Homebrewing Tips and Tricks

[HomeBrewerDude]

Cool. Then I sounds like everything is still going well for the fermentation. Is there anything wrong with letting a fermentation sit longer, like letting the primary go for 3 weeks then moving to secondary?

The most important advice I can give you is start your second batch NOW. Do not wait for the first batch to be done before you get teh next one going.

Your fementation sounds pretty normal. I'm guessing you brewed a beer that had an OG around 1.045-.050... that would pretty much wind down in 5 days or so. Use a secondary fermenter if you have it. Three weeks in the primary isn't an issue usually but you can pick up off flavors sometimes from the trub that accumulates in the first week or so - this is especially true if you're brewing big beers or have your fermentor temps in the 70's. I am always try to be good about moving into the secondary after 1 or 2 weeks... once in the secondary you can let it sit for a long time.

Use good yeast. Wyeast or White Labs make great product. Most ales would do well with Wyeast 1056.

Start kegging as soon as you can... it is way easier than bottling.

 

[deadlyapp]

Are those glass carboys? I can't tell from the photo. If not, I would highly recommend looking into exchanging them for glass if you have not used them yet. Glass carboys are so much easier to sanitize. Plastic carboys will often develop scratches from cleaning that bacteria can hide in.

Glass is much nicer, but be careful to check your check valve on the top, my roomate had one of his valves get gummed up during fermentation and his glass carboy exploded. The plastic ones have a little bit of give and eliminated that possible problem.