British IPA - Total Time til Bottle?

Hey All -

Just did my first kit from austin home brew... Usually use northern brewer.

Its a british ipa with an OG of 1.069. The directions say 5-7 days in primary and 5-7 days in secondary. Seems short to me.

I plan to just leave in the primary for ~5 weeks, then bottle.

Should I go longer? Or were the directions good enough?

Thanks for any feedback.

Jason

Hi Jason, FWIW I'd follow the kit directions. . .in my mind when you use a kit you're following someone else's tried & true. Only change I'd make is leave it in the primary for the whole 2 weeks. (If you keep reading the forum you'll find many advocate a secondary only if you are adding fruit, etc. I've been following the single fermenter regimen with great results.)

There was also a pretty interesting discussion today about IPA relative to "age." https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/beer-improves-over-time-true-ipas-166847/

I think most of the discussion was focused on bottle conditioning. But it makes sense the hops will also fade during long periods on the yeast cake. Makes sense to me that an IPA is one of the styles that does not benefit from long aging. . .I'd bottle after 2 wks. . .3 wks max.

Having never used a kit, I guess I would follow the directions to a point. Look, and listen too though, and if you still have a highly active fermentation going, leave it in the primary, and keep checking on it daily.

Being an extract brewer, I have never left anything in a primary for more than 14 days, as I don't want it sitting on the yeast cake for any more than that amount of time. Usually when the blow-off tube is down to a bubble every 30-60 seconds or so is when I secondary. At that point I let it sit until my airlock bubbles once every minute (generally in the 1-3 week range) or so. At this point I take a reading for the FG, and am usually right there. I do all of my fermenting in the basement, where the temps are very stable all year long, and vary only a couple of degrees between summer and winter - so that helps too.

Hopefully this helps a little.

Thanks....
It was just when it said 5-7days in primary and 5-7 in 2ndary... It thought that was low.
I had read that some kits have to fast of directions. It was my first austin brewery kit and was concerned.
Jason

I just bottled my AHS British IPA last night. It sat in primary for 11 days and the FG was 1.11, basically spot-on. It wasn't cloudy at all and tasted great. Won't open a bottle for 3 more weeks, but I can't imagine it not being a good beer.

it should stay in primary until the SG is stablized, but can certainly stay longer.

rack to secondary, and dry hop 5-7 days before you plan to bottle.