Too Long In The Ferm?

[Phoenix]

Hey Everyone,

Hope you all had a merry Christmas and that you're all getting ready for New Years.

On to the post.

Today I finally got around to bottling a brew that has been in the ferm for 2.5 weeks. This is only my second brew, and as a result the newbie in me is worried that that was too long. The reason it was in the for 2.5 weeks was because I simply did not have time to bottle it - due to silly season and getting sick. I took gravity readings on the 6th and 7th day, and saw that it was all stable, but then just never got around to bottle it until today. So it is sort of 1.5 weeks overdue. :?

Should I be worried?

Some points to help you with comments:
- Extract brew from Coopers Real Ale with 1kg of Dextrose
- When I opened the fermenter and looked in closely everything looked perfect (no infectious looking stuff) and it smelt like beeeeeeeer
- Noticed that it was flatter than my previous (first ever) brew
- Noticed that when I dropped the carb drops in, it didn't bubble over like my previous brew.
- It was nice and clear

Thanks for any comments ppl,
Phoenix.

 

[NRB]

Don't be worried, in fact, I leave all my brews a MINIMUM 2 weeks in the fermenter. I rarely rack to secondary these days and with a kit like you've done, there's no problem at all in not racking anyway.

If you're going to use carbonation drops, perhaps put them into the bottle prior to filling? This should avoid the foaming you've experienced before.

Just to reiterate, I would never ever bottle a batch that's only been sitting in the fermenter for 5-7 days.

 

[jayse]

Hey Phoenix,
You don't have a single thing in the world to worry about there as far as leaving it in the fermentor for thet long, in fact i'd addvice to do such things. Opening it up and having a sticky beak isn't a very wise move though.

Happy brewing sounds like all is going well.
Jayse

 

[Phoenix]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Opening it up and having a sticky beak isn't a very wise move though.

[post="99732"][/post]​

Hey Jayse,

On my first brew I didn't open the fermenter at all until I finished bottling. However after that I thought that maybe I should have so that I could look at it to make sure it all looked and smelt okay so as to check for infections. As a result, this time I did it just before I started bottling - I had not opened it until then. After that I resealed it and started to bottle.

Is this not a good idea - even at the last minute?

Thanks,
Phoenix.

 

[Ross]

Pheonix,

At that late stage it won't have done any harm - always better to draw samples out the tap though, for taste/smell tests...

hope it's a good one :beer:

 

[GMK]

You should be right...

But some newbie advice.
after 10 days - Rack to secondary for 14 days.
Taste and dry hop if necessary.
Put in the fridge for the last 3 days.

NEVER USE Carbonation Drops - IMHO thaey are disgusting.
Try Bulk priming.
Add malt instead of dextrose and amke to 20 ltrs...

Hope this helps

 

[Phoenix]

You should be right...

But some newbie advice.
after 10 days - Rack to secondary for 14 days.
Taste and dry hop if necessary.
Put in the fridge for the last 3 days.

NEVER USE Carbonation Drops - IMHO thaey are disgusting.
Try Bulk priming.
Add malt instead of dextrose and amke to 20 ltrs...

Hope this helps

[post="99739"][/post]​

Thanks for the tips GMK. For my next brew I'm planning to do everything the same again, except I'm going to go grab the bits I need and attempt a bulk prime. Then for my fourth I was going to add some racking in as well. After that, I was going to start playing with ingredients.

Hopefully that way I can see each change on it's own. Appeals to my 'how does that work' mind.

Question though, with you suggestion of 20ltrs and malt, have you reduced the amount of water purely because you're using malt? I just remember reading something about problems with not using enough water... ummm... can't remember it though. :?

 

[Phoenix]

What I had read was on the Coopers instructions (which I still have handy):

COMMON FAULTS:

2. Lack of head -- Too much water added, too much sugar added (no more than 1kg per 23 litre brew) or residual fats/detergent in glassware.

 

[GMK]

making it upto 20ltrs give you a fuller bigger body beer.