JustinMaster

Recipes 

Hey guys,

I've been reading this forum for awhile now, learning a lot, and I'm finally ready to brew! I just have two lingering questions I could use some help with...

1. Long story short, I have exactly 37 days to brew, is that enough time to go from extract kit to bottled product?

2. Heres a list of what I have / plan to buy, am I missing anything? Are there any items I can do with out? (Very tight, college budget)

Have:

- 5 gallon glass carboy
- Airlock
- 5 gallon kettle

Plan To Buy:

- 48 glass bottles/caps
- Capper
- Sanitizing agent
- Bottle filler
- Racking cane and tubing
- Food grade bottling bucket
- Pliny the elder extract kit, from morebeer

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, I'd love to hear everyone's thought's and input on the matter. I can't wait to start this new hobby!

Thanks

Glynn

Recipes 

hydromiter
6.5/7.0 gal fermenter your 5 gal is great as a secondary but is too small for fermentation. its going to most likely blow out the top. if you cant get one cuz of budget use a blow off set up

__________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson
Duct tape. The handyman's secret weapon - Red Green

Naughty Kitty Brewing EST 1993
Primary 1 - Bobtail Pale Ale
Primary 2 -
Primary 3 -
Secondary 1 -
Secondary 2 -
Bottled - Alley Cat Amber, Fat Cat Imperial IPA, Bobtail Pale Ale, Citridian Wheat IPA

dadshomebrewing

Recipes 

37 days is plenty of time.

for me the brew goes from the brewpot to the bottle in 21 days, or less.

1 week primary
2 weeks secondary (if i'm using it).
bottle at 21 days, and then 3 weeks in the bottle.

for equipment, you need to get a hydrometer and flask, and a turkey baster (to pull samples).

and with using a 5 gallon carboy, you ABSOLUTELY want to invest in a blow-off tube, or you will be investing in cleaning supplies.

__________________
'Tis himself

In the fermenters: nada

In the bottle: Out of Camber Amber Ale / California Cream of 3 Crops / Wize Ole Dunkel

In the fridge(and the glass): Pilsner-Urquell(AG) / Brew Free or Die Pale Ale / Christmas Cranberry / Wizened Hefe / Mead (2) / Full Sail Pale Ale / No Quarter Porter / Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown Ale (on the South Side of Chicago)

On Deck:

jsv1204

Recipes 

With only 37 days, you better get brewing. Figure 2 weeks to ferment, and another 2 weeks for your bottles to carbonate.

Your equipment is shy instruments. Minimum you'll need a thermometer and a hydrometer ($10-$15 at the most).

Cheers!

Hernando

Recipes 

That should be enough time to brew, ferment, dryhop and bottle. I don't think it will be enough time to brew, bottle, and condition properly.

Fermenting in a 5 gallon carboy is going to be pretty tight especially for that big beer. Perhaps you could ferment in the bottling bucket and then move it for secondary to your carboy.

Also might i suggest you get some oxiclean free to clean your gear once you are done. There is a dollar store alternative (used to be Sun something) but they changed it up recently.

I would think you will need more than 2 weeks to properly bottle condition this beer. Sure it may take two weeks to ferment but you still need to dryhop for 2-3 weeks. So you need to weigh that in as well.

__________________
"If you looked at the yeast under a microscope, you'd see lots of leather skirts, whips, & chains". ~Sam Calagione
Mountain Boxers Brewing

Erich8

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With all of those little things you have to get what are you looking at cost wise? Most of that stuff came with my first brew kit that I bought. I spent 75-80 bucks on it? It may be more cost effective for you to just buy a brand new kit? As I am still very new to this I am really not sure of exact prices and also I know that its going to fluctuate a little by store but it may be something worth looking into.

And as a side note I just picked up a beer thief from my local home brew shop the other day and I wanna say it was 8-12 bucks or something like that? I've seen people use them on brew day videos as well as checking FG and it seems to work really nice. Can't wait to use mine!

GrogNerd

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spring-tip bottling wand and NOT a gravity-tip

last bottling session, before I got my spring-tip, I lost a FULL BOTTLE of beer from the gravity-tip sticking open.

ONE WHOLE BOTTLE

the horror

__________________
"It's all beer, it's all good." - Words of House Grog
"I'm only happy when I'm suffocating yeast" - Rob Grog
"Homer no function beer well without" - Homer Simpson

drinking: Sweetpea's Mock Maibock, BigHair Belgian Pale Ale, O'Rob's Irish Red, Rob's 50th SMaSH ESB, Feet & Ass Mild - bottle conditioning: CLB's Red Barley Wine - primary: DB 8 Point IPA Clone - on deck: Belgian Pale Ale

dadshomebrewing

Recipes 

btw... 37 days is long enough to brew it, ferment it, and bottle it, but probably not long enough to also drink it., unless you want to drink it "young".

so, it depends how long you will be gone, and whether you have someone to keep an eye on the brew for you while you are gone.

__________________
'Tis himself

In the fermenters: nada

In the bottle: Out of Camber Amber Ale / California Cream of 3 Crops / Wize Ole Dunkel

In the fridge(and the glass): Pilsner-Urquell(AG) / Brew Free or Die Pale Ale / Christmas Cranberry / Wizened Hefe / Mead (2) / Full Sail Pale Ale / No Quarter Porter / Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown Ale (on the South Side of Chicago)

On Deck:

Erich8

Recipes 

While we are on the subject of time. And I know this has to have been touched on before, but I am going to ask anyway. What is optimal time for a beer to age? I know that its gonna vary by style but if you guys had to average out the time from brew day/primary/secondary(if you use a secondary)/bottling/ to actually drinking what would you be averaging?

jerrodm

Recipes 

As you yourself noted, this is largely a function of the beer style, but in my experience it changes slightly from batch to batch even for the same recipe, based on small variations in my process. That said, here are some rough estimates for styles I brew on a regular basis

In bottle peak age:

Nut brown ale 4-6 weeks
Porter 4-6 weeks
Standard stout 3-5 weeks
ESB 4-6 weeks
Bitter 3-5 weeks
Mild 3-5 weeks
IPA 3-5 weeks

Hope that's helpful.

Cheers!