and don't leave the beer on the yeast cake for more than a handful of days.

"If it makes good beer, it's a good idea."

[spiderwrangler]

You will be better off if you leave the beer in primary for a full 2 weeks. This allows the yeast to completely finish fermentation as well as clean up any off-flavors they might have produced during the fermentation (acetaldehyde, diacetyl, etc). Unfortunately, rushing a beer is not a wise idea just b/c you need the fermenter. The yeast do not care about your timeframe. Let the first one finish, then brew another when your fermenter is open. Your beer will be better off for it.

Although, if you transfer when the beer is still active, it will have plenty of yeast still in suspension to finish out in his secondary vessel. I deal with this in my set up because I have a large carboy and a 5 gal. If I need the bigger one to have a bigger headspace for the initial ferment, I'll go ahead and move the beer to the 5 gal carboy once the krausen has dropped. That being said, the point about not rushing beer is a good one. Any recipe that tells you to do something for a certain number of days, just don't listen (except perhaps dryhopping). Let it ferment til it's done.

[brewinhard]

brewinhard gives good advice.

Just remember that a lot of pro breweries have compressed processes, and don't leave the beer on the yeast cake for more than a handful of days.

"If it makes good beer, it's a good idea."

They also tend to pitch more yeast than homebrewers do which can accelerate this process.

I also feel that racking to secondary can introduce oxygen and potential infections. Plus I am just lazy so cleaning/sanitizing/racking to a secondary is just simply more work. Better off to go buy another primary fermenter if possible.

[kswbeer]

Good point about them pitching more yeast.

[Joe'Bronco]

brewinhard gives good advice.

Just remember that a lot of pro breweries have compressed processes, and don't leave the beer on the yeast cake for more than a handful of days.

"If it makes good beer, it's a good idea."

They also tend to pitch more yeast than homebrewers do which can accelerate this process.

I also feel that racking to secondary can introduce oxygen and potential infections. Plus I am just lazy so cleaning/sanitizing/racking to a secondary is just simply more work. Better off to go buy another primary fermenter if possible.

There is a debate about the need of a secondary. Its all really just personal preference.

I only use a secondary when im ageing for longer than a month, on oak, or if im dry hopping. Secondary CAN introduce oxygen if your process in not 100%. It CAN introduce infections if your sanitizing is not 100%. BUT If you take all precautions when transferring to secondary you can end up with a clearer beer. And as Tasty always says "A clear beer taste better" If you dont trust your process/equipment and/or really dont want to tie up or clean another fermenter keep it in primary and rack off yeast when your ready.

IPA's i normally transfer to secondary only because i use obscene amounts of dry hops in my beer.
Wheats - I never use them
Ambers - I never use them
Porters/stouts - I never use them (unless im oaking)

With that aside - Let your beer sit for 2 weeks before you ever check gravity. You will be happier with the results and if you already have that date in your mind set you wont rush your fermentation process.