First timer questions...

[ColoradoBrewMeister]

So, I recently decided to dabble in home brewing. After a bunch of reading I went to my local beer home store and purchased all the necessary things to begin my own brew. I chose an abbey ale to start.

It has been fermenting for just over 3 days now. It is resting in a comfortably dark room at about 64 degrees. I replaced the blow off tube with the airlock this morning as the gurgling subsided. Here is what I'm wondering:

About how many more days should the brew need to "marinate"?

Once I bottle the brew how long should I let it sit before I refrigerate it?

For future brewing, where can I find great recipes?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[enkamania]

This is a pretty good site for recipes http://www.beertools.com/html/recipes.php

 

[Hang Glider]

There are plenty of great recipes here, as well.

Welcome to HBT, Colorado Brew Meister.
Read, read, read. Find the stickies and read them....

you will find that these days, the experienced brewers among us typically leave that beer in the fermenter from 4 weeks on up... just walk away and plan your next batch. Better yet, buy another fermenter and begin building your pipeline. Nothing so sad as having to drink your last one without more behind it. Try to ferment your beers within the range of your given yeast - search the yeast mfgr's site for recommendations.

Once you do bottle, leave it in the bottle for 3 weeks at 70F - minimum.
then, if you can stand it, leave it be another week or two. Time and patience are your friend here.

THEN, chill one down for 24 and test it.

 

[ColoradoBrewMeister]

There are plenty of great recipes here, as well.

Welcome to HBT, Colorado Brew Meister.
Read, read, read. Find the stickies and read them....

you will find that these days, the experienced brewers among us typically leave that beer in the fermenter from 4 weeks on up... just walk away and plan your next batch. Better yet, buy another fermenter and begin building your pipeline. Nothing so sad as having to drink your last one without more behind it. Try to ferment your beers within the range of your given yeast - search the yeast mfgr's site for recommendations.

Once you do bottle, leave it in the bottle for 3 weeks at 70F - minimum.
then, if you can stand it, leave it be another week or two. Time and patience are your friend here.

THEN, chill one down for 24 and test it.

Four weeks?!?! Good grief. That's a long time.

The book and articles that I have read suggest 7-10 days. And then in the bottles for another two weeks.

What is the advantage in leaving in the carboy for four weeks??? ANd would you leave it it in there that long with the airlock on?

Thanks for your help!!

 

[DannPM]

So, I recently decided to dabble in home brewing. After a bunch of reading I went to my local beer home store and purchased all the necessary things to begin my own brew. I chose an abbey ale to start.

It has been fermenting for just over 3 days now. It is resting in a comfortably dark room at about 64 degrees. I replaced the blow off tube with the airlock this morning as the gurgling subsided. Here is what I'm wondering:

About how many more days should the brew need to "marinate"?

Once I bottle the brew how long should I let it sit before I refrigerate it?

For future brewing, where can I find great recipes?

Thanks,
Chris

A fun this to do also man is to deign your own. This Calculator here will help you tweak a recipe to style as long as you have a little background knowledge about the ingredients. It's the most fun way to get a recipe I have found.

 

[lumpher]

+1 to 4 weeks. there are a few beers that can stand less than 4 weeks fermenting: hefeweizens, apa's, ipa's some english milds, etc. that's why you have several going at 1 time, besides your friends wanting to come over more often after they taste your homebrew...

 

[Hang Glider]

Four weeks?!?! Good grief. That's a long time.

The book and articles that I have read suggest 7-10 days. And then in the bottles for another two weeks.

What is the advantage in leaving in the carboy for four weeks??? ANd would you leave it it in there that long with the airlock on?

Thanks for your help!!

in reverse order:
*yes, leave the airlock on.
*advantage? yeast can clean up after themselves, conditioning the beer, giving you a better product. Really.
*Books, articles, and homebrew supply stores are interested in selling you brewing. If they told everyone its a 6-10 week process for GOOD beer, they'd never sell anything.
*yes, it's a long time.

but please, don't take my word. Read around. There are lots of opinions here. (of course, if they disagree with mine, they're wrong ).

You can make beer quickly, or you can make GOOD beer. the choice is most certainly yours.
and you will find, that really, we all wish you the best. We're sharing from our experiences, so YOU have the information to make your best choice.

 

[ColoradoBrewMeister]

+1 to 4 weeks. there are a few beers that can stand less than 4 weeks fermenting: hefeweizens, apa's, ipa's some english milds, etc. that's why you have several going at 1 time, besides your friends wanting to come over more often after they taste your homebrew...

Then why do my instructions say to go ahead and bottle after 10 days? I want to make sure I get as tasty of a beer as possible, especially for my first one. But, as assumed, I'm anxious to taste...but I'm not willing to compromise the process.

 

[ColoradoBrewMeister]

in reverse order:
*yes, leave the airlock on.
*advantage? yeast can clean up after themselves, conditioning the beer, giving you a better product. Really.
*Books, articles, and homebrew supply stores are interested in selling you brewing. If they told everyone its a 6-10 week process for GOOD beer, they'd never sell anything.
*yes, it's a long time.

but please, don't take my word. Read around. There are lots of opinions here. (of course, if they disagree with mine, they're wrong ).

You can make beer quickly, or you can make GOOD beer. the choice is most certainly yours.
and you will find, that really, we all wish you the best. We're sharing from our experiences, so YOU have the information to make your best choice.

Man, I really need to get a second carboy...if brews will take such a long time I'll want to have multiple brews brewing at a time. Ugh.

 

[lumpher]

Then why do my instructions say to go ahead and bottle after 10 days? I want to make sure I get as tasty of a beer as possible, especially for my first one. But, as assumed, I'm anxious to taste...but I'm not willing to compromise the process.

they want you to bottle after 10 days so you can buy more kits from them. yeast eats sugar, then craps out the waste the first week or so. next, it eats it's own waste, and goes into hibernation after that. after that, the protein and extra waste settle to the bottom. elapsed time: 3-4 weeks.

 

[ColoradoBrewMeister]

they want you to bottle after 10 days so you can buy more kits from them. yeast eats sugar, then craps out the waste the first week or so. next, it eats it's own waste, and goes into hibernation after that. after that, the protein and extra waste settle to the bottom. elapsed time: 3-4 weeks.

So you suggest waiting 3-4 weeks before bottling, and then waiting an additional 3-4 weeks before refrigerating one and trying it?!

 

[earwig]

So you suggest waiting 3-4 weeks before bottling, and then waiting an additional 3-4 weeks before refrigerating one and trying it?!

3 weeks in the fermenter and 2 weeks in the bottle is plenty for most brews. If you don't drink heavily there will be plenty left at the 3 week mark once they are in bottles. Go ahead and have 6 after 2 weeks in the bottle, you'll have about 45 left after 3 weeks.

 

[ChrisHansen]

A fun this to do also man is to deign your own. This Calculator here will help you tweak a recipe to style as long as you have a little background knowledge about the ingredients. It's the most fun way to get a recipe I have found.

thanks for this link!

 

[RM-MN]

If you only let it ferment for a week and then bottle, it will be drinkable (provided that the active ferment was done. Use your hydrometer to be sure so you don't get overcarbonated beer or bottle bombs) in a week but it certainly won't be good. It seems to take about 6 weeks to start getting good and it gets better with time.

If you leave it in the fermenter for 3 to 4 weeks before bottling, is isn't likely that you will be overcarbonated because the yeast will have had time to go through all the sugars. The advantage it that when you then bottle it, the beer will be drinkable and pretty good in a week. By waiting longer to bottle, you actually get good beer faster. You still should wait longer to drink it but I always like to sample one at a week to see how its coming along. I've noticed that some people can't even wait that long.

 

[BrewMasterBooks]

A fun this to do also man is to deign your own. This Calculator here will help you tweak a recipe to style as long as you have a little background knowledge about the ingredients. It's the most fun way to get a recipe I have found.

Thanks for this... I'll check it out. Maybe I'll come up with some more recipes.