Fermentation

Hi, Jake, and welcome to the BA site and to the homebrewing forum.

I don't know what the 'mayor' means in your question, but you should ferment until the yeast have done their job. If you have a hydrometer, using that device is the best and surest way to know when fermentation is complete. If no hydrometer, usually two weeks should be long enough, regardless of what your recipe's instructions might say. However, the length of time can vary and be longer with some beer styles, so you have to be aware.

Unless you are going to age your beer on fruit, oak chips/spirals, etc. you don't need a secondary fermentor. Just go from primary fermentor to bottling bucket, add your priming sugar and mix it in gently, and then bottle. Usually it take two weeks for carbonation to occur completely, but you can test your first beer around 10 days to see what you've got. Keep the bottles at the same room temp where the beer was fermented until carbonation is at the level that you want it to be. Then refrigerate and enjoy.

 

2 weeks in primary(carboy) 3 weeks in the bottle WITH priming sugar. This is as simple as I can make this and the truth is some beers need way more than two weeks and some beers need way less. This is only a suggestion that is as fool proof as possible without knowing what kinda beer you are making. Good luck.

 

The OP did identify the beer as a wheat beer. Of course that itself is a rather broad category, but unless it is something crazy I think 2 weeks in primary sounds about right.

 

My bad, you are correct. Either way what I recommended was pretty safe when first starting out.

 

5 weeks will make a much better beer than 3 weeks

 

You're not over-thinking it, you're just anxious to drink that first homebrew.

Kit instructions typically operate on calendar timing because they don't know if you have a hydrometer to take the gravity readings. (I'm assuming too that you don't have a hydrometer.) If you have a good boiling session, properly cool the wort to under 70 degrees before pitching your yeast, and if the yeast is fairly fresh (what type of yeast is it, and is it dated?), your beer should be done fermenting in two weeks. HOWEVER, there are always exceptions because of things that go wrong, old yeast, wrong fermenting temp, etc. so two weeks should be used only as a guide.

Within a few days after pitching the yeast your airlock will show bubbles at a rapid pace and you should see krausen bubbles on the top of your beer, and then the bubbles slow down to a crawl, fermentation is winding down. That can be anywhere from 3-10 days (or longer with some beers) but some extra days after that are always a necessity to allow the yeast to clean up some of their waste which will greatly improve the beer's taste. So be patient and allow the visual progress of the fermentation to tell you when to take the next steps in creating this beer.

When do your instructions say to add the orange peel? The details of that step could change things too, especially if you need to use a secondary fermentor.

While waiting, I highly recommend that you take the time to read John Palmer's book HowToBrew.com which is free to read online, or purchase the latest edition so you have something to highlight, write notes, etc. It's typically $16-$18 online or in good bookstores.

 

You should notice after a few weeks in the bottle that your beer will improve taste and carbonation wise.

I do not make wheat brews, but usually 3-4 weeks in the bottle conditioning will provide an nice beer. More time for big roasts brews.

Welcome aboard and have fun brewin

 

All right, it sounds as though things are on track.

If you don't have a hydrometer yet, and depending on your budget, consider getting a refractometer instead. Here's a model from MoreBeer (it should also be available at whatever retailer you prefer). A refractometer requires a far smaller sample to measure the gravity, which can really come in handy. I have both and I haven't used my hydrometer in a very long time.

That said, an important word of warning. A refractometer will not give accurate readings once there is alcohol in solution, so you must use an online calculator to adjust it. (I use Sean Terrill's, and I find his default wort correction factor of 1.040 to be accurate for my brewing, or at least consistent with the readings I get from my hydrometer.) This approach requires you to record the original gravity, since that is an input for the calculator at later stages. It takes a little practice learning to use it (one tip: a bright light helps), but once you do I think you will find it much more convenient than a hydrometer.

All of that said, a hydrometer takes equally good measurements, and if that's more practical for your budget (or if you aren't sure you will stick with the hobby and you don't want to invest too much up front), it is a good thing to have.