any homebrewers?

[Grasshopp3r]

I don't bother with the secondary. There is too much risk of spoiling the beer with infection. My usual fermentation is 2 weeks in the primary, then bottling.

If anyone wants hops plants, I have whole backyard full of them. I will send you rhizomes.

Also, if anyone wants to trade beers, I would be happy to do that. I have a 6 pack mailer with foam padding.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

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My usual fermentation is 2 weeks in the primary, then bottling.

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ditto for me, though my homebrewing is done at the most basic of levels. I do little experimentation, etc, it's just kind of a fun little hobby for me.

[gutter]

Thanks for all the great advice, looks like somewhat split on secondary. I have seen so much about keeping everything clean and preventing oxygen from getting in, has anyone ever had a batch go bad? I have not read of anyone who has. If I syphon, should I take the lid off the primary, or try to do it through the vent hole? Is the risk really that great in a transfer?

[FreeBeer]

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<snip> has anyone ever had a batch go bad? I have not read of anyone who has. If I syphon, should I take the lid off the primary, or try to do it through the vent hole? Is the risk really that great in a transfer?

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Never had a batch go bad. A friend that had a bad batch credits the experience for his attention to cleanliness 100 batches later.

Remove the fermenter lid when siphoning. Sanitize your siphoning hose. Be gentle and don't splash the beer.

Don't forget to taste your beer during racking.

Finally, to quote Charlie Papazian : "Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew."

[Repsychler]

I try to be surgical clean with my brewing procedures, especially since I'm often making fruit wines and not going through a long boil as with beer.
Don't worry about trying to syphon through the vent hole, take the lid off. I tend to set the lid on the bucket, just pushed over enough for the racking cane to get in.
Going into secondary, you should probably worry more about oxygen than contaminates, since the beer does have alcohol in it now.

Oh, and I currently have a batch of strawberry wine in secondary (Needs to be racked again I think) What to my fellow brewers have going?

[Grasshopp3r]

I just finished a California style ale. I have in inventory several stouts, an apricot ale and a red ale. My next batch will be a stout.

[FreeBeer]

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I currently have a batch of strawberry wine in secondary (Needs to be racked again I think) What to my fellow brewers have going?

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Strawberry wine sounds intriguing. Is the recipe strawberry juice, water, yeast, and sugar? Or is it more complicated? What type of yeast do you use? How often does it need racking? How soon is it drinkable?

There is a bock in secondary yearning to be bottled. I am lazy and the garage is cold enough for lagering, so it may wait another day or two. And I just bottled a blackberry porter that is sublime. Fresh (frozen) blackberries are the key to happiness [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Next up: mead, IPA, and American brown, not necessarily in that order...

[Repsychler]

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Strawberry wine sounds intriguing. Is the recipe strawberry juice, water, yeast, and sugar? Or is it more complicated? What type of yeast do you use? How often does it need racking? How soon is it drinkable?

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The recipe is fairly simple, aside from dealing with a large amount of fruit. I got the recipe here: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques5.asp (I used the second recipe, but made 5 gallons)
The recipe calls for it to be racked 5 times. I used a sweet wine yeast. It should be drinkable within a year. (It better be, since I'm making it for a friends wedding in September)

Blackberry porter sounds crazy good.

[GovmentCheese]

blackberry porter does sound good. Recipe?

I've got my first lager fermenting right now.. a maibock.. and an imperial ipa that I brewed with a little bit of orange peel.