First batch. Extract Kit from local Home Brew Shop. Has been fermenting now for 12 days. Currently it is bubbling on average about every minute or so. Instructions say: "Wait a minimum of one week for primary fermentation to finish. Two weeks is better. Three is even better still. Yeast likes to go back and clean up after itself (removing the undesirable flavors associated with growth and fermentation), so don't be afraid to let your beer sit in the primary fermenter for a month or more". Question is, what do you recommend? If I bottle this weekend, it will have been in the fermenter for 16 days. If I wait until the following weekend, it will have been in the fermenter for 23 days. Another question, was talking with a buddy who did some home brewing a while back and he was telling me he wrapped the fermenter in towels, not for the heat factor, but to keep the light off the fermenter. Is that important? I haven't read anywhere that eliminating light on the fermenter is important. I'm using a plastic bucket for my fermenter. Thanks in advance!!
I'd recommend taking a gravity reading, and then another one 3 days later. If they are the same, and in the neighborhood of the expected final gravity, and there are no off flavors, it's ok to bottle. Light, particularly UV, blue, and green, can cause skunking of beer. Your bucket is blocking a lot of the light. A dark trash bag over the top (with a small hole for the airlock to protrude) would be even better, and is a fairly common way to block light when fermenting in a carboy. That said, I can't think of any instances where someone has had a skunking problem attributed to fermenting in a bucket.
Homebrewers are instructed to not rely on air lock activity to determine fermentation. A loose lid, bung or air lock can leak, so you wouldn't necessarily know that the yeast are still active. But, if you are seeing bubbles, then yeah the yeast are still busy. Take gravity readings for certainty. Gravity will also help you get a feel for your brewing process. It is better to wait a day or two after fermentation has completed before doing anything. It allows the yeast to floc and the yeast will clean up some less desirable compounds before they go dormant. The life cycle of yeast is one of the most fascinating parts of brewing. Cheers
This is a long read, but describes what's going on in that bucket: https://www.morebeer.com/category/fermenting-equipment.html#Fermentation After the hydrometer shows you have reached FG, I give it another couple of days . . . sometimes another week. If I error, it's always on the long side.
I personally would not encourage you to keep beer in a primary for that long. Once you go past the about three weeks there is a chance that some effects of yeast autolysis might occur. It won't necessarily be the extreme case of "meaty" or "sulfury" but a more subtle off-aspect. I have never let my primary go that long. There is no need to and with the potential for a sub-optimum flavor profile I see no need to do so. Cheers!
Congrats on your first brewing session! I agree with everything said in the posts above. Both recommended taking a gravity reading to know better the status of the fermentation process. OP, you didn't mention whether you have a hydrometer, so if you don't, you have to rely on the bubbles and the calendar which is an imprecise practice. If you don't have a hydrometer, it should be at the top of your shopping list. I also want to say that your second paragraph with the instructions for the timing of the fermentation must have been written by a BA member because that's exactly what we preach around here (don't be in a hurry; give the yeast time to clean up after themselves) because your beer will benefit from it. Maybe the importance of the hydrometer is mentioned later, and maybe the importance of fermentation temp control is also, but I just wanted to mention that those instructions appear to be so much better than what has been seen in the past with beer-making kits.
This ^ ^ ^ Any well-supplied LHBS will have one. If yours doesn't they're available from online homebrew suppliers and you could likely get one by next week, which wouldn't be too late. Also get a sample jar if it doesn't state that one is included. Examples: Triple scale hydrometer, Sample jar When reading the specific gravity, measure the temp of the sample and then use a hydrometer temperature correction calculator. https://www.morebeer.com/content/hydrometer_correction_calculator https://www.brewersfriend.com/hydrometer-temp/
Possibly/probably. I have Prime and for the last several months I've found the "Receive it by" date that's displayed before ordering to be iffy. I think "could likely" would be applicable to most reputable online vendors.
Sometimes Amazon hits the delivery date and sometimes it doesn't . . . but for every delayed shipment they will refund a month's worth of Prime fee. Now for what's important to the OP: Don't go cheap here, get a decent hydrometer. Avoid the triple scale hydros, you only need one scale. There's a tiny bit of calibration involved (think distilled water) and of course it's affected by temp. They aren't hard to use, but mess around with it some before your next brewday to get comfortable with it. The odds are high your brew is completely finished and ready to bottle now, think of this as a tool for the next round.
