New guy questions

[Canadian1]

I just recently started doing partial grain brews with the intention of eventually getting into full grain. It was an American Wheat beer. It sat in the fermenter for 20 days then I went straight to the keg and into the fridge with the gas at serving pressure. It tasted really good after 7 days but I thought it tasted a little sweet. At day 19 the hops seemed to really come through and the sweetness dropped off a lot! It was awesome. I have read a lot on here about again beers and stuff but it always seems like it depends on the style and if they are higher gravity beers or not. Is there some kind of general rule I can follow as a new? Like fermenter 2-3 weeks keg 2-3 weeks then carb 1-2 weeks?

I guess that brings me to my first question. I now have a Blonde Ale that has been sitting in the fermenter for about 16 days. Should I put it in the keg put the gas on it at serving temp and allow it to age for a couple weeks or put in a secondary to age the couple weeks then into the keg?

I am trying to build up a supply (American wheat is gone already) so that I will have a steady flow.

I currently have 2 kegs, 2 primary pails and 2 carboys. My thought was have the two kegs with beers in the carboys aging at all times so once the kegs empty I can fill and force carb without running to the beer store.

 

[jwalk4]

Hello fellow Canuck,

I'm glad to hear your American Wheat turned out tasty! But let's address a few of your questions.

Is there some kind of general rule I can follow as a new? Like fermenter 2-3 weeks keg 2-3 weeks then carb 1-2 weeks?

Time in the fermenter will probably depend on the style of beer and the gravity of the wort. But if you want a general timeline, consider the following

• Below 1.040 = 3-6 days ferment
• OG 1.040 - 1.045 = 7-10 days ferment
• OG 1.045 - 1.050 = 10-14 days ferment
• OG 1.050 - 1.060 15-21 days ferment
• etc.

This is just a guideline, and you'll get a wide array of responses.

As for Kegging and Carbing, why not carb while you keg? Transfer your beer to your keg, and turn the PSI up to 30-40 for 24-36 hours. After that time, purge the headspace and turn the PSI down to serving pressure. You'll get a faster turn around that way.

I now have a Blonde Ale that has been sitting in the fermenter for about 16 days. Should I put it in the keg put the gas on it at serving temp and allow it to age for a couple weeks or put in a secondary to age the couple weeks then into the keg?

Put that sucker in the keg, and follow my carbing advice listed above. Enjoy!

I currently have 2 kegs, 2 primary pails and 2 carboys.

Use buckets and carboy's for primary fermentation vessels, and skip the secondary. You'll get more batches of beer in your pipeline this way, and I can almost promise you won't notice a difference in the final beer product.

 

[RM-MN]

Buy one more bucket fermenter. Fill one carboy with apple juice to make cider, the other with honey and water to make mead. Now you won't be tempted to use the carboys for secondaries which will save you time, reduce chances of infection or oxidation and give you cider and mead.

With 3 fermenters you can make beer every weekend, leave the beer in the fermenter for 21 days, then keg and clean the fermenter ready for the next batch. That will give you the equivalent of 50 twelve ounce bottles per week or about 7 per day. That would qualify you to be called an alcoholic and likely to lead to liver cirrhosis.

 

[Canadian1]

Time in the fermenter will probably depend on the style of beer and the gravity of the wort. But if you want a general timeline, consider the following

• Below 1.040 = 3-6 days ferment
• OG 1.040 - 1.045 = 7-10 days ferment
• OG 1.045 - 1.050 = 10-14 days ferment
• OG 1.050 - 1.060 15-21 days ferment
• etc.

This is just a guideline, and you'll get a wide array of responses.

As for Kegging and Carbing, why not carb while you keg? Transfer your beer to your keg, and turn the PSI up to 30-40 for 24-36 hours. After that time, purge the headspace and turn the PSI down to serving pressure. You'll get a faster turn around that way.



Put that sucker in the keg, and follow my carbing advice listed above. Enjoy!


Use buckets and carboy's for primary fermentation vessels, and skip the secondary. You'll get more batches of beer in your pipeline this way, and I can almost promise you won't notice a difference in the final beer product.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the Advice! I appreciate the guideline for different gravity fermentation periods. What about time for the yeast to clean up?

 

[Canadian1]

Buy one more bucket fermenter. Fill one carboy with apple juice to make cider, the other with honey and water to make mead. Now you won't be tempted to use the carboys for secondaries which will save you time, reduce chances of infection or oxidation and give you cider and mead.

With 3 fermenters you can make beer every weekend, leave the beer in the fermenter for 21 days, then keg and clean the fermenter ready for the next batch. That will give you the equivalent of 50 twelve ounce bottles per week or about 7 per day. That would qualify you to be called an alcoholic and likely to lead to liver cirrhosis.

Thanks I will get another fermentation bucket! I already have a cider going too!

 

[kh54s10]

The guideline provided by jwalk4 is pretty good but I would say that the fermentation itself is almost always done in ten days. After that, bigger or darker beers benefit from some extra time aging. How you do that has options. Bulk age in primary for a limited amount of time. I have done 5 1/2 months through procrastination. Or bulk aging in a secondary. If kegging you can keg, purge and age at room temperature. Keg, cool then wait. or bottle and wait.

For the Blonde Ale. Keg it now. 30 psi for a day or two, reduce to serving pressure and enjoy. Or, set to serving pressure and wait for a week or two.

 

[Morrey]

If you visit larger breweries like Sierra Nevada which is near me, you'll see huge stainless "Brite" tanks into which beer that has come out of fermenter has been transferred. In reality a Brite tank is just a darn huge secondary or a monster sized keg. In this Brite tank the temp is dropped, the beer is carbed, sometimes dry hopped if called for and conditioning begins.


Since you keg, your keg is a very small Brite tank. You'll cold crash, carb, maybe dry hop and condition all in this one, convenient vessel thereby eliminating the need for multiple transfers which can be problematic. Old school logic still hangs on to the use of secondary's but the need for them is somewhat rare except for limited situations.

I agree with the timelines presented in this post, yet I find it easier to simply plan on 2 weeks in fermenter, then rack into keg for the rest of the process. Keeps my pipeline flowing in a systematic order which is what you indicated you also wanted to accomplish.

You ask how long grain too glass? The average beer is 6 weeks...2 weeks in primary, 4 weeks carb and condition. Hefe's or Gose beers are drinkable young at 4 weeks, stouts around at least 8 weeks, lagers maybe 10 weeks or longer if you can hang on. YMMV but this is a general guide for your pipeline.

 

[C-Rider]

Time in primary? Till the beer is done. How do you know when it's done? By taking hydrometer readings two days apart and there is no change then the beer is done. Simple.

 

[Canadian1]

The guideline provided by jwalk4 is pretty good but I would say that the fermentation itself is almost always done in ten days. After that, bigger or darker beers benefit from some extra time aging. How you do that has options. Bulk age in primary for a limited amount of time. I have done 5 1/2 months through procrastination. Or bulk aging in a secondary. If kegging you can keg, purge and age at room temperature. Keg, cool then wait. or bottle and wait.

For the Blonde Ale. Keg it now. 30 psi for a day or two, reduce to serving pressure and enjoy. Or, set to serving pressure and wait for a week or two.

Perfect thanks!

 

[Canadian1]

If you visit larger breweries like Sierra Nevada which is near me, you'll see huge stainless "Brite" tanks into which beer that has come out of fermenter has been transferred. In reality a Brite tank is just a darn huge secondary or a monster sized keg. In this Brite tank the temp is dropped, the beer is carbed, sometimes dry hopped if called for and conditioning begins.


Since you keg, your keg is a very small Brite tank. You'll cold crash, carb, maybe dry hop and condition all in this one, convenient vessel thereby eliminating the need for multiple transfers which can be problematic. Old school logic still hangs on to the use of secondary's but the need for them is somewhat rare except for limited situations.

I agree with the timelines presented in this post, yet I find it easier to simply plan on 2 weeks in fermenter, then rack into keg for the rest of the process. Keeps my pipeline flowing in a systematic order which is what you indicated you also wanted to accomplish.

You ask how long grain too glass? The average beer is 6 weeks...2 weeks in primary, 4 weeks carb and condition. Hefe's or Gose beers are drinkable young at 4 weeks, stouts around at least 8 weeks, lagers maybe 10 weeks or longer if you can hang on. YMMV but this is a general guide for your pipeline.

Thanks for the advice!!!

 

[Canadian1]

Time in primary? Till the beer is done. How do you know when it's done? By taking hydrometer readings two days apart and there is no change then the beer is done. Simple.

I understand taking reading to be sure that fermentation is complete but I have read that the yeast will still continue cleaning up and removing by products of the fermentation process?

 

[jwalk4]

Now, I haven't broken out the brewing textbooks in a while, so someone may correct me, BUT I think that after the primary phase of fermentation (when yeast is most active, krausen, etc. ) there is a secondary, less frenzied, fermentation where the yeast consume less fermentable sugars, and other byproducts before the conditioning phase technically begins in beer.

HOWEVER, to the homebrewer of mild-moderate gravity beers (1.03 - 1.055), there isn't much conditioning required. Some styles of beer you want to drink fresh in order to emphasize the ingredients: pales, ambers, milds, bitters, hefes, etc. etc.
Other beers you might want to let condition longer in order to mellow the harsh, and sometimes, acrid flavors of many dark malts, or higher alcohol content: Porters, stouts, old ales, biere de gourds, etc. etc.

Lagers are another story entirely.

All that is to say though, that don't let all the books and things you hear turn you away from experimenting. I've gone 10 days from grain to glass and have made excellent beers doing so.

Stick to the guidelines I gave you for yellow-amber coloured beers. Err on the side of longer conditioning time if you have a higher percentage of darker/roasted grains OR higher gravity wort. And keep in mind that the timelines are NOT a golden rule, but just a suggestion with many exceptions as you will come to learn in time.

Google the "speed brewing" article from BYO Magazine if you're still not convinced.

Cheers to beers!

 

[RM-MN]

I understand taking reading to be sure that fermentation is complete but I have read that the yeast will still continue cleaning up and removing by products of the fermentation process?

That's correct, when the fermentation slows down and the yeast stop producing CO2 they continue to break down the by-products. However, that doesn't take very long normally. Here's a short article about the timeline of the yeast.

http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

 

[Canadian1]

Now, I haven't broken out the brewing textbooks in a while, so someone may correct me, BUT I think that after the primary phase of fermentation (when yeast is most active, krausen, etc. ) there is a secondary, less frenzied, fermentation where the yeast consume less fermentable sugars, and other byproducts before the conditioning phase technically begins in beer.

HOWEVER, to the homebrewer of mild-moderate gravity beers (1.03 - 1.055), there isn't much conditioning required. Some styles of beer you want to drink fresh in order to emphasize the ingredients: pales, ambers, milds, bitters, hefes, etc. etc.
Other beers you might want to let condition longer in order to mellow the harsh, and sometimes, acrid flavors of many dark malts, or higher alcohol content: Porters, stouts, old ales, biere de gourds, etc. etc.

Lagers are another story entirely.

All that is to say though, that don't let all the books and things you hear turn you away from experimenting. I've gone 10 days from grain to glass and have made excellent beers doing so.

Stick to the guidelines I gave you for yellow-amber coloured beers. Err on the side of longer conditioning time if you have a higher percentage of darker/roasted grains OR higher gravity wort. And keep in mind that the timelines are NOT a golden rule, but just a suggestion with many exceptions as you will come to learn in time.

Google the "speed brewing" article from BYO Magazine if you're still not convinced.

Cheers to beers!

Thanks a lot, I will stick to those guidelines!!

 

[Canadian1]

That's correct, when the fermentation slows down and the yeast stop producing CO2 they continue to break down the by-products. However, that doesn't take very long normally. Here's a short article about the timeline of the yeast.

http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

Great read! Thanks for the link!