Newbie Question

[Simpdogg]

Hi All,

I'm currently brewing a little creatures pale ale, unfortunately i was called away for work and has been in the fermenter for about a week and a half.

I am wanting to know how long you can keep a beer in a fermenter for?

I was planning on bottling tomorrow when i get home just wanting to know if i should cut my losses & start over again? obviously i cant check the gravity as im not home to do so.


As always your advice is much appreciated.

Cheers

 

[clean brewer]

Hi All,

I'm currently brewing a little creatures pale ale, unfortunately i was called away for work and has been in the fermenter for about a week and a half.

I am wanting to know how long you can keep a beer in a fermenter for?

I was planning on bottling tomorrow when i get home just wanting to know if i should cut my losses & start over again? obviously i cant check the gravity as im not home to do so.


As always your advice is much appreciated.

Cheers

Is it under Temperature Control? If so, itll be fine for a few weeks, ive only had experience with leaving mine for 3 weeks with no Ill effects... I leave mine 2 weeks minimum anyhow...

Others may elaborate further...

:icon_cheers: CB

 

[Barramundi]

it should be fine , it may not even be finished fermenting given the colder temps were having ..

 

[tcraig20]

Ive successfully left beer for about 3 months before (life gets in the way of brewing sometimes).

A week and a half will be no worries.

 

[Cocko]

I am sure you are confident by now that you brew will be FINE.. in fact maybe clearer than it would have been...

As CB said, temp control is important, do you have any?

Either way, I would still be taking SG readings over a couple of days to make sure its finished before bottling.

Simpdogg, all will be good in the world, don't stress it!


:icon_cheers:

 

[altone]

I have, on a few occasions left non temp controlled brews for 3 weeks plus with no major hassles.

If you're running temp control you'll be fine for much longer than that.

Obviously not ideal, but never had a major problem leaving the brew in the fermentor a little longer than ideal time.

 

[Sammus]

pale beers seem to do fine, I've left them on primary for a month or two to no ill effects. Dark beers on the other hand... I've done about 4 stouts and at 2 weeks there good, 3 weeks theyre full of gross vegemite flavours from autolysis or something. They seem to be much more prone to getting gross flavours from leaving them on the yeast for too long.

 

[Simpdogg]

At this stage i don't really have any form of temperature control, the room i keep the fermentor in seems to constantly be between 18-20c.

Thanks everyone for the great advice, especially about the stouts as im keen to give one a crack next.


One other question about brewing temperature, is there specific times of the year to brew certain styles? i overheard someone saying that its best to brew things like largers and pilsners in winter, is this true or it doesn't really matter


Cheers

 

[muckey]

lagers are fermented at lower temps 10 - 14 degrees and stored cold (lagered) for several weeks so easier to brew them during winter and get them ready for summer

Ales being brewed at 18-22 degrees are traditionally brewed during summer, ready for the winter

 

[Bremmario]

I brew mostly pales and I find that you can't be sure they are fully fermented until you've left them around 2 weeks. Then I check the SG over three days.

I used to check the SG over 2 days but found that sometimes this wasn't long enough and the SG would magically change on the third day. Maybe something to do with fluctuating temperature under my stairs where I store the fermentor (no temp. control).

Where did you get the little creatures pale kit? If I could find a little creatures bright ale I would be drunk 24/7.

 

[mwd]

Brewcraft make a Little Creatures style clone kit. Bit expensive but I made it and turned out very nice.

There are hundreds of recipes floating around for this style of beer from All grain to Kits and Bits. Search for Boonies LCPA for a good amount of recipes.
Dead easy to make with a bit of effort buying 90g packs of hops and much cheaper than buying the ready built kit.

It seems to be one style of beer than many people make on a regular basis.

A few less recipes around for Bright but also quite popular. Should be easy enough to find a good one.

 

[Bribie G]

If you get temperature control (even such a simple set up as a dead fridge with frozen PET bottles swapped in and out) you can brew any style at any time of the year. Lets face it there's nothing better than a lager on a hot summer day which it makes it rather frustrating if you are limited to brewing lagers in the winter . If you can't get a fridge (live or dead) for brewing then you are really limited to lagers etc in the winter and ales in the summer depending on which area you brew. SEQ is pretty good as we have mild winters and it doesn't get much above 32 in the Summer (34 is labelled a heatwave and we only get a 38'er every few years) so we can work round the temps pretty well with wet towels, eskies, dead fridges whatever. However for many of us December, Jan and Feb are the time we slow down, and have a field day from April on.

 

[megs80]

The best way to tell if your beers ok, is to taste it.
If you have been clean throughout your process, there shouldnt be a problem after a week or two.

Cheers

 

[Simpdogg]

I got the little creatures pale ale kit back in january when the brewcraft kit was on sale, i think i picked it up for around $45 normally i think it sells for around the $60 mark.

Thanks for the advise on the ways you can temp control, i have an old bar fridge about that i can use !!

 

[mwd]

I got the little creatures pale ale kit back in january when the brewcraft kit was on sale, i think i picked it up for around $45 normally i think it sells for around the $60 mark.

Thanks for the advise on the ways you can temp control, i have an old bar fridge about that i can use !!

Crickey that's a bit steep they were only $34.00 in my LHBS last time I looked.
Same price as the Fresh Wort Kits by Brewceller looks like we have a good store up here.

 

[Simpdogg]

Crickey that's a bit steep they were only $34.00 in my LHBS last time I looked.
Same price as the Fresh Wort Kits by Brewceller looks like we have a good store up here.

Jeez thats pretty good, i travel up north a bit for work so may have to check it out !!!

I'll check out the prices tomorrow. thanks for the tip

 

[Renegade]

$45 ! Am I missing something here, this is just a 1.7k? Or is that a 3kg can ?

Last time I went to the shop with SWMBO, she wanted to get a couple of kit cans for some reason, and a tin of Brewcraft Munich Lager was $25 which I thought was a bit steep. Still haven't brewed it, and I doubt I'll be able to hold back from making additions of grain & hops, so I guess I'll never really know if that's justifiable value or not.

 

[Simpdogg]

$45 ! Am I missing something here, this is just a 1.7k? Or is that a 3kg can ?

Last time I went to the shop with SWMBO, she wanted to get a couple of kit cans for some reason, and a tin of Brewcraft Munich Lager was $25 which I thought was a bit steep. Still haven't brewed it, and I doubt I'll be able to hold back from making additions of grain & hops, so I guess I'll never really know if that's justifiable value or not.

As mentioned above it was a kit that was on sale.

Came with a can of the black rock pilnser
Brewcraft #15 Brew booster/enhancer
cascade hops
saaz hops (I think from memory)
cant remember what yeast

I bought the kit from the brewcraft store in heidelberg back in jan of this year if that any help to you