Home brew kits

[Neil williams]

hi all .im looking for some advice .i have been making home brew for over a year now .however having made my beer using the kit form I have always gone by the instructions ie: bottle after 7-10 days pending on FG .my question is I am making a wiko Mexican cerversa larger .and I am wondering how long can I keep it in the first fermentation for ? Don’t get me wrong following the instructions the larger has tasted nice .but after reading many posts I see some folk leaving it for between 1-3 weeks before bottling ! Would love some opinions and advice I am new to this group so please go easy on me lol

 

[RM-MN]

I don't know just how long you can leave it in the primary fermenter but one person mentioned leaving a beer for 6 months and said that that wasn't too long yet. The longest I have left beer in the fermenter is 9 weeks and it turned out very good.

 

[BrewingAroundtheRrealm]

I've done 6 weeks in the primary fermenter with out issue. As long as the fermenter is sealed and there is no air exchange there is no reason you couldn't go much longer.

 

[kh54s10]

If you are doing a true lager that is a totally different fermentation process from ales.

You have to fairly accurately control the fermentation temperature and change it at different stages.

A common schedule would be 2 weeks near 50 degrees - ramp up the temperature to 65 over a day - another day at 65 - then ramp down over 2 weeks from the 65 to about 35. Some will keep it at for another month or three.

As to how long you can leave a beer in primary (yeast and trub in the fermenter)? I had one on the yeast for almost a year. It was pretty good. I am sure that it was not as good as it would have been if packaged in a normal time frame though.

If you do a secondary, it depends on the beer, but really big beers are sometimes intentionally aged for a year or longer.

 

[odie]

I’m doing my first lagers. They been in primary a month at 50. Going to check gravity today and maybe keg and lager at 40 for another month or two

 

[estricklin]

I'm a big fan of reading instructions too, when people give me crap about it I tell them something like "Hey leave me alone, I just learned to read and this is really fascinating me", but when it comes to the instructions that come with homebrew kits, they are better used as fire starter.

You really should leave all of your beer in the fermenter for at least a couple of weeks. This lager, would do well with a "lagering period", or really what I mean is just keeping it cold for a week or 2, AFTER your 2 weeks or so of fermenting. Yes, lagers typically ferment colder too, but if you can't get down to 50F or so, do the best you can do, it e'll be beer.

If you don't have a way to get it down to 35F or so for a lagering period, be creative. Take a shelf out in your food fridge, leave it outside (if temps aren't below freezing), use an ice bath in a tote, you get the idea.

There are some great resources out there, books and podcasts, and this forum. Welcome to the forum by the way.

 

[Neil williams]

I'm a big fan of reading instructions too, when people give me crap about it I tell them something like "Hey leave me alone, I just learned to read and this is really fascinating me", but when it comes to the instructions that come with homebrew kits, they are better used as fire starter.

You really should leave all of your beer in the fermenter for at least a couple of weeks. This lager, would do well with a "lagering period", or really what I mean is just keeping it cold for a week or 2, AFTER your 2 weeks or so of fermenting. Yes, lagers typically ferment colder too, but if you can't get down to 50F or so, do the best you can do, it e'll be beer.

If you don't have a way to get it down to 35F or so for a lagering period, be creative. Take a shelf out in your food fridge, leave it outside (if temps aren't below freezing), use an ice bath in a tote, you get the idea.

There are some great resources out there, books and podcasts, and this forum. Welcome to the forum by the way.

My larger has been formenting for 9 days now ..it’s at a constant temperature of 22c I am noticing how clear it’s looking the longer I leave it .that said I took a gravity reading and it’s showing 1008 .i think I will leave it for a few more days as advised by a few people on here .fingers crossed I get a good tasting larger .i will however say last time I made this same kit and followed the instructions to a T the larger tasted lovely and was also the right strength ..can I also take this opportunity to thank everyone for your advice ..

 

[Neil williams]

I’m doing my first lagers. They been in primary a month at 50. Going to check gravity today and maybe keg and lager at 40 for another month or two

Is yours a kit larger ?

 

[Neil williams]

I've done 6 weeks in the primary fermenter with out issue. As long as the fermenter is sealed and there is no air exchange there is no reason you couldn't go much longer.

I’m using a coopers kit with a loose lid

 

[kh54s10]

Beware with some cheap kits. I have seen some that are not true lagers. They are really just light ales. They have instructions that are ale scheduled and come with ale yeasts. If you were to do a lager fermentation temperature schedule it would not ferment properly.

 

[odie]

Is yours a kit larger ?

Nope. I just scrounge recipes that sound interesting.

 

[BrewingAroundtheRrealm]

I’m using a coopers kit with a loose lid

I don't know that I would want to go more then 2 weeks like that. The risk of oxidation is too high.