Being Patient

[callmebazza]

Hi everyone. Thought I'd jump in headstrong with a comment or two. I'm new to home brewing and excited as any noob would be. Currently I have two beers (my FIRST two!) making me proud in the primary -> an extract wheat beer and a partial-mash Irish red ale.

Brew day for the wheat beer was one week ago today, so I took a sample to check the specific gravity - 1.018 and still dropping (albeit slowly). The OG was measured at 1.056.

So now I'm waiting for the right time to bottle, and in passing the time have been reading all manner of literature and online forum post I could get my paws on. The crux is, I'm leaving town for a week the day after tomorrow, so the question arises should I just bottle now before I leave? Needless to say, there's a lot of wisdom on these forums.

I'm sure it has been phrased numerous times on these boards, but the instance I happened to stumble upon was from Schlenkerla - simply stated:

Home Brewing Teaches Patience

That parted the clouds to my decision right away. Though it is not typical of me to be content in waiting for something I want (I have a sweet spot for immediate gratification), I think I'm going to put off bottling until I get back into town. It will end up being almost 2 1/2 weeks spent in the primary fermenter, but so long as nothing bad can come of it I'm hoping this sort of patience will teach virtue under the guise of a delicious brew given time to do its thing.

I can see how this waiting game can easily get the better of some, so hopefully this will be my first step in learning to appreciate the taste of anticipation as well as a (hopefully) delicious brew that was worth the wait.

Cheers.

 

[BigKahuna]

Man...Looks like you're off to a great start! I wish I'd have had such a great first few. I was stuck with ingredients from a LBS 100 miles away and an old copy of Charlie P spreading the good word.

All of that to say...you're quoting Mr. Banana Beer Schlenkerla in your first post....WOW!


LOL I make my self laugh sometimes after I've been drinking a few.

 

[BarleyWater]

Hey Bazza

Sounds like you are well on your way to great beer and a wonderful time making it. Wait until you get home, the extra time may even help a bit.

 

[MgMt_Home_Brew]

Yeah waiting is so hard but it pays off. If you don't wait the last beer you have will taste the best. Although I think that will probably always be the case. I have been making an effort to try and leave my beers in the primary for 3-4 weeks. It's hard but it gets easier as your pipline fills up.

 

[StunnedMonkey]

+1 on the waiting. And like the previous poster suggested, it gets easier to wait once you have a pipeline of brews. Get 2 or 3 more fermenters and brew like a madman for awhile, and pretty soon you won't have any free bottles/kegs for the stuff. You'll HAVE to wait. It's a good thing.

 

[mmb]

Never bottle before it's done.

And if it's done, wait another week. Really.

It gets easier when you have beer to drink while you wait, so don't take a break because you have beer in bottles. Keep at it and build a pipeline. Then waiting doesn't seem quite so bad.

 

[bearkluttz]

+a few more on the waiting. You'll give the yeasties time to clean house and you'll get a clearer beer. Congrats!

 

[Rezilynt]

Bazza - Congratulations! I just wanted to applaud your patience and your decision making skills - having two batches fermenting at the same time is one of the smartest moves you could have made.

 

[callmebazza]

Everyone, thanks for the kind words and support!

I like mmb's suggestion to have a drinkable beer while you're waiting on other brews in their various stages -

It gets easier when you have beer to drink while you wait...

...and what many of you are saying about maintaining a pipeline, so as to not let the wait-time cause you to act prematurely. I suppose the main concern for us beginners is determining when cleaning house ends and auto-lysis begins...

Cheers again, and happy brewing everyone!

 

[CGengo]

You'll brew much happier if you just forget the term autolysis, because you'll probably never experience it. Plenty of people here have let their beer sit in primary for months without adverse effects, 2 weeks is WAY too early to start worrying about it. The beer's not done yet, let it sit until you get back...unless you're into the much greater danger of bottle bombs.

Cheers.

 

[WBC]

Brrew more beer because once you start to drink it and word get's around you will have help.

 

[BarleyWater]

Two things you really don't have to worry about in homebrewing. Autolysis and Hot Side Aeration. You will hear stories of the terrible things they can do, but I defy you to find a homebrewer that has ever had a problem with either.

I say this after having recently having an autolysis problem, but it was unrelated to this context (yeast was dead before I ever bought it).

Don't fear the homebrewing boogiemen, Autolysis and HSA, they're only out to scare you, and are of no real concern.