Brewers Best Holiday Ale kit

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jdburnett

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Any suggestions on how long to leave this in primary? I don't plan on doin secondary. Any feedback on this particular kit would be great. From what I hear It probably won't be ready til the next holiday season! Thanks for any input. Happy Friday!!
 
I left mine in the primary for about 10 days and the secondary for 3 weeks. I got real nervous because at 2 weeks in the bottles it had zero carbonation. It took 5 weeks before it was decent. I couldn't help but sample it every few days, so by the time I hit the 5 week mark they were mostly gone! Everyone loved it though! I have 3 bottles left that I am going to try and forget about!
 
3 to four weeks in the fermenter would be good for this kit. Expect it to take about a week to carbonate at room temperature and 2 months or a bit more to mature. It might be pretty drinkable by St. Patrick's day but by Easter it should be very good.

Try to keep the fermentation temperature down. Low to mid-60's would be good for the first week (OK, 4 days at least) and then let it warm to room temperature. It makes better tasting beer and still ferments out completely.
 
I believe it has been between 64 and 68 the whole time is been fermenting in the primary. I put it in 12/8. So its been a week at that temp. Luckily in west Phoenix Arizona it been roughly 68 degrees every day for the past few weeks. Makes maintaining temps easy.
 
I have had mine in primary for a little over a month now. I keep telling myself to bottle it, but I never really get around to it. Hoping to at least have it bottled by the 2 month mark, but I'm not too concerned.
 
Two months in the primary? Wow. I would love to do that. Is there any worry of letting it sit so long?
 
I don't think so. Some of the bigger guns on here talk about forgetting about beer for months at a time. As long as you did your part in sanitation and just leave it be, it should be fine. Just make sure temperature is stable and all that.
 
I just took a hydro sample after a full month in primary. It still has a bit to go. The SG right now is 1.030, so it has to drop another point or so yet. The sample tasted great. I am really looking forward to getting this into some bottles and taste a proper pint of it.

Cheers! :mug:
 
Hmmm I bottled this same kit after 3 weeks in primary. I hit the expected FV in that time frame. It had a strong alcohol flavor but I'm hoping it will mellow out in the bottle.
 
I made this December of 2010 for Christmas of 2011. I left in in primary for one month and then in the bottles for another year. Honestly, I think after 4-6 months it was as good as it was gonna get. I'd say primary for 1-2 months and then bottle/keg age for another 4-5 months.
 
I just hit the 60 day mark on my holiday ale's primary. It is finally this beer's turn to take a trip to the bottling bucket as soon as I get some bottles back from my brother this weekend. Really pumped to have this conditioning. Just hope the yeast is still awake enough to carb them up.
 
I just hit the 60 day mark on my holiday ale's primary. It is finally this beer's turn to take a trip to the bottling bucket as soon as I get some bottles back from my brother this weekend. Really pumped to have this conditioning. Just hope the yeast is still awake enough to carb them up.

With 60 days in the primary you may not need much bottle conditioning. I'd sample one at the end of the first week just to see how well it is carbing up. Just make sure your bottles are in a warm (70-75 degrees F.) location and chill the sample one for at least 24 hours.:mug:
 
I made a mistake with this kit -- misread the directions (my bad, I know) and added the spices to the steep, rather than the boil. I'm afraid I won't have much flavor from them now.

Should I add some orange peel, et al, to the primary now and let some of those flavors infuse? Or add it to the seconday (assuming I use one)?

I just hate to lose those great holiday spices -- they're what make the difference between a holiday ale and a simple ale, I think.
 
I made a mistake with this kit -- misread the directions (my bad, I know) and added the spices to the steep, rather than the boil. I'm afraid I won't have much flavor from them now.

Should I add some orange peel, et al, to the primary now and let some of those flavors infuse? Or add it to the seconday (assuming I use one)?

I just hate to lose those great holiday spices -- they're what make the difference between a holiday ale and a simple ale, I think.

On this kit, when does it call to add the spices to the boil? At the end?

P.S. I'm in Strongsville as well. Small world.
 
On this kit, when does it call to add the spices to the boil? At the end?

P.S. I'm in Strongsville as well. Small world.

I missed it, but the directions call for the spices to be added with that last hops --the last 15 minutes of the boil.

Instead, I added them to the steeping grains, and steeped them at 160 degrees for 20 minutes.
 
I missed it, but the directions call for the spices to be added with that last hops --the last 15 minutes of the boil.

Instead, I added them to the steeping grains, and steeped them at 160 degrees for 20 minutes.

So, after thinking about it and doing some research, I'm going to do the following. I will boil orange peel, vanilla bean, cinammon, and ginger to make an extract, then add the extract to taste when I rack it to secondary. I will also add a bit of oak then, because, well, why not?
 
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