Refil Questions

[berryman]

Hello breez and welcome to The Borg

As far as conditioning, I read that I can choose to condition in the fridge the whole time. This won't work as well? Assuming you guys will say warm conditioning is much better, Where do you recommend?

You Have to room temp condition/carb for around two weeks minimum, otherwise you will have flat beer. The left over yeast used for carbonation will just go dormant in colder temps. otherwise. After that it is your choice, some like to cold condition the whole rest of the time, I personally like to leave all my beer at room temp until a few days before I want one then put in the fridge for a couple days.....
Good Luck and Happy Brewing.... this is a fun hobby

[RickBeer]

Right. At refrigerator temps, the yeast is asleep, doing nothing. It's best to give it some time to do it's work, and that's why at least 4 weeks is recommended. Some beers need a few months. Some need a year. Start with 4 weeks, and try 1 after 3 days in the frig. Then 5, then 6, then ... See what is best for you and your brew.

[John Sand]

Hi Breeze, welcome!
Fedora Dave lives near NY too, I forget if he is in Westchester or North Jersey.
I'm on Long Island pretty far from NYC in Rocky Point.
Brewing is a great pastime. Many of us started with Hopped Malt Extracts (HME) like BrewDemon or MrBeer. They are the simplest way to make beer, and a good introduction to the process. Advance at your own pace, you can use your BrewDemon to ferment any batch up to 2.5 gallons. Study and practice make great beer. Keep us posted on your adventures, this is a very friendly, supportive group. Check the Members Only Deals section for a discount code on BrewDemon refills.

[Inkleg]

Thanks everybody! I will do a batch or two of prepackaged and than will try this recipe Natural. I love a challenge!

First off, Welcome Breez33!! Great to have ya here.

My addition to all the good information so far would be to keep notes on every brew day. Everyone has a system that works for them.
I have BeerSmith with all my recipes on it. I'll print the recipe out and put it in a binder. On brew day I use it to help keep track of ingredients, temperature, readings, things that went right, things that went wrong. That way 6 weeks later if it's the best beer ever I have all my notes or if somethings off, well I have all my notes. There are other beer recipe softwares out there. I started with BeerSmith so that's what I've stuck with.

[breez33]

Thanks again everybody! My kit will come in the mail this week and I am very excited! I can see this will be a great community and a really valuable resource!

[natural320]

I love beersmith too, but I started using brewtoad.com as well so I can access my stuff from anywhere. If you guys haven't checked it out, it is definitely worth a look

[breez33]

Hey everyone, so the beer has been in the fermenter for a few days and everything seemed to go well! Now I have questions about bottling. I have a brewdemon and the instructions say to bottle directly from the fermenter to the bottles. I see lots of suggestions for a "bottling bucket". What is this and do I need one? Also the brewdemon came with plastic bottles. Will glass bottles be better? Thanks again for the insight !

[berryman]

Hey everyone, so the beer has been in the fermenter for a few days and everything seemed to go well!

That's great

Now I have questions about bottling. I have a brewdemon and the instructions say to bottle directly from the fermenter to the bottles. I see lots of suggestions for a "bottling bucket". What is this and do I need one?

You can bottle directly from the fermenter but you have to add a measured amount of sugar to each and every bottle, this is called bottle priming. The use of a bottling bucket lets you do what is known as batch priming. The priming sugar is mixed into the bucket with the fermented beer and then directly into the bottle. There are good advantages to batch priming but not needed for now unless you want to go that route.

Also the brewdemon came with plastic bottles. Will glass bottles be better?

Plastic bottles work fine and many longtime brewers on here still prefer them.

[BlackDuck]

Before I started kegging my beer, I batch primed as Berryman explained. I always got good results from doing that.


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[Bluejaye]

Enjoy your new kit, and I would also recommend you stick with a canned recipe for your first few brews. I started with Mr. Beer, so I have no experience with Brew Demon, but I'm sure their kits are good, too.

No one mentioned it, but the fermenter you have can handle around 2.5 gallons. But there are some cans of HME out there designed for 5 gallon fermenters. Which of course, you can use half of the can and store the rest in the refrigerator with a thin layer of vodka on top. I only mention this just in case you get to your LHBS and that's all they sell.

[John Sand]

Even though the instructions say that your beer will ferment in a week, two or three weeks is better. You can tell it's finished when it clears and the yeast settles. Shine a light through it.
If you choose to prime the bottles, a Domino Dot sugar cube is about right for a twelve ounce bottle, two in a twenty two oz.
If you choose glass bottles, you can save them from craft beer. Pry off bottles re-cap better than twist offs. You might also visit a beer distributor or recycling center to see if they will let you have bottles for the deposit.
Have fun, keep us posted.

[breez33]

Hey everyone,
so I got a bottling bucket. Can I just put sugar in the bucket and then pour the fermented beer into the bucket?

[The_Professor]

.....so I got a bottling bucket. Can I just put sugar in the bucket and then pour the fermented beer into the bucket?

What I usually do, measure out the sugar, bring a couple cups of water to a boil, add the sugar and boil for a few minutes. Add the sugar water to the bottling bucket and siphon the beer off the trub into the bottling bucket. (or use the spigot but let the beer run down the side of the bucket instead of straight into it.) A gentle stir with a sanitized spoon or spatula, let is sit a few minutes and start bottling.

[Inkleg]

.....so I got a bottling bucket. Can I just put sugar in the bucket and then pour the fermented beer into the bucket?

What I usually do, measure out the sugar, bring a couple cups of water to a boil, add the sugar and boil for a few minutes. Add the sugar water to the bottling bucket and siphon the beer off the trub into the bottling bucket. (or use the spigot but let the beer run down the side of the bucket instead of straight into it.) A gentle stir with a sanitized spoon or spatula, let is sit a few minutes and start bottling.

^This^
I helps mix the priming sugar more evenly through the beer. Try to avoid splashing when siphoning the beer to the bottling bucket. So racking tube in the bottom of the bucket or let it gently run down the side like The_Professor mentioned. Oxygenation at this stage is not a good thing.

[bpgreen]

One note on boiling the sugar: don't boil too long or use too little water or you'll make candy instead of sterilized sugar water.