Vik Beer: Superior Beer Kit

[Wardyblade]

Hoping for a bit of advice from anyone who's had success with this beer kit...
https://www.balliihoo.co.uk/vik-beer-15kg-premium-lager
On the instructions it outlines a typical first stage fermentation in the FB of about 5-7 days. It then says to transfer to the keg which is fine.

The bit I'd like come clarification on is it says to leave the barrel for 2 weeks at room temp and then move the barrel for another 2 weeks into colder conditions. So in total 5 weeks for what appears to be a fairly standard beer kit.

This seems a bit long? I know the longer left the better but 5 weeks before it's ready seems a bit excessive.

Happy to wait if I must. (my keg of IPA is now ready and my bottled cider will be in a few days) but just wanted to know if anyone else has experience with this beer kit.

Ta

 

[Wardyblade]

We'll anyways, an update. Sadly this beer has died on me. It was incredibly active and gave a huge froth on the first day then its given up the ghost. I suspect a significant amount of the yeast ended up in the scummy froth rim at the top of the bucket, also, It might have gotten a bit warm on the first day (28°).

It had a low OG of 1034 to start with and has only got down to 1012 after a week. I might give it an extra couple of days but sadly this looks like it's heading down the sink.

 

[Clint]

Why? Sounds normal...

 

[Wardyblade]

In your opinion should I wait a bit longer to see if the FG gets down to the stated 1000 before secondly fermentation and barrelling? (I'm still new to this so happy to take any advice). At the moment it's ABV is under 3%.

 

[terrym]

Why are you going to dump it, whats wrong with it, other than a slightly higher than expected FG. If you used the ingredients required to make 23 litres, your OG by calculation would have been 1.037 it cant be anything else no matter what you hydrometer read. If you end up with an FG of 1.012 that will still give you a beer of about 3.5%ABV which includes a small allowance for carbing alcohol.
You could try one of the methods below to see if you can drive the SG down (other than more yeast) but certainly leave it for the full two weeks.
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/...s-for-dealing-with-stuck-fermentations.74910/Dump it, no chance

 

[Clint]

If it's beer it won't get down to 1000...more likely 1010.

 

[kelper]

The yeast won't have disappeared into the foam so don't worry about that. Most kits benefit from longer fermentation. Two weeks fermenting is the norm. If it was a tad warm it will start quickly with lots of foam and then slow down. If the SG is steady over three days as 1.012 I would add a bit of yeast.

 

[Wardyblade]

Some good advice to a newbie. Thanks fellas. I'll stick with it