A Few More Noob Questions

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HawkLake

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I brewed a milk stout extract kit from Brewers Best two weeks ago and was wondering if it had reached it's FG if it would be beneficial to leave it in the fermenter another week?
And what exactly is a "Big" beer? Would a stout be considered a "Big" beer?
Is bottle conditioning done over an extended period of time with a stout?

Also, I have been doing half batches due to storage constraints(no basement) and have only been brewing/boiling one gallon of water. I now have a much larger brew pot and could boil the entire 2 1/2 gallons; is it wise to brew with as much water as possible?

I am taking notes now so maybe I won't have to ask as many dumb questions in the future. :D
Thanks for all the help!
Gary
 
It wont hurt to leave it another week. And if you can do a full boil, go for it. Makes life a lot easier. If you are doing a lighter color beer it will reduce the darkening of the extract and you will get better hop utilization.
 
A big beer refers to the original gravity and overall alcohol content, a stout is not necessarily "big" but it can be. A 4.5% abv Stout is not big, 8%abv Stout is big.
 
I agree, stouts have potential to be a big beer, but not always depending on ABV.

In my experience, stouts get better with age as they will mellow out and you don't require the freshness of the highly hopped brew.
 
ABV alone is not necessarily what determines a "big" beer. You can have a pretty high ABV IIPA that is ready to drink pretty quickly. Big beer falls more into certain styles where it takes time for the flavors to "develop" and "clean themselves up". Yes, many times these types of beers tend to be higher ABV, and it's that up front "hot" alcohol harshness which smooth's out with time but that's not the only reason.
With a more complex beer like an imperial stout or a Belgian tripel you're typically looking at 3-4 wks in fermenter (even if at FG earlier, it just gives yeast more time to clean up...even though they are no longer producing alcohol they are still doing work) and at least another 8-12 wks in bottle or keg before it will be "ready". I say "ready" bc there's plenty of us out there who simply can't control ourselves and taste it earlier and say to ourselves "damn, that's already so good!" and proceed to have at it... only to say to ourselves weeks/months later as we're drinking the last couple beers from the batch "man, I can't believe how much better this tastes now....why didn't I wait longer" hahaha. I am guilty of this all the time.
 
I brewed a milk stout extract kit from Brewers Best two weeks ago and was wondering if it had reached it's FG if it would be beneficial to leave it in the fermenter another week?
And what exactly is a "Big" beer? Would a stout be considered a "Big" beer?
Is bottle conditioning done over an extended period of time with a stout?

Also, I have been doing half batches due to storage constraints(no basement) and have only been brewing/boiling one gallon of water. I now have a much larger brew pot and could boil the entire 2 1/2 gallons; is it wise to brew with as much water as possible?

I am taking notes now so maybe I won't have to ask as many dumb questions in the future. :D
Thanks for all the help!
Gary
As for me gary i keep it to the basics... read up on brewing research is key.... i can already tell my 2nd batch is 100000 times better then my first. as for the knowledge your seeking i wouldnt have.. to my knowledge its 2.5 quartz of water per 5lbs of grain... but may differ per recipe. a vet brewer would be key to ask stay in the thread in sure youll get your answer these people are great.
 
I brewed a milk stout extract kit from Brewers Best two weeks ago and was wondering if it had reached it's FG if it would be beneficial to leave it in the fermenter another week?
And what exactly is a "Big" beer? Would a stout be considered a "Big" beer?
Is bottle conditioning done over an extended period of time with a stout?

Also, I have been doing half batches due to storage constraints(no basement) and have only been brewing/boiling one gallon of water. I now have a much larger brew pot and could boil the entire 2 1/2 gallons; is it wise to brew with as much water as possible?

I am taking notes now so maybe I won't have to ask as many dumb questions in the future. :D
Thanks for all the help!
Gary

GREEN: Giving your beer more time in the fermenter will allow more of the yeast to settle out so you don't have so much sediment in the bottom of your bottles. It also lets the beer begin maturing. It's a good practice in my book.
ORANGE: A big beer is one with a higher OG which means that the yeast may take more time to finish the ferment and it may require more yeast to ferment it out completely depending on just how "big" it is. Many big beers take longer to mature too so you have to let them sit in bottles or kegs longer before they are ready to drink. At the extreme end of "big" beers the yeast will be so stressed from the amount of alcohol that they have produced that they are unable to carbonate the beer and fresh yeast would have to be added.
RED: As the alcohol content goes up and/or the color of the beer is darker, the conditioning or maturing time increases. I really prefer my wheat beers as soon as they carbonate but I'll let my stout sit in the bottle for 6 months before I start drinking them. The imperial stout I made is getting fairly drinkable but is has been in the bottle for a year and it will continue to improve for at least another year.
PURPLE: While it is perfectly acceptable to brew your extract beers with less water, that concentrated boil tends to darken the wort. Using the higher amount of water for the boil should lessen that and also reduce the chance of scorching the extract.

You don't mention the size of the brew pot you now have but if it is 5 gallons or more you can do a 2 1/2 gallon all grain batch in it via BIAB. Many extract brewers are hesitant to go to all grain and I was on of those but I really waited too long to give it a try. If you can heat water to a specific temperature and can get milled grains, you can do an all grain batch of beer.:ban:
 
GREEN: Giving your beer more time in the fermenter will allow more of the yeast to settle out so you don't have so much sediment in the bottom of your bottles. It also lets the beer begin maturing. It's a good practice in my book.
ORANGE: A big beer is one with a higher OG which means that the yeast may take more time to finish the ferment and it may require more yeast to ferment it out completely depending on just how "big" it is. Many big beers take longer to mature too so you have to let them sit in bottles or kegs longer before they are ready to drink. At the extreme end of "big" beers the yeast will be so stressed from the amount of alcohol that they have produced that they are unable to carbonate the beer and fresh yeast would have to be added.
RED: As the alcohol content goes up and/or the color of the beer is darker, the conditioning or maturing time increases. I really prefer my wheat beers as soon as they carbonate but I'll let my stout sit in the bottle for 6 months before I start drinking them. The imperial stout I made is getting fairly drinkable but is has been in the bottle for a year and it will continue to improve for at least another year.
PURPLE: While it is perfectly acceptable to brew your extract beers with less water, that concentrated boil tends to darken the wort. Using the higher amount of water for the boil should lessen that and also reduce the chance of scorching the extract.

You don't mention the size of the brew pot you now have but if it is 5 gallons or more you can do a 2 1/2 gallon all grain batch in it via BIAB. Many extract brewers are hesitant to go to all grain and I was on of those but I really waited too long to give it a try. If you can heat water to a specific temperature and can get milled grains, you can do an all grain batch of beer.:ban:

Fantastic! Thank you for taking the time to explain these things. Very helpful.

I took a gravity reading last night and it was at 1.020, right where it should be. I am going to leave this batch in the fermenter another week and then bottle. I will try to leave the bottles alone :) as long as possible to condition.

Thanks to everyone for your help!
Gary
 
Fantastic! Thank you for taking the time to explain these things. Very helpful.

I took a gravity reading last night and it was at 1.020, right where it should be. I am going to leave this batch in the fermenter another week and then bottle. I will try to leave the bottles alone :) as long as possible to condition.

Thanks to everyone for your help!
Gary

Leave the first bottle alone for a minimum of 3 weeks as it takes time for the beer to develop to where it will have a head on it but you should sample one then as a baseline. Then wait a month and sample again. This will give you a better understanding of the maturing of a beer, especially a stout. If it tastes good to you then, go ahead and drink it, it's your beer. Try hard to save a few for at least 6 months as I think you will notice quite a difference then.:mug:
 
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