Home brewers - little advice?

[gator20]

OK...I have been brewing with my little Mr. Beer and now have stepped up to a 2 stage brew kit. The only real question I have is shouldI do my initial fermentation in the plastic container or the carboy, then use the other for secondary?

What do you guys do?

[Crawland]

Don't bother with the secondary. It's really not necessary unless you are trying to make your beer super clear or if you are going to dry hop your beer.

[Doctor_XXX]

Don't bother with the secondary. It's really not necessary unless you are trying to make your beer super clear or if you are going to dry hop your beer.
Agreed, sort of. I mean, is anything really "necessary"? The secondary should lead to a brew that is clearer of sediment AND allow for dry hopping and other things, so I'd say it is worth the time (typically) ... but you'll still end up with some good homebrew, even without a secondary fermenter.

With that said, I don't know what you mean by "plastic container" (one of those white plastic buckets?) or "carboy" (glass? plastic?) but...I used to use the white plastic buckets for everything when I started, but now use glass carboys for everything. They both work, but if you have the setup for carboys, you might as well use them. If you have one of each, I don't think it matters which is used for the primary and which is used for the secondary. Just get the beer made!!! :cool:

[Irish]

OK...I have been brewing with my little Mr. Beer and now have stepped up to a 2 stage brew kit. The only real question I have is shouldI do my initial fermentation in the plastic container or the carboy, then use the other for secondary?

What do you guys do?

Initial fermentation in the plastic bucket, secondary in the carboy. Plastic buckets tend to hold more and have more head room than a carboy (unless you have a nice big 6 gallon carboy), so the buckets are good vessels for primary fermentation, which is really active. Carboys don't have that head clearance, so if you get a really active brew going, sometimes you'll end up with a blow out (beer comes out the air stop) and makes a mess. You have less of a chance for this with the bucket. Plus, it's a lot easier to aerate your wort after the boil/chill by pouring it into a bucket versus a carboy.

As stated above it's not necessary to use the secondary, but it'll give you a cleaner beer, especially for bigger beers or beers that you need to ferment for longer periods of time. The longer the beer stays on the trub during fermentation, the better chance you have at developing some off-flavors. I typically use the 1-2-3 rule: 1 week in the primary, 2 in the secondary, 3 to carbonate in the bottles.