I have some more questions. After reading more and more about the brewing process in this forum, I need public opinion.
I live in Arizona, and it requires a lot of attention to keep my beer at the right temperature in the summer. I do the tote, with a towel, and a fan, and ice packs/frozen water bottles. My first 3 previous batches turned out pretty good, and all of them fermented about 72-74 degrees, and all of them sat for only 7-9 days. I have been really good about being patient with letting them age in the bottle, and now I am completely out of beer. I just bottled my 4th batch of peach cream ale. 7 days primary, 8 days secondary on peach puree and then bottled.
A lot of people say 3 weeks primary or combo of primary and secondary (in the total of 3 weeks minimum).
My home can get up to 85 during the day and with a towel/tote/water/fan combo it averages about 70 degrees. It is just a pain in the butt to keep attentive to it for 3 weeks. 2 weeks was bad enough. The towel starts to smell all mildew-ey and it starts to stink up the spare room a little bit. I know it is important to keep the beer cooler during the more rigorous fermentation process in the beginning, but if I slack a little bit after it has been over a week, is this a HUGE deal? After tasting it before bottling, it tastes like it is going to be GREAT. I want to up my beer reserve and get another 45 or so in my closet so I can drink em in a couple months... and it is really warming up and the ac is finally on in the house mainting 85 when we arent home (during the warmest parts of the day)
Also, I obviously just bottle and stick em in the closet. If the closet gets up to 85 degrees or so, is this a problem for conditioning after they are bottled? Is it going to hurt the final product of the beer?
The 3rd batch I did, I was not too concerned about the temperature (as it was a cool spring) and it had a slight off flavor and was my worst beer I brewed. It could also have to do with the fact I added a pound of honey to the beer to boost the alcohol content. I still ended up drinking all 45 of them though!! :-D
Soooo, experts and noobies alike... Do you ferment for longer than 9 days ? Have you noticed a signifigant difference in taste if you do?
Why does Charlie P's book only say 7-9 days? This last batch I did was the first time I ever did secondary and I secondaried in a pail. (Even though I have a carboy I have never used)
I live in Arizona, and it requires a lot of attention to keep my beer at the right temperature in the summer. I do the tote, with a towel, and a fan, and ice packs/frozen water bottles. My first 3 previous batches turned out pretty good, and all of them fermented about 72-74 degrees, and all of them sat for only 7-9 days. I have been really good about being patient with letting them age in the bottle, and now I am completely out of beer. I just bottled my 4th batch of peach cream ale. 7 days primary, 8 days secondary on peach puree and then bottled.
A lot of people say 3 weeks primary or combo of primary and secondary (in the total of 3 weeks minimum).
My home can get up to 85 during the day and with a towel/tote/water/fan combo it averages about 70 degrees. It is just a pain in the butt to keep attentive to it for 3 weeks. 2 weeks was bad enough. The towel starts to smell all mildew-ey and it starts to stink up the spare room a little bit. I know it is important to keep the beer cooler during the more rigorous fermentation process in the beginning, but if I slack a little bit after it has been over a week, is this a HUGE deal? After tasting it before bottling, it tastes like it is going to be GREAT. I want to up my beer reserve and get another 45 or so in my closet so I can drink em in a couple months... and it is really warming up and the ac is finally on in the house mainting 85 when we arent home (during the warmest parts of the day)
Also, I obviously just bottle and stick em in the closet. If the closet gets up to 85 degrees or so, is this a problem for conditioning after they are bottled? Is it going to hurt the final product of the beer?
The 3rd batch I did, I was not too concerned about the temperature (as it was a cool spring) and it had a slight off flavor and was my worst beer I brewed. It could also have to do with the fact I added a pound of honey to the beer to boost the alcohol content. I still ended up drinking all 45 of them though!! :-D
Soooo, experts and noobies alike... Do you ferment for longer than 9 days ? Have you noticed a signifigant difference in taste if you do?
Why does Charlie P's book only say 7-9 days? This last batch I did was the first time I ever did secondary and I secondaried in a pail. (Even though I have a carboy I have never used)