Brewer Best ESB & Primary fermentation

If I were going to secondary, I would take a gravity reading to make sure it's at or close to FG before racking. But I wouldn't secondary an ESB. I'd make sure it has reached FG, give it a few more days, then taste and package.

 

At this point, pulling it out of the swamp cooler and allowing it to warm a bit will be a good thing. The warmer temps will encourage the yeast to clean up after themselves.

Please take VikeMan's advice and don't transfer to secondary.

Just in case there is any confusion: airlock activity doesn't tell you anything about the status of the fermentation. Take gravity readings. Stable gravity over 4 or 5 days and you're good.

 

I'd say pay attention to brewers, which ever way you decide to go. Kit instructions generally suck.

I wouldn't secondary because it doesn't need any special ingredients (like fruit, etc.) and because it doesn't need extended bulk aging (away from the trub).

 

"Brewer’s Best ® recommends home brewers employ the practice of a two-stage fermentation. This will allow your finished beer to have more clarity and an overall better, purer flavor."

At one time this was the conventional wisdom.
Nowadays...with plenty of evidence to the contrary...not so much.

 

An increase in temperature could cause the bubbling as well, not just yeast farting CO2

 

Assuming you mean racking to keg (and not secondary)... I'd take two gravity readings, three days apart. If they are the same (and close to what you expected), it's done. Give it a few more days to clean up (maybe until the next convenient day, like the weekend), and if there are no off-flavors, go ahead and keg.

 

Exactly. Diacetyl (butter) and Acetaldehyde (green apple) will be cleaned up by the yeast, given time. Not that your beer is necessarily likely to have either. Diacetyl production is somewhat yeast strain dependent...don't know what yeast your kit came with.

 

In general...an Irish Moss addition is not recommended for worts made from extract(s).

 

It might be a good time to check with a gravity reading, but bubble counts don't tell you when fermentation is done. Bad instructions.

Up to you. Or you might wait a few more days. Either way, take another 2-3 days later.

Exposing to O2 to take hydrometer readings is a necessary evil. But ideally you want to not poke around in your beer any more than needed.

Your BB can't take the kind of pressure it would take to truly purge. If it makes you feel better, you can blow some CO2 in there anyway. If you do, try not to make waves on the surface of your beer, which would be counterproductive.

 

IMO, that would be more trouble than it's worth, and not terribly effective unless you want to use a lot of CO2. As an analogy, picture a bucket full of Raspberry koolaid. Now put a hose in the bucket and turn on the water. The bucket overflows at the same rate as water is being added. How long until all the color is gone?

 

I purge my kegs before and after filling. I don't bother trying to flush carboys when taking gravity samples, because I don't think it would make much difference. How much "matters" is a hard question, but my beers don't seem to stale very quickly.