My kit says 7 days, I need 12?

[jpappilli]

What would happen? I am new to brewing, my first kit says ferment for 7 days. i wont be around to prime and bottle until 5 days after, will this matter?

 

[bob1852]

Nope, in fact, it will likely turn out better with a few extra days. There is nothing wrong with keeping it in the primary for a couple weeks or longer.

Good luck!

 

[GioGomez2010]

Definitely not a big deal! Keep it in there for at least two weeks. I've gotten in the habit of 3 weeks but that's just my preference. I would recommend at least 14 days for you though.

 

[OkashiiBrew]

great news.... It can only come out better. Time is your friend. You will ferment a cleaner beer, have better attenuation, and it might even be clearer if the SRM is low enough to notice the difference. I have a blonde ale that could have been ready to bottle last week sitting in the fridge having the yeast drop out and leave a nice clear beer. Another week and maybe people will think it was filtered. Samples have been very smooth and tasty.

 

[failbeams]

Ive never had a beer in the primary for less than 2 weeks. Even the fastest fermenting yeast takes about 14 days to complete fermentation and clean up. I agree with giogomez about the 3 weeks idea. That seems to be about right for most yeast strains.

 

[unionrdr]

It can take 3-4 weeks on average to get down to a stable FG & clean up by products of fermentation & settle out. Patience is your best tool in brewing. It's not for the impatient,gotta get it done NOW kind of person. It's a slow process to get good beer.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Your beer will love you for the extra time and you'll love your beer. Like others said, try leaving it in primary for 2-3 weeks and see how it turns out. Many, many brewers swear by long primaries to ensure a mature, tasty beer.

 

[tuckferrorists]

Just make sure that you have a way to keep that temperature down. if its an ale, try to keep it around 65.

 

[jpappilli]

Thanx guys for your replies. 3 weeks it is! lol..

 

[jpappilli]

Just make sure that you have a way to keep that temperature down. if its an ale, try to keep it around 65.

How do you guys keep your temps stable? I live in Southern California and its 100+ outside. Everything I have read it seems that average temps for most beer is 68 degrees.

 

[kanta]

The cheapest way to do it is with a swamp cooler...get a plastic bin bigger than your fermenter is in diameter, and the taller the better. Set your fermenter in this bin and fill the bin with water as high as you can without overflowing (or covering the fermenter if it's THAT tall). Put a couple of frozen water filled soda bottles in it and exchange them morning/evening with a couple more ice filled soda bottles. put a large sweatshirt or some other cloth that will fit over your fermenter and wick water up the sides onto your fermenter. As long as the 100+ temps aren't inside your fermentation area, you should drop the temp from the ambient 70-75 that people often keep their houses at down to mid 60's.

The other options are to build a fermentation chamber or convert a refrigerator or freezer into a fermentation chamber, although those aren't quite as frugal as the swamp cooler, they are more reliable with shifts in the ambient temperature

 

[tuckferrorists]

How do you guys keep your temps stable? I live in Southern California and its 100+ outside. Everything I have read it seems that average temps for most beer is 68 degrees.

I just use a crawfish tray (doubt y'all have those in Cali) I put a tshirt over it and fill the tray with water and I make sure to get the shirt wet in the process. Also it's directly under a ceiling fan on full speed. That's just as important. That way you don't have to keep switching out frozen water bottles. And trust me, it's just as hot here in Louisiana. It takes my ambient 72 degrees down to 64 which is perfect. I have to refill the water about once a day.