New to brewing, advice

[Dmchale1984]

I have just started brewing a lager extract kit. I have the brew fermenting in a fermenting bin, with a lid but no air lock. I have taken my hydrometer readings.

Once the hydrometer reading is constant for three days I plan to siphon it all into a 5 gallon demijohn I have with an airlock to clear. Does this sound ok and if so how long do I leave it for???

Also once cleared etc i will syphon into a bottling bucket, dissolve the sugar in boiling water and add before bottling. Does this sound correct and if so how much sugar and what type of sugar should I be using in this stage?

Once bottled I plan to leave in she'd for at least 2 weeks.


Let me know what you think guys and any tips for the future.

[orlando]

Seeing as no one has replied yet I will give you my opinion but I'm not a kit brewer so others may advise differently. I think your plan is spot on and echoes good practice. Whenever you make a transfer make sure you are scrupulously clean (sanitise evrything) and make sure you avoid splashing the beer when doing so. As for how long in the DJ, if you can keep it somewhere cool as it is glass you will see it starting to clear so anything up to 3 weeks would be ok. If you want to you could use this phase to add finings but it isn't really necessary. The rest of your plan is fine. Make sure you give the beer a chance to sit in the warm when bottled for at least a couple of weeks then back into the cold to finish off. As for priming sugar this is about how fizzy you like your beer, being a lager I guess around the 100g mark would suffice.

[Dmchale1984]

Brilliant, thanks for your reply. It's nice to know I'm on the right track!

[simco999]

All sounds good - however I would be wary of moving it around so much - every time you put it in a new FV or bottling bucket you are exposing it to infection.

Leave it in the FV for 10 days or so - then prime your bottles with sugar - half a teaspoons for a 50ml bottle to 2 teaspoons of sugar for a 2l bottle.

Keep it simple until you know what you are doing.

BTW - I never use airlocks - just keep the lid closed and crack it a bit to allow the CO2 to escape.

[Jocky]

Personally I go for the low effort approach of just leaving the beer in the fermenter for a bit longer after it's finished fermenting (so if it take a week to ferment I'll leave it 2 weeks, maybe up to 3 weeks if I'm lazy).

[orlando]

Personally I go for the low effort approach of just leaving the beer in the fermenter for a bit longer after it's finished fermenting (so if it take a week to ferment I'll leave it 2 weeks, maybe up to 3 weeks if I'm lazy).

And in doing so you help the yeast finish the job. Taking the beer off the yeast too soon is asking for trouble with the likes of acetaldehyde. Just because you have hit the theoretical FG doesn't mean that's it, rack off and bottle.

[Rick_UK]

When priming it's much easier to bulk prime - weigh out the correct amount of sugar or DME (I would suggest 100 - 140g for a lager) dissolve in about 300ml of water, bring to a boil then add to the bottling bucket before transferring the beer from the FV.

Saves all the mess and hassle of spooning sugar into 40+ bottles!

Rick