Start to finish - (brew to drink) time?

It's my understanding that from the start to finish it could be a month or more till the beer is ready?

You make a batch, drop it into the fermentor for 14+ days, then into a secondary if desired for another X amount of days (i assume to get the beer seperated from the stuff on the bottom), then bottle it and wait a minimum of 2 more weeks for it to carbonate?

Seems to me that right there is a reason to have more than one batch going at any one time... I could be wrong but some threads seem to imply bottled beer sitting for more than two-3 weeks to carbonate.

You guys must be VERY patient to wait that long...

I hope to attain such patience in the weeks to come.

BADS197 said:

It's my understanding that from the start to finish it could be a month or more till the beer is ready?

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Depends on the style of beer. "Ready" is a relative term...some Barleywines should be aged for months before I would call them "ready". On the other hand, a nice hefeweizen can be ready in a few weeks.

You make a batch, drop it into the fermentor for 14+ days, then into a secondary if desired for another X amount of days (i assume to get the beer seperated from the stuff on the bottom), then bottle it and wait a minimum of 2 more weeks for it to carbonate?

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That's pretty much it, but your beer will still taste "green" (i.e. not ready to drink) even after 2 weeks in bottle, especially with hoppy beers and/or roasty beers. 3 weeks is usually the minimum bottle time before they're "ready", even though they'll probably be carbonated within 10 days.

Seems to me that right there is a reason to have more than one batch going at any one time... I could be wrong but some threads seem to imply bottled beer sitting for more than two-3 weeks to carbonate.

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Um, yeah. Right now, I have 6 kegs on tap, plus about 20 cases of bottles. I could have a raging party and not run out. This is the only way to fly!

You guys must be VERY patient to wait that long...

I hope to attain such patience in the weeks to come.

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Don't worry, you will. I was very impatient when I started, but after you brew a few dozen batches, the urgency starts to wear off and you're more patient. Right now, I've got a couple sour beers in fermenters that will be there for 12-18 months.

Good way to practice the patience is to brew a couple differing batches. When a brew reaches secondary, get the next one going in the primary. In no time, you'll have plenty of options. This way also helps keep you busy and not thinking of the beer that is not done yet, because you'll be busy with the ones that are fermenting.

And always be thinking/planning the next brew...

More like six weeks for me, but everyone is different. Note too that the normal rule of thumb is that the best beer from a given batch will be the last one.

7-8 weeks for most of my "normal" beers. Roughly 3-4 weeks in primary, and 3-4 weeks before I crack a bottle.

Evan! said:

That's pretty much it, but your beer will still taste "green" (i.e. not ready to drink) even after 2 weeks in bottle, especially with hoppy beers and/or roasty beers. 3 weeks is usually the minimum bottle time before they're "ready", even though they'll probably be carbonated within 10 days.

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I'd like to second that. I have a brown ale that I thought I messed up somehow, after conditioning for a couple weeks the roast flavor was overwhelming and it left a bad coffeelike aftertaste - it's been about 4 weeks since I kegged it and now the roastyness (is that even a word?) really mellowed out and now it tastes awesome. So it turns out it was just green beer that I didn't allow to age long enough.

Thanks,

it helps me get a sense of time. I would not want to drink a beer before it's time.

haha

If it says to age 14 days and then bottle, would it harm the beer to let it sit for a few more days and/or put into a secondary for 3-4 days and then bottle? I'm assuming that secondary fermenting is just to seperate the beer from the sediment that settled to the bottom in the primary..

BADS197 said:

Thanks,

it helps me get a sense of time. I would not want to drink a beer before it's time.

haha

If it says to age 14 days and then bottle, would it harm the beer to let it sit for a few more days and/or put into a secondary for 3-4 days and then bottle?

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Nope, just the opposite, it will make for cleaner and crisper beer...After the yeasts are done eating the sugar, they clean up after themselves...I'm a big proponent of leaving beers in primary for up to a month, then skipping secondary and bottling.

This is a great thread about letting beers sit longer in primary. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=70438&highlight=diacetyl+rest

Revvy said:

I'm a big proponent of leaving beers in primary for up to a month, then skipping secondary and bottling.

This is a great thread about letting beers sit longer in primary. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=70438&highlight=diacetyl+rest

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Thanks, I'll read that thread.

I can attest to letting beers sit longer. I had an American Red kit that I brewed, it spent a few weeks in primary, and 2 in secondary, then after 3 weeks in bottles, it tasted OK, but maltier than I really liked, and still a little green. After not having much interest in drinking such a "sweet" beer, I tried one around the 5-7 week mark, and it was amazing. The flavor had developed so much and the vast majority of the sweetness had calmed down, and the hops were perceptible in it.

If you're only gonna secondary 3-4 days, its not worth it to secondary.

I typically primary 10 days, and if the beer is ready, it goes to secondary, then to keg or bottle after 2-3 weeks in secondary.

all depends on the beer style.

you'll see a lot of us use our signatures to tell you how many batches we have going at a time. for most of us, there's always something fermenting or in secondary, and 1 or more beers ready to be consumed.

malkore said:

you'll see a lot of us use our signatures to tell you how many batches we have going at a time. for most of us, there's always something fermenting or in secondary, and 1 or more beers ready to be consumed.

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Erm....Except when we haven't updated ours in a few weeks.

2 week special
For a party I brewed a fast batch. I chose a Dark Ale as the extra flavour disguises the imature beer. The trick is to ferment fast. In my case it was Summer and the daytime temperatures was in the mid 30's. I always use a tropical fish heater to keep the minimum temperature about 25deg c. I found that the beer had finished fermenting after 5 days I bottled it on the 6th. As it was a dark beer it did not require full carbination and if the clarity was not perfect it was not detected. I always decant in a jug to remove sediment. The result obviously was not as good as the beer that matures for at least 4 weeks in the bottle but even so my guests even after being told it really needed maturing they still helped me finish the entire batch. It is amazing how ones appreciation changes after a few glasses. Still one workmate I talked homebrewing with said he liked still beer and drank it cooled straight out of the pimary. How many have done that?.

I had a 1-4 rule One week in Primary and 4 in the Bottle
After reading posts on this forum I have adopted this
a 1-2-3 method One week in Primary, 2 weeks in Secondary and 3 in the bottle

How large of a Fridge do you guys have to have so much beer readily available?

hahahahhaha

BADS197 said:

How large of a Fridge do you guys have to have so much beer readily available?

hahahahhaha

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I just have a regular fridge crammed with food and beer....I only chill down a few bottles at a time...The rest of the beer is in my closets.

So it would be ok if I store them in cases stacked in my bedroom for example?

My apartment today when I got home was 95 inside.

I plan on chilling the wort with a igloo cooler modded like the one thread suggested so that should work for making it. Just worried after it's made and bottled, about how long it will last.

My normal store bought beer seems to be ok.. so i guess i shouldnt worry too much.

BADS197 said:

So it would be ok if I store them in cases stacked in my bedroom for example?

My apartment today when I got home was 95 inside.

I plan on chilling the wort with a igloo cooler modded like the one thread suggested so that should work for making it. Just worried after it's made and bottled, about how long it will last.

My normal store bought beer seems to be ok.. so i guess i shouldnt worry too much.

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It's only really the inital stages of primary fermentation that temp is of major concern...though for bottle storage try to find the coolest, darkest place you can.