Kit times: Are they taking the Muntons?

[lathos]

Hello!

Recently I got an all-expenses paid trip to the local home brew shop for my birthday, and started my first ever brew with a Muntons wheat beer kit. The instructions are basically these.

After a week in the fermenter I bottled with what bottles I had available; the instructions say to leave the bottles two days somewhere warm and two weeks somewhere cool. So on Sunday my two weeks were up and I tasted a small bottle - fairly flat, (even though I'd primed with more than the instructions said, because I guess they're generic instructions and I read a carbonation chart which suggested that you need about 1.5x times the carbonation of bog standard ale) very fusel and green-apple tasting. Oh, and even though it was flat, it made me burp something rotten. From what I can tell reading around the forums here, that's classic not-done-yet green beer. There's white rings around the neck of the other bottles, but again judging from what I read here, I should cross my fingers, call it bottle krauzen and come back to it in another couple of weeks.

Now, my question. I said "what bottles I had available" at the time of bottling. I only had about 20 pints worth of bottles at the time, and I left the other 20 pints in the fermenter. So it's now been in there three weeks. The instructions said ferment for a week and then transfer to bottles, but I think I've realised that the times on the instructions are whack. But still, three weeks in my airing cupboard seems like too long, especially I'm using a open plastic bin rather than an airlocked carboy. Is the remaining beer likely to be beyond use, or should I bottle that up and leave it for a month or so as well?

And should I pay any notice to beer kit instructions, or just follow Papazian's instructions instead?

 

[IrregularPulse]

Leave you bottles somewhere warm for 3 weeks before chilling any to taste
As far as the remaining beer, 3 weeks is no too long (All my beers get one month undisturbed in primary, but when you say "open plastic bin". yuo mean no lid? I'd say it's not good if it's been exposed to the air for weeks, but give it a smell and taste before discarding. Nothing in the beer can hurt you, it can just smell and taste horrible.

 

[Bubba_Mustafa]

Nah.
From what I've been reading, 3-4 weeks fermenting.
Priming sugar and bottle.
Keep bottle at 70F (21C) for at least 3 weeks (for the carbonation to happen)
Then toss in fridge and enjoy.

(now thats for standard brews, your typical starter kits)

 

[JJL]

I have a question about your process. How did you prime the first 20 pints? If you took 40 pints worth of priming sugar and only racked 20 pints onto it, I would be concerned your bottles may explode. If you added priming sugar to all 40 pints and only bottled 20 pints, then the other 20 pints still in your primary likely started fermenting again. Not exactly sure what this would do. Probably increase the ABV and dry the beer out some. If it's just been sitting in the primary for 3 weeks and you left the lid and airlock in place, I'd give it a smell, and pull a sample and give it a taste. If it doesn't smell or taste bad, bottle it. Three weeks in a primary isn't too long under proper conditions.

 

[lathos]

Thanks to all who responded so far. It's open fermentation but with a plastic lid on, no airlock but it's not been exposed to the elements. I primed in the bottles, not in the fermenter, so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[JJL]

Thanks to all who responded so far. It's open fermentation but with a plastic lid on, no airlock but it's not been exposed to the elements. I primed in the bottles, not in the fermenter, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Phew....Glad to hear you bottle primed instead of batch priming. Although, I should have guessed that you had the priming right. If you had added that much priming sugar to a half batch, and they had already been priming for a couple of weeks, you likely would have already had any explosion.

Even with no airlock, I'd give it a smell and a taste and decide from there.