Ignore the Instructions,. Do not bottle after 5-10 days!!!!!!

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Great thread. I have my first batch fermenting now. I was going to bottle it when the hydrometer readings were constant but now I think I will wait at least another week after that. I am brewing a simple amber ale from extract.

A quick question. After I bottle how long should it set in the bottles and what temperature should I keep the bottles at? I have a problem with keeping the temps down. I live in a log house with in-the-floor heating and it wants to keep the temp around 72F.
 
I found this thread, one day too late. I bottled my True Brew Oktoberfest kit after 8 days, which was last night. I did do 2 hydrometer reading over a 3 day period and they were the same. Also the kit said to store it in a cool dark place for 7 days then place in the fridge for another 3 weeks. Is this also not a good practice? Worst case scenario I'll know if it is good in 4 weeks.

Now that my primary is freed up, I'll start another batch now and this way I won't be in a hurry to bottle it and give it time in the primary. Thanks for the great info so far. This is my first batch so I'm a little nervous, even though I see a lot of RDWHAHB (or something like that). I guess for now I'll RDWHACB since I don't have any home brew now.
 
quick question- how does one take hydrometer readings without aerating the beer?

Just use a sanitized wine thief or even a turkey baster, and take out some beer, putting it into a test jar. When you get enough, just place the lid and airlock back on. There should be no pouring, stirring, etc, to aerate the beer.
 
I use a turkey baster. Drink what is in the hydrometer. Don't return it to the fermenter. Marvel at how much better it will be after it is carbonated, cooled and aged.
 
I'm very happy I caught this thread - we checked the hydrometer today (7th day was planning on bottling per kit instructions) and the reading looked to be 2.8 apv.. gonna give it at least another week now. glad we didn't blindly follow the directions
 
The thing about those canned kits is that if you have a pipeline running low and dont mind the lack of creative control, they can be a god-send.

Since I've started giving my beer a month in primary (the non canned type that is) I've given the canned stuff AT LEAST 2 weeks sometimes as long as 3 weeks (depends on my pipeline). Its just become habit to me to give even the (what I consider to be) inferior stuff proper time.

As far as crappy instructions go, I suppose they're everywhere. I've done a lot of kits from midwest supplies and have come to the conclusion that a few have had bad instuctions.

Perfect example:

The very first kit of theirs I did was called "Honey Bee Ale" and they instructed the brewer to throw the 2 pounds of honey straight in the boil along with DME/LME. Come drinking time, there was hardly any hint of honey anything.

If I brewed that kit again (and I'm thinking about it) I would throw the honey in after flame out when the temp went down to about 165.

Point is, I think that by throwing the honey in to boil for an hour, it ruined all the flavor.

DISCLAIMER: I still think Midwest Supplies is great. Never had a problem with them.
 
Hi All,

I'm in the middle of brewing my first batch of beer... India Pale Ale, it's a Brewer's Best kit I picked up at my local home brew store. I'm on day 3 in the primary and the bubbling has already slowed to almost nothing. I was planning on bottling this weekend if the SG reading was good. Now I'm reconsidering based on this thread.

My question is, if leave it in the primary for another week or so, can I wait to take the SG reading until I'm ready to bottle? I guess I'm wondering if opening the top of the primary and exposing the beer to air just to check the SG reading could potentially cause contamination of some kind? Wouldn't leaving a cushion of CO2 in the primary be better?

Thanks for any help!
 
Hi All,

I'm in the middle of brewing my first batch of beer... India Pale Ale, it's a Brewer's Best kit I picked up at my local home brew store. I'm on day 3 in the primary and the bubbling has already slowed to almost nothing. I was planning on bottling this weekend if the SG reading was good. Now I'm reconsidering based on this thread.

My question is, if leave it in the primary for another week or so, can I wait to take the SG reading until I'm ready to bottle? I guess I'm wondering if opening the top of the primary and exposing the beer to air just to check the SG reading could potentially cause contamination of some kind? Wouldn't leaving a cushion of CO2 in the primary be better?

Thanks for any help!

Definitely don't bottle this weekend!

Take an SG reading about three- four days before you want to bottle. Then, another one on the day before you bottle. If they are the same, you're fine. Opening it to take the samples is fine.

Don't bottle a beer until it is 2 weeks old at a minimum. Three weeks is even better. It's hard to wait- but it's worth it!
 
Hi All,

I'm in the middle of brewing my first batch of beer... India Pale Ale, it's a Brewer's Best kit I picked up at my local home brew store. I'm on day 3 in the primary and the bubbling has already slowed to almost nothing. I was planning on bottling this weekend if the SG reading was good. Now I'm reconsidering based on this thread.

My question is, if leave it in the primary for another week or so, can I wait to take the SG reading until I'm ready to bottle? I guess I'm wondering if opening the top of the primary and exposing the beer to air just to check the SG reading could potentially cause contamination of some kind? Wouldn't leaving a cushion of CO2 in the primary be better?

Thanks for any help!

We are practically neighbors. I guess you shopped at the Indian Trail location?

Your assumption is right, if you are going to wait another week, there's no reason to take a sample in the meantime. Take the sample 3 days before you bottle, then again right before you bottle to verify it hasn't changed. Everytime you open the lid, you expose the beer to contamination. It's just a fact of life. You have to open it from time to time, without risk there is no reward. But there is no reason in taking a risk when it isn't necessary.
 
We are practically neighbors. I guess you shopped at the Indian Trail location?

Your assumption is right, if you are going to wait another week, there's no reason to take a sample in the meantime. Take the sample 3 days before you bottle, then again right before you bottle to verify it hasn't changed. Everytime you open the lid, you expose the beer to contamination. It's just a fact of life. You have to open it from time to time, without risk there is no reward. But there is no reason in taking a risk when it isn't necessary.

Thanks for the quick response! I'll do just that.

Yep, Indian Trail. They have free beer making lessons, so I put my name on a waiting list. They're just waiting for cooler weather...
 
I advocate the 4 week primary, I have never seen such clean clear beer! With no secondary ;)

Like doing a secondary without the extra work :)
 
I tend to do 5-10 primary, 5-10 secondary with a cold crash and maybe finnings and 5-10 days in the bottle or keg. It usually works quite well in my brewery, but I still have to follow what the individual beer needs. Some need more time others need less. Anyone applying a blanket statement is wrong.
 
Thanks a bunch for this thread! My (first) beer has been in the primary for 7 days, and I was planning to bottle this week (per instructions). Now I'll leave it alone for a solid 2-3 weeks.
 
Homebrewing vs. winemaking may be apples to oranges to some degree, but I thought these comments from my father were worth sharing. (I am a newbie homebrewer, but he is a very experienced home winemaker.)

I normally rack off the gross lees a week or so after primary and then let it sit for a long time on the fine lees. There is some truth about the taste improving, but in wine making we also look at the period after primary is complete and and the wine sitting on the gross lees as a danger period. When primary is finished, no more C02 is being generated and if oxygen gets to the wine, spoilage can start. As soon as primary is finished, I flood with Argon to keep oxygen from the wine. I would think that with beer something in between would be appropriate - maybe on the lees for a week - ten days. Get familiar with the process before you try to fine tune the "taste."

Is there any correlation in homebrewing to the "danger period" he references?
 
lol, i made this mistake with my first three batches and they were all very low in alcohol, and only tasted ok. my 4th and 5th batches sat for a month and i think the warm flat f.g. samples taste better than the finished product of the first 3 batches
 
Great thread, thanks! My first batch has been in the (primary) fermentor now for about 9 days. When I test the SG, should I see tiny bubbles, or does that mean the yeast is still at work? My guess is that it's still fermenting, even though the readings were constant for 2 days (though a little high according to some help in another thread). Has anyone experienced these little bubbles in their tests?
 
This seems as good a place for this question as anywhere (there were a few threads that seemed right!)

I'm on my third brew, this one being exactly the same as the last (a batch for my brother's birthday). However, after moving this brew for secondary fermentation there has been no activity to bubble the airlock. The previous batch bubbled very gently after a day in the second vessel. Assuming I leave it well alone for the week the recipe states should I expect there to be enogh live yeast to carbonate in the bottles? I'm scared I've killed off the yeast all together.

As a side note, there is a little bit of foam on the surface at the moment.
 
This seems as good a place for this question as anywhere (there were a few threads that seemed right!)

I'm on my third brew, this one being exactly the same as the last (a batch for my brother's birthday). However, after moving this brew for secondary fermentation there has been no activity to bubble the airlock. The previous batch bubbled very gently after a day in the second vessel. Assuming I leave it well alone for the week the recipe states should I expect there to be enogh live yeast to carbonate in the bottles? I'm scared I've killed off the yeast all together.

As a side note, there is a little bit of foam on the surface at the moment.


You don't have to post questions in other threads. If searching doesn't give the answer you can start a new thread.

As far as your beer....
It may very well be done or close to it. Airlock activity (or lack thereof) means NOTHING. Take a hydrometer reading several days apart, if they are the same it is done fermenting. I just leave it alone for a month and then take one reading before I transfer to keg or bottling bucket.

Right after the move you probably saw some activity because CO2 was bubbling out of solution simply from being moved.

You will have plenty of yeast left for bottling. A lot of brewers leave their beer in primary for weeks or even months. I would recommend at least 3 weeks before going to the bottle.
 
I must have got a great kit... Mine does want a secondary ferment-er but it does not recommend bottling till day 20...starts off in primary fermenter but by day 3-5 it gets moved asks for S.G reading's ad gives levels they should be at then it sits for what they recommends as 10 to 15 days in secondary fermenter. After that bottle and let sit for 14 days for carbonation. It then recommends that you try one if you don't think it is carbonated enough leave the rest for another week. I am going to take my time and follow the directions on this one. But I have some good direction on how to go about the next brew I start....Tomorrow!!
Thanks to everyone on the great information!!
 
I couldn't find this information on How To Brew... what's the difference between letting the beer ferment longer in a fermenter versus a bottle? in other words, how does a week in the fermenter compare to a week in the bottle? i don't see how it would be much different...

Definitely don't bottle this weekend!

Take an SG reading about three- four days before you want to bottle. Then, another one on the day before you bottle. If they are the same, you're fine. Opening it to take the samples is fine.
!
 
I couldn't find this information on How To Brew... what's the difference between letting the beer ferment longer in a fermenter versus a bottle? in other words, how does a week in the fermenter compare to a week in the bottle? i don't see how it would be much different...

it's very different aging a batch on the yeast is a lot more effective than aging individual bottles. what happens in a few weeks in a fermenter can take months to happen in bottles.
 
The kits that I get are called brewhouse they have quite a variaty of beers and they seem to be very good
 
One thing that occurs to me, as I progress through more custom/higher level brewing techniques is that these kits are made with a kilo of cane or corn sugar, not additional (extract) malts and hops.

Cane/corn sugar is (I'm told) much, much easier to ferment for yeast than malt extracts. The chemical composition has been processed and refined and is far closer to glucose that the yeast can 'eat' directly than the more complex and unrefined sugars in converted malts starches.

I have trust-able, information that pertains modern Belgian lager is brewed with a good part Maize - aka - corn sugar as it gets the job done faster and is cheaper, more efficient (cost effective) way of getting ABV. The same source claims some more bulk commercial European lagers are only largered for 1 week or less, before being filtered, pasterized, processed and bottled/canned.

Granted not many home brewers have the chemical facilities that these breweries have to filter, pasteurize etc. Good knows what chemicals they add to clear the beer and what chemicals and processes they then use to clear out that very chemicals.

Still, popular european lagers can be on the shelf in super markets when literally only 3-4weeks old, with nearly half that spent in the can.
 
To me, this takes the the entire allure out of brewing beer. The point is to make better more tuned product yourself, exactly the way you like it. Throwing a couple cans into a plastic container and expecting beer to come out a week later is assinine. The whole process is the point...at least to me. The way these kits are designed, you may as well just go to the party store and pick up some MBC "crafted" beers
 
I think different people brew for different reasons.

There are those to whom home brew is a cheaper way to get beer in good quantities for parties etc. Where having an alcoholic beverage that's drinkable is far more important than aging over the process to produce nice "craft" beer.

It's like like making your own pasta dish by tipping a can of chicken soup into a sausepan of boiled (dried) pasta and grating some cheese on top. It's not gourmet but it's eatable.
 
The kits that I get are called brewhouse they have quite a variaty of beers and they seem to be very good

I'm using Brehouse as well. I did the IPA exactly as the instructions said. Just bottled yesterday, so we will see in a few weeks.

I'm also doing a Wheat ale that I changed to Wyeast 3068 and added fruit to my primary for the wife.

Two questions.....
1. how often should I check my SG?
2. How much dextrose should I actually use instead of just the 190g that comes with every kit?
 
Good instructions but I don't get why you would sanitize your equipment after use. Clean it well, definitely! But what good is sanitizing potentially months before its next use?
 
Ok, I'll post a question in here too.

My brother in law was given some instructions from someone who had apparently been homebrewing for 30years or so. He used ONLY a primary (still figuring out terminology) and fermented for 2 weeks. He then bottled and left it for 2 weeks. His instructions were that having only a primary and leaving the yeast in the bottles provided a better beer.

I have to admit that I always tried to bottle after 2 weeks and over the course of a year, I may have gone a third week, due to lack of free time on occasion. I was actually worried in each case that I had ruined the beer by waiting too long. I'm seeing now that this would not likely be the case. I have to admit, I don't think I noticed any difference in taste, but its hard to tell after weeks and weeks, I forget what happened with each individual batch.

A few weeks ago, I made an English Bitter kit. After the 2weeks and 2weeks, I opened a few a figured I had ruined a batch. Then I got busy. About 3 weeks later, I realized I hadn't done anything with those bottles and so I tried one. Yummmmmmmm.

Hmm, there's no question here yet. Ok, here goes. I was happy with the single carboy (?) process because it saves space and accessories. I also liked the idea of the yeast staying in the bottle. Firstly, should I stick with 2 weeks or maybe move onto 3 weeks? Second, does it really make a difference, removing the yeast and moving the beer into another carboy (?) for aging/processing/conditioning? I'm starting to look at moving onto another stage of homebrewing which is adding DME instead of sugar, grains, etc. and I don't want to waste my time because i'm shortstepping the process.
 
I do four weeks in primary. Do a search lots of info on why and the benefits. Basically the yeast are so good now the longer you let them do their thing the better.

You still have yeast in your beer even when you do use a secondary the only way to remove them is to filter the beer or kill them by adding something or pasteurizing ect. If you didn't still have yeasties in your beer when you bottled and added more sugar you wouldn't have any carbonation ;)

I don't bottle but I believe you also want them to age like a month in the bottles for optimum taste and carbonation.
 
I am fermenting my first batch right now. It is the chinook IPA extract kit from northern brewers. I started fermenting last Saturday. It started pretty vigorously and has been slowing steadily. I want to start a new batch this weekend. I am using a 6.5 glass carboy. The activity in the airlock has slowed to about one blurp a minute. I am planning on taking readings tomorrow (Friday) and then on Saturday. If they are the same I am going to rack it to a secondary fermenter (5gal glass carboy on Saturday and let it age in there for 1.5-2 weeks and then dry hop for 5-7 days. Bottle and let it condition in the bottles for about two weeks.

The kit tells me to primary for 1-2 weeks, secondary for 2-4 (dry hopping 5-7 days before bottling) and then bottle condition for 2 weeks.

Anyone think I am doing anything horribly wrong? I am going to rack to the secondary carboy no matter what to free up the space, and because I am dry hopping.
 
BigBlueDog said:
Horribly wrong, no. It's your beer. However, SG reading should be taken 2-3 days apart to be more confident they've reached a stable point.

Ha! So maybe I will take readings tomorrow and Sunday, and then rack on Sunday if they are the same.
 
Hi all, first post to clear up a question or two so I can do my first batch.

I have a TrueBrew Amber Ale Kit that has 2lbs of DME and a can of hopped LME it also has some hop pellets.
Per the instructions it says to add EVERYTHING (LME, DME, Hops) at boil and boil for 30min.
If I am reading the steps on this post (Originally Posted by Rezilynt pre-hopped canned kits) correctly I'm to add only the DME and boil it for 30min, then add the hopped LME after the heat is off, then cool the wort?

Where would I add the hop pellets?

The kit instructions are also saying to boil only 1-1/2 gallons of water, but I could do up to 3, should I do 3?

THANKS!
 
Yikes! I read How to Brew, but was fortunate to have a very experienced brewer willing to help me get started. He suggested leaving all ales in the fermenter for four weeks. It's tough to wait, particularly for that first batch, but I can't argue with the results on my brews so far!
 
Hi all, first post to clear up a question or two so I can do my first batch.

I have a TrueBrew Amber Ale Kit that has 2lbs of DME and a can of hopped LME it also has some hop pellets.
Per the instructions it says to add EVERYTHING (LME, DME, Hops) at boil and boil for 30min.
If I am reading the steps on this post (Originally Posted by Rezilynt pre-hopped canned kits) correctly I'm to add only the DME and boil it for 30min, then add the hopped LME after the heat is off, then cool the wort?

Where would I add the hop pellets?

The kit instructions are also saying to boil only 1-1/2 gallons of water, but I could do up to 3, should I do 3?

THANKS!

I hate to complicate things, but I used to buy hopped malt extract that needed to be boiled. Judging from Rezilynt’s post, it looks like most of the hopped extracts these days have already been boiled with the hops. But if the kit instructions direct you to boil the hopped extract, maybe yours actually needs the boil to get the bitterness. Hopefully somebody will chime in here that knows about your particular kit. If not, you could contact the extract manufacturer and ask if your hopped extract needs to be boiled.
 
Can u skip the corn sugar to carbonate the beer in bottles and instead put into kegs or soda type kegs ? for like draft beer system..? instead of bottling..?
 

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