After a week of fermenting in the primary fermenter, I transferred the Alt Things Reconsidered to the secondary. It’s an interesting process, but once I got a rhythm with the auto-siphon, it went pretty smoothly. My hands got a little cramped from holding it of the bottom to avoid moving the sludge over, but other than that, I think it went well.
I took another gravity reading. It’s now at 1.017. The instructions say it should be 1.014. Perhaps 2 weeks in secondary will bring it down a little more. I also had a little taste. It’s coming along quite well. It’s a little estery, but the 2 weeks in secondary should balance it out a bit.
Bottling day is in 2 weeks. I now have to figure out when I want to brew my second batch, the Chocolate Oatmeal Stout. Anyone have a good Oatmeal Stout extract recipe they want to share? Link to it in the comments. Next report on Alt Things Reconsidered in 2 weeks. How long should I let it sit in the bottles before it’s ready to be enjoyed? I was thinking giving it another 2 weeks of conditioning and carbonating in the bottles before I put some in the fridge.
I wouldn’t expect it to get all the way down to 1.014. Until you get an aeration system (which I still haven’t done), it’s very unlikely you’ll hit your target gravity. In fact, I’d say 1.017 is pretty good if the target was 1.014.
You should let it sit least two weeks in the bottle, ideally three. (It should be sufficiently carbonated after two, though, if you’re impatient like me.)
You could start the Oatmeal Stout next weekend, and your secondary will be free by the time it’s ready to be transferred. With one primary and one secondary, the tightest brew schedule you can do is every two weeks.
Also, you did see the Oatmeal Stout recipe in the other post, right? It’s really a good one.
Saw the recipe. I’ll check it out. I can do it as long as it doesn’t require a full boil (don’t have a large enough pot for that, not to mention I don’t think my electric stove will get hot enough).
I’ll probably brew again the week after next. Though I can’t wait to brew again and really can’t wait for the Alt to be ready.