Birth of a Beer...

Making my White House honey ale tomorrow. Been years since I did an extract beer (this is actually a partial mash brew) but looks like a good recipe.
 
Carboy/Wort in the closet. I'd forgotten just how easy extract/partial mash brewing is...at least compared to all-grain. Looking forward to seeing if Mr. Obama knows his homebrew - this recipe is the exact one he has his White House brewers do for him. Pretty standard ale with the addition of honey at the end of the brew. Also uses Fuggle hops which are one of my favorite varieties. Brewed this one in time to be ready for a week at the beach.
 
Boone said:
Carboy/Wort in the closet. I'd forgotten just how easy extract/partial mash brewing is...at least compared to all-grain. Looking forward to seeing if Mr. Obama knows his homebrew - this recipe is the exact one he has his White House brewers do for him. Pretty standard ale with the addition of honey at the end of the brew. Also uses Fuggle hops which are one of my favorite varieties. Brewed this one in time to be ready for a week at the beach.
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I have been using honey at flame out in my Two Penny Pale Ale from day one of that recipe. After 4 and a half years of brewing it is still my personal favorite of my brews and is my "house" beer. It too is an extract as it's creation dates back to the days before I had the gear or knowledge to do all grain brewing. I have tried converting the recipe to all grain twice and neither time was it quite right so I have given up and decided to just stay with the extract recipe. At least for now. Might be time to do another batch of it, in fact.

And yeah, John, Fuggles is great. One of my favorite hops as well. I should use it more.
 
So instead of doing primary fermenter for 5-6 days, racking to secondary, I've been doing primary for 2-3 weeks. I let them sit in my basement, so fermentation is a bit slower (~65 degrees), and this allows it to clear up significantly before I move it straight to a keg, or to a secondary for ageing/further conditioning.

But I have a problem, I need some insight from you neo/boone. I did a blood orange hefeweisen, which means I chopped up blood oranges and put them into the primary fermenter. The normal process assumes racking to a secondary in ~1 week, which by default removes the blood oranges from the beer.

I'm concerned about leaving those oranges in there for 2-3 weeks and having them rot/grow bacteria/etc in the beer. I'm thinking about racking it this week just to remove them. Would you suggest that? Is leaving those non-fermentables (in this case fruit) in there for too long a bad idea?
 
I suspect you can leave them without a problem. One thing I've done in the past when adding oranges is to give them a quick soak in starsan, then cut them with knife also cleaned with starsan just in case they have any bacteria on the outside. Chances are you'll be fine though.
 
What's the advantages or disadvantages of skipping secondary fermentation?
 
Huge disadvantage in skipping it is that moving to secondary helps leave a lot of the trub behind - hops debris. dead yeast, etc..
 
Lanky Livingston said:
What's the advantages or disadvantages of skipping secondary fermentation?
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Well you don't want to skip the stage, it lets a lot of stuff fall out you don't want in your beer.

There's just some debate as to whether or not it's worth moving to a new container for the secondary stage. Some say the impact of leaving it on the trub is not worth the added risk of contaminating it.

Cleaning/sanitizing is easy. I still, for the most part, move it to a secondary container I just wait 2-3 weeks.

Its not really 'secondary fermentation', it just gets called that. Fermentation is over at that point. It's more conditioning/ageing.
 
I'm with Boone. I think you are fine.

I have never used his Starsan technique though. If I am adding something like fruit or spices to my fermentation I have always soaked it in vodka for a day or so. I have no doubt his method would work just as well though.

I have all but given up on racking to a secondary fermentation vessel unless I am doing a lager that has to sit in the carboy at low temps for a couple of months. In addition to the possibility of contamination, there is some research I have read that indicates that leaving the beer on the trub might be beneficial in that it allows the yeast to clean up stuff that causes off flavors.

I do still rack to secondary when I need to add something though.
 
Well, remember the credo brother - RSWAHAHB (relax, stop worrying, and have a home brew). I have probably made 50 batches in my homebrewing career and never had the slightest hint of contamination (and that's using exclusively StarSan soaks, nothing more. Use basic cleaning techniques and I almost guarantee it won't ever be an issue for you.

Interesting about leaving the wort on the trub Bob. The big advantage to moving it is simply mechanical - you're always going to reduce the amount of solids in your wort and have a clearer beer with no sediment. I have never had to follow the 'leave the last 1/4" of beer in the bottle rule' simply because there IS no sediment. I like that, but agree with Bob there are lots of methods to get great beer. I've actually read that leaving wort on a lot of trub can CAUSE off flavors. Truth is (and I think you are already discovering this), stake out any particular position when it comes to making beer and you'll find equally compelling evidence to support not just your view, but the exact opposite of your view :) Hence, the credo... On soaking additions in Star San, I would only recommend that for things like oranges where you're trying to sanitize the OUTSIDE of the addition material, I wouldn't try it with things like cut fruit. I also use the vodka technique for things like vanilla beans, or other secondary additions.

Btw - I have seen on several occasions that moving wort to a secondary re-starts fermentation (not like the primary ferment, but noticeable activity in the air lock).
 
Yeah, John, it was interesting. I will have to see if I can find that information again and share. I don't want to give anyone the idea that the article was pushing for brewers to not use a secondary. It made very clear there were trade offs on both side and you are absolutely right about beer sitting on the trub for too long causing issues. The article was clear about that too.

And yes, I too have seen where moving the wort will jump start a stalled fermentation.
 
I learned an important lesson last night.

Make sure your carboy handle is tight enough.

Definitely dropped a 5 gallon glass carboy on a cement floor full of sanitizing solution. Was not fun.
 
tshile said:
Definitely dropped a 5 gallon glass carboy on a cement floor full of sanitizing solution. Was not fun.
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Well that sucks! Could have been worse though, could have been full of beer.
 
tshile said:
I learned an important lesson last night.

Make sure your carboy handle is tight enough.

Definitely dropped a 5 gallon glass carboy on a cement floor full of sanitizing solution. Was not fun.
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HOF44 said:
Well that sucks! Could have been worse though, could have been full of beer.
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You know, I was just wondering how a cement floor was full of sanitizing solution. I'm an idiot sometimes, LOL.
 
Bottled my White House honey ale this evening. Snuck a taste and it was very good. In my experience any beer that is tasty pre-carbonation is going to be really good after a couple weeks in the bottle.

Btw - recommend Coopers bottles - brown plastic 740ml bottles with screw on plastic caps. Work great and so much easier than glass bottles and cappers.
 
Starting a new beach tradition - going to do a brew every year just for the beachtrip, with appropriate commemorative label :) Just cranked out this years (for context, the name of the house we rent every year is 'Wave Watcher').
 

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Final product...beer for the family beach trip. Made everything except the plastic bottles. And damn is it good!
 
Label looks awesome, John! Is there any disadvantage to using the plastic bottles over glass?
 
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