think i can change my brewing timeline with my irish stout?

Hey guys... as most of you know from my "brewed my first batch last night thread!" that I am currently brewing my first batch of beer. I brewed the 20 minute irish stout from midwest... My plan was 3 week primary, 3 week secondary, and 3 weeks bottling... Well it has been 3 weeks and I switched it to the secondary glass carboy last night... All is good thus far but I was wondering if I would be able to speed the process up a little bit? My birthday is July 12th and I would love to be able to enjoy it for my birthday weekend while I visit my family back home... besides my dad is really wanting to try it... Do you think if I do 3 week primary, a couple days secondary, and then bottle for the remaining time till the 12th it will have enough time to do what its gotta do. Or should I really wait and do the 3-3-3? I can hold out and do 3-3-3 because I know time only helps the taste.... but ahhh it would be nice to crack open some homebrew!

I have done 4 days in secondary on a beer. The problem will not be with the secondary time it will be with bottling time. If you bottle now you'll have maybe enough time to get it carbed.........I tried my irish stout after 1 week and it was okay but not really carbed. I tried it after 2 weeks got the carb and taste great....I tried it at 3 weeks and it was spot on. It spent 21 days in primary, 14 in secondary, & almost 21 in bottle and it was great. It's still great after months in bottle as well.

It's your beer man if you think it's ready to be bottled now then you need to bottle it to get some carb for your 12th deadline.

Take a hydro sample see where you are if it's stopped fermenting which means your hydro is very close to where it was when you put it in the secondary...... perhaps its ready. Most of fermentation happens in primary. What was your hydro readying last night?

im a noob... should have taken a reading ( I didn't though) just waited 3 weeks and swapped it over..

I can rack now (just a samples worth) and take a reading?

take your hydro readings, over the next 2-3 days, if stable bottle it. it won't be as good as it can be but by the 12th it should be decently carbed and will be enjoyable as your first homebrew.

i have yet to remember to brew things with enough time for events that i want them for.

the 12th isnt my deadline... i dont really have one... originally it was supposed to be a 3-3-3 week ratio but i realized my bday is around the corner.. thought it'd be kinda cool. I dunno what I'm gonna do. I want my first brew to be delicious, its up in the air right now.

erkwist said:

take your hydro readings, over the next 2-3 days, if stable bottle it. it won't be as good as it can be but by the 12th it should be decently carbed and will be enjoyable as your first homebrew.

i have yet to remember to brew things with enough time for events that i want them for.

Click to expand...

alright I will go rack a sample right now so I can do my reading... I have a hydrometer but have never used it before since I am 100% new to this hobby... what ballpark number do I want to be looking for?

Check your gravity now and then again in 3 days, if its the same, bottle it, if not, wait a week and check again.

Being your 1st batch, you've already been more patient than most of us were and a stout will help hide any off flavors you may have.

Put a 6 away in a cool dark place and don't touch it for 6 months. You may be very pleasently surprised when you get back to it.

Good luck and keep on brewing!

Bull

so i was thinking i will bring either a 6 or 12 pack of homebrew with me and keep the rest in a dark place for a long time to help condition... and just bottle in a day or two if my reading doesnt change... if these ones dont taste really really good the ones that age will.. and some of you guys told me "its a stout just go straight to bottling for 3 weeks and it will be fine to drink". some of you guys were telling me the main reasons for secondary is for clarity and since the brew is a very dark stout its almost pointless.... I have pretty much achieved my goal as far as the secondary goes and my whole reasoning behind it was to get rid of as much sediment as I could from the racking process... I already see the majority of it was lost in the bottom of the fermenter (so thats good) and the rest that got siphoned into my secondary is pretty much all on the bottom... so if i siphon really carefully i will hopefully rack close to none of whats on the bottom. what are your thoughts now? I just want to be able to present my dad with something (a taste) of what is to come in future batches.

ok hydro readings are in... I'm not sure how to read these (since this is my first time) never done this before.... I got the hydrometer to float at 2/3rds full and it was floating 2 dash marks below 1.000?? is that a good thing?

bottled em' I had a consistant reading! I managed to get 51 bottles (some 22 ounce) maybe could have had one more bottle but I spilled one ohhhh well... now they are in a dark covered space in my basement. Will be taste testing one before my birthday on July 12th! cant waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh and i got the wife involved too! she was the capper and I was the filler.

If you do a 3-4 week primary, there's no need for a secondary. Your beer will be plenty clear, especially after a month. Go straight to bottling after 4 weeks.

good to know.

Hey Vermont, you sound like you're way ahead of most people starting off. People around here will tell you that patience is the hardest part of this business; I'm getting to the point where I don't even wanna tell my friends about a brew I just brewed because some of them won't be ready for a half year! And having your buddies ask you twice a week if it's done yet for 6 months is like having kids ask you if you're there yet every minute for a drive from New York to San Diego!

So my only advice to you is this: Enjoy your beers, just not all of them. Use your hydrometer when you brew and then check every week or two after that. When you're done, bottle away. And then give in to your needy inner self and reward yourself with a bottle after a week or two! You've earned it.

And last but not least, the sooner you can start stacking brews on top of each other the sooner you'll give yourself the most beautiful gift a homebrewer can give him/herself - a beer "pipeline". And then you won't even have to worry about the beer you just bottled because you can set it and forget about it! And in the meantime you'll have plenty of other beers to keep you happy (unless you have the neighborhood hooked on homebrew like I do with mine )

And welcome to your new obsession! Cheers

thanks duffman... with the irish stout in bottles and the autumn amber ale in the primary things are looking good. I also have the amber bock on deck, once I transfer the amber into the secondary it will be brew time for the bock! I plan on kegging the amber ale (undecided about the bock) if I will bottle or keg that since its a darker beer.... then I will be ordering my next batch lol... which will be a pilsner (budweiser clone) and will be kegging that... no worries I think my "pipeline" will be flowing pretty well just give it some time haha.

hehe I broke down over the 4th and had to crack open a beer and see how they tasted.... I know I know.... bottles need 3 weeks to condition (or so they say) but DAAAAAYUMMMMM one turned into two, two turned into three etc.... I just couldn't help myself... Now that I am going home for my birthday I know my dad will approve of all my hard work and enjoy them as much as I do... I gave a case to my father inlaw who enjoyed them just as much as I did. he was very thankfullllllll so all is good! Yep I am officially hooked on homebrew LOVE ITTTTTTTTTTTT

awesome

haha 802 you were like me..

"Okay it's been a week in the bottle... i'm thirsty.. gotta try one."

"That was great! Maybe one more.."

Fourth rolled around.. it was 90 degrees and 100% humidity..... needless to say I have a case left and they've only been bottled for two weeks...

last case stays put for at least another week... until I rack my weiss to secondary at least..

or maybe i'll just have ONE more...

dammit...

haha i drank atleast 10 over the entire 4th weekend lol... do what i did stash some beer in a dark place and "forget about it" it will be a pleasant treat later on down the road!

it's hard to forget when I'M THE ONE WHO PUT IT THERE!!


patience sux..