acceptable time in a carboy???

im working on my 7th batch of beer... brewed about 5 years a go a bit and just started again...

im allways learning, mostly from my mistakes... ha ha ha... ive ruined 2 batches so far, including my last... it's drinkable, but it overflowed in the primary bucket and lost its flavour... very weak tasting beer..

i just started 2 new double batches. using the "canadian adventure ale" and for the first time i bought the proper sugar for beer. when mixing it all up i had trouble disolving all the flavoring... could see it stuck on the bottom of my spoon each time i pulled it out... i did do the research on this site, and am assured the yeast will disolve all the unmixed sugars / malt...??.. hope so, my last batch is ALMOST undrinkable because of how weak it turned out (coopers real ale).. and i blamed this on either the overflow or bad mixing again.... it was my first batch to taste weak.... the rest were allways fine..

blah blah... get to the point eh?? ha ha ha! too much fun, brewing and talking about it!!!

------------

my last 2 batches i mixed straight into carboys... i left the water level 3" from the top of the big diameter to ensure it didnt overflow the krausen stuff... this worked good, i topped it up to the fat bit on day 2, and will top it up to the skinny section of the carboy on day 4-5/... so far no overflows, things are perculating nicely and it's maintaing a nice temp of 20-22 degrees.

two questions, how long exactly can i leave the beer in a carboy before kegging it??? im just wondering if it can age for several months in a carboy or does it have to be in a keg??? how crucial is the date it goes to the keg if force carbonating????

i use the big 55L kegs and i force carbonate. i am going to filter this batch for the first time too. im getting much better at being sanitary and im finding more equipment all the time!!! presently i have 2 large carboys, 2 small ones and 2 large kegs... plus the co2 bottle and regulators... i recently read about the length of pouring line and diameter effecting beer foaming... ha ha ha... thats a good lesson!!! my 1/2" line 18" long just doesnt cut it... ha ha ha haa ha ha! and now i know why!

second question, ive been reading lots about vodka in the bubbler... ive never used vodka, or steralized water in any of my airlocks to date... including these last 2 batches i made... perhaps this will factor in how long i leave it int he carboy??? should i generally have trouble with straight clean water in an airlock?? in the future i will upgrade to vodka in there, but for these batches, ok with water???

problably questions all answered before... but i searched and searched!!! hard to use the right search terms sometimes...

shnitzel

I... umm... wow...

Okay, I'm going to try and answer your questions as best I can, but that post really made my eyes burn.

1: You don't really want to leave your beer in the primary fermenter for more than a month. Any longer than that, and the dead yeast/byproducts will start to impart off flavors. You can, if you like, rack that beer into a second carboy for secondary clearing, and leave it in there for pretty much as long as you like assuming you don't have a large amount of headspace. I'm currently running an aging experiment in which I plan on leaving a few batches in secondary for almost a year, just to give you an idea.

2: If you're planning on leaving the beer in a carboy for a long time, I wouldn't recommend vodka. Vodka evaporates quickly, and I find myself having to refill my airlock about once a week. I would recommend you use distilled (not tap) water and Star San. A mixture of Star San (available at nearly any LHBS or online HBS) and distilled water will last practically forever.

And my obligatory tips for the new brewer: Don't top off your carboy after you've pitched the yeast! You're going to end up with some watery beer if you keep doing that. Instead of using your airlock, use a blowoff tube for the first few days. Instead of judging the volume of your carboys by eyeballing it, buy a few gallon jugs of water from the store. Pour those into your empty carboy one at a time, and mark off the gallon levels with tape. When you brew, add enough water to take your wort up to the 5 gallon mark, and call it a day.

shnitzel said:

two questions, how long exactly can i leave the beer in a carboy before kegging it???

Click to expand...

I wouldn't leave it in the primary more than 3 months (autolysis can cause off flavors, though realistically it'll probably take even longer than 3 months) unless I had a good reason, but depending on the beer you could leave it in the secondary a long time--a big barleywine or Russian Imperial stout would be fine for over a year.

If you're dry hopping, do it toward the end of the secondary. Many people think IPAs and wheat bears taste better on the younger side of things.

It really depends on the beer, though. In an ideal world I'd rack to secondary after a month for 99% of the beers out there.

im just wondering if it can age for several months in a carboy or does it have to be in a keg???

Click to expand...

Beer doesn't care what shape container it's in, as long as oxygen exposure is low (if you put it in a keg, at least purge the head space with CO2 to eliminate oxygen)

how crucial is the date it goes to the keg if force carbonating????

Click to expand...

Not very, and carbing late won't hurt so long as you purged the O2 early.

second question, ive been reading lots about vodka in the bubbler... ive never used vodka, or steralized water in any of my airlocks to date... including these last 2 batches i made... perhaps this will factor in how long i leave it int he carboy??? should i generally have trouble with straight clean water in an airlock?? in the future i will upgrade to vodka in there, but for these batches, ok with water???

Click to expand...

As long as there's no suckback, it doesn't matter what's in the airlock.

If you're leaving it for a long time, check periodically to make sure the liquid in your airlock hasn't evaporated away (more of a problem with vodka than water).

shnitzel said:

when mixing it all up i had trouble disolving all the flavoring... could see it stuck on the bottom of my spoon each time i pulled it out... i did do the research on this site, and am assured the yeast will disolve all the unmixed sugars / malt...??..

my last 2 batches i mixed straight into carboys...

Click to expand...

I'm a bit confused about this. Are you saying that you didn't boil your beer for some longish period of time (45 minutes minimum)?

If that is the case, then the fact that you got anything out of this is absolutely remarkably.

Maybe I'm just reading this incorrectly. Please, reassure me on this . . .

Here's a tip when you want answers to looooonnnngggg posts...number each situation or question and make them short. This way each question can be replied to easier.

Many of us will start to read your post without finishing and just go to another post because it seems that your questioning is going all over the place.

I am usually helpful, but if I don't have the time to write the encyclopedia of brewing I will generally move along.

Just trying to help you for next time.

Your title "An acceptable time in carboy" is difficult to answer in that some are a week and some are months. It all depends on the recipe and style of the brew.

...and welcome!!

no no, your answers were great!!! even though im terrible at wording my questions....

as far as my bad mixing question goes, im only using the beginner style kits, that only have malt and yeast in the package... so im not boiling for 45min etc... just boiling the water, mixing with sugar and the malt and adding the rest of the water... using the very simple kits... for now!! heh heh

your answers clearely fixed me up!! thanx!!

one more question though,, is it not so crucial for me to have my brew right to the skinny neck of the carboy???? like, if its a few inches from the top (more surface area exposed) will it be just as successfull? that is as long as no O2 or other contaminations get in there.... so basically, i could increase the strenght of taste in my beer by adding less water? without effecting the alcohol level?

you guys are very helpfull!!! i learn everything from the web:: so far my learning has lead me to turbocharge and EFI a 1980 civic, ive built my own flatbed CNC machine, and next become a beer brewing specialist!!! someday.... ha ha ha

shnitzel

It doesn't matter if there is head space in your carboy because fermentation will produce a layer of CO2 that will protect the beer from oxidizing. You are getting water tasting beer because you keep adding water to your beer.

i am a bit confused why exaclty adding water later in the process will make watery beer... that is if the total water in the end is what the recipe required....

see, i am using 44L carboys (there abouts, maybe 46L).. there is a scale on the side so i know the size is correct, top of it says 44L... so what i was attempting to do, is not add ALL the water in the first place.. i subtracted about 6L of water from the recipe and added it later after the initial 4 days or so was up... why would this make more watery beer than if i included all the water int he first place???

shnitzel

ps, boy you guys are fast!!! incredible learning rate here! thanx again!

Hey man, I've about the same experience as you do (about 7 or so batches). There was one time that I bought the "simple kits" a couple of years ago (i stopped for awhile...college) and did the same process of bringing the water to a boil and then simply adding the extract and stirring then adding to the carboy. Outcome was terrible and I read that even those "simple kits" with extract and yeast still should be boiled for the minimium 30 minutes (i assume to create a more complete wort). Also, you probably already know this but extracts come in many weights (3.3, 6) and you should have, I believe (someone will correct me if i'm wrong), at least 5 lbs of malt extract (powder or liquid) to create a substantial beer. Maybe try a beer kit next time, they're pretty self explanatory and you become a little more involved. Good luck.

mort