To follow instructions or not?

[Home_Brew_Boy]

Hi all,
I've noticed a lot of posters on here advising people to leave brews to ferment longer than what is instructed with in kit instructions, is there any reasoning behind it? Will the brew be any better by doing this?

:

 

[Mark1964]

better quality clearer beer and allowing fermentation to finish properly lets the yeast do its job well too

 

[RobWalker]

Brew instructions are just a safe bet. Beer is moved either a) after fermenting when still cloudy or 2) after clearing in primary. You need to let the fermentation stabilize then give it a few days for the yeast to clean up. That's your minimum time.

 

[pittsy]

yeah as above so kick them instructions down the road (its a sales tactic so when you buy you might think oooh a few days and a couple of weeks ...beer ,nope good beer a few months)

 

[Home_Brew_Boy]

Cheers folks, thanks for clearing that up.

So how long do people usually leave it to ferment, condition etc?

 

[pittsy]

ferment around 10 to 14 days (best) after bottling in warmth for 2 weeks then if 1040 4 weeks if 1050 (og) then 5 weeks etc but the longer the better it will be (not months and months though)

 

[pittsy]

p.s try a sample after 4 weeks (ok you prob try 1 after 1 week , we all do ) then leave it try again after 5 weeks and so on in the mean time brew some more , you prob won't wait that long but the more you brew the more likely you will leave some long enough to notice the difference :

 

[Home_Brew_Boy]

Thanks for the info.

Will have a pint for you when they're ready : :drink: :grin:

 

[calumscott]

+1 for that usual good advice.

They hook you in with the promise of drinnking beer in 21 days, then you drink it... :sick:

Not that kits are all cr@p. I brew one a week! The instructions tell you roughly what to put in it (although you generally want to replace the sugar with spraymalt), the hot water to cold water ratio (6 pints hot to... well the rest cold) seems to get you bang on pitching temperature...

...at that point you are dealing with a living thing which will do what it's going to do the way that it wants to do it! Living things don't follow instructions...

So, like a shepherd, you just tend your yeasty flock. Leave them to settle in and party on down with all that sugary wort then once the party's over (steady gravity readings two days apart and inline for the style of beer, from 1.012 for two can ales to 1.006 for lagers and lighter beers), let them get over their hangovers and clean up the house - should take them two or three more days.

Once they've straightened everything out, they'll rest leaving you with nice clear beer that you can bottle. Then leave it as long as you can possibly resist drinking it. A couple of weeks to carbonate and at least another couple of weeks somewhere cool.

 

[RobWalker]

pittsy isnt wrong, we all dip in early...mine are usually drinkable after a month so that's fine by me, they do get much better after 1 or 2 months but 50% of the reason I brew is financial so I'm happy to knock timing on the head every now and then.

The secret to really good beer is indeed age, that's why if you can deal with yeasty, musty month old beer, it's good to brew some small batches to put away. I regularly make 1-2 gal batches of stuff and just stick it in the garage after bottling and carbonating, give it 6 months and you'll have something you never dreamed you could make :