Time to ferment

[michaewa]

First of all, thanks for all the great information and answers to questions out here - I've learned a great deal just by lurking through old posts.

I am a newbie, just brewed my first batch last sunday, a KC wheat from a kit. I have a question regarding the fermentation time I was hoping you could shed some light on.

My primary fermenter is the plastic pail that came with the kit I got, and everything went off well and the yeast was sprinkled and stirred in after cooling the wort in the sink in some ice water.

About 24 hours later I happily noticed the airlock bubbling away just as I had hoped. 48 hours later, however, I couldn't see any activity despite watching for several minutes.

I decided to follow the advice of my handbook ("Don't worry") and decided not to screw with it, but it seems like an awfully short time period. I waited until yesterday (4 days total) then racked to a secondary glass carboy.

Did I miss out on critical fermentation time? Will I get walloped with a yeast hammer in a few weeks upon my first taste?

I tested the gravity last night, and it was right in the range the kit said it should be - 1.014.

One other question - has anyone ever used 5-gal plastic water bottles for primary fermentation? I have a service that delivers them to the house, and thought it would be a great way to save on my cleaning time - i.e. send them back empty after brewing a nice batch in there...

[batkins]

Until I'm told different, I'd have to say your fermentation was complete, being that you reached your final gravity. Maybe the summer temp sped it up a bit. Maybe someone with more experience can shed more light.
As for the water bottles, I've heard talk that they breathe too much. Your beer can become oxidized.
I'd say go with the glass carboy. Many sizes available and they are pretty cheap. I have a 7.5 gallon for primary and a 5 for secondary.

Cheers,
Bill

[Brownbeard]

Have you been able to find a handle for that 7.5 gallon carboy? I got one, it has the big threaded top, I can't find a handle for it.

[Tweek]

My guess is that you just had a real hardy primary ferment that probabally blew a seal on your plastic bucket somewhere, so while your airlock wasnt showing any activity it was indeed fermenting. 1.014 is a good final gravity. Sounds like it is time to bottle, or keg as soon as the beer clears.

[michaewa]

Thanks guys for the confirmation. It smelled pretty freaking good last night, I wanted to dive right in. I'll let it sit in the secondary for a few more days before bottling.

Kegs sound like a good option, but I think I'll get a few batches of bottles under my belt first - plus it is easier to trade a six pack with my buds than a whole keg.

I'm thinking of getting ambitious and building a wort chiller, anyone have experience with that? I found some pretty good instructions online and it looks simple enough for a poet like me...

[Beerconnoisseur]

Originally posted by michaewa
One other question - has anyone ever used 5-gal plastic water bottles for primary fermentation? I have a service that delivers them to the house, and thought it would be a great way to save on my cleaning time - i.e. send them back empty after brewing a nice batch in there...

The latest issue of Brew Your Own has an ad for just such a plastic fermenter; the link is here (http://www.better-bottle.com/). This is a relatively new product, so you'd have to contact them directly for pricing information.

If you try this option, be sure to let us know how it goes! :)

[toneyc]

I used the 5 gallon plastic water bottles for a few batches then went back to the plastic buckets for a few batches then bought glass carboys with the money I got back on my deposits on the plastic water bottles. Ain't life grand?

Oh, and I *finally* bought an autosiphon. How did I ever live without this wonderful device? Guess I'll have to get a wine theif and learn to use a hydrometer one of these days, too, eh? You guys are a bad influence.

:)
Toney.

[ray m]

Michaewa...I built my own wort chiller last year for @ $20. I went to Lowe's, bought a 20 foot coil of 3/8" I.D. copper tubing, 2 ten foot lengths of clear vinyl tubing (which fit over the copper tube), 5 hose clamps, and a female garden hose end. Just bend the tubing in a fashion to fit your pot, making sure both ends of the tubing come up through the middle of the coil with clearance over the top edge of the pot. Put each piece of vinyl tubing over each end of the copper tubing & secure with 2 hose clamps (just my personal preference to insure against leaks). Then, affix the female garden hose end into whichever piece of vinyl tubing will be the "in" from the garden hose & secure with a hose clamp. Ideally, the "in" part should go into the part of the copper coil that is closer to the top of the pot. The "out" should come from the part of the coil coming up from the bottom of the pot. Make sure the ends of the coil that are extending over the edge of the pot are bent @ 90 degrees or so. Hope this does not sound overly complex, 'cause it's not. This thing has worked great for me. Hope this helps!!!

[batkins]

If I'm not mistaken, the handle I'm using fits my 5 gallon as well. I think I just had to work the 2 pieces open wide enought to get it around the neck. Once on, it works without a hitch. I'll double check and make sure.

Cheers,
Bill

[michaewa]

I think I will pass on using the water-cooler bottles.
They are not PET plastic, and (if you believe the mfgr of the 'real' plastic bottles linked to above) would thus be permeable. It would probably be fine for the short amount of time the beer is in there (my last batch was only in the primary for 4 days) but I would be too frustrated if six or seven weeks later I cracked open a funky beer.

I'm still soaking my plastic bucket primary in bleach water to try to get the smell out, so strongly leaning toward glass for the next round.

I'm going to give the chiller a shot, thanks very much for the description - it sounds like a good one for me to tackle this weekend while I wait for the next round of kits to show up.

Have a great weekend...

[jsmurphy]

I just bought the materials to make a chiller as ray_m describes. I got 50' of copper hose though. I have a 7.5 gal brew pot so I figured I'd get better cooling with a larger chiller. Total came to just under 30.00 for everything, and I have another fun project to work on... ;)

[michaewa]

FYI - I wrapped my 50' of copper around old paint cans - that worked pretty well, depending on the size of your brew pot.

[hemogoblin]

I have one of those Crystal Springs 5-gal plastic water bottles and I use it for secondary/dryhopping all the time (or at least when my carboy's tied up). Works great. Dunno if I would primary in it tho.