Hello all. Relatively new home-brewer here. My question in short: I'm going to use an extract beer kit to make an Irish stout. The kit instructions say to leave the beer in the primary fermenter for 2 weeks, but would 5 weeks be ok? Further details: I'm going to be visiting my family this weekend, who live 4 hours away. I would like to bring my brewing equipment along to have a brew day with my dad and brothers. However, I don't want to bring the primary fermenter back home with me, since I've heard that once the beer is in the primary fermenter that you shouldn't shake it around much (I'm concerned that a 4-hour car ride might introduce quite a bit of shaking). So I'm wondering if I were to just leave the primary fermenter at my parents' house, then bottle it over Thanksgiving weekend, whether this will cause any issues with the beer.
Leaving your beer in the primary for 5 weeks should be OK. It is certainly a better option than taking it for a 4-hour car ride. Cheers!
5 weeks would be slightly borderline for me, but I think the beer will be okay. Can you keep the beer fairly cool for the duration? That would help, I think.
@minderbender brings up a good point. If you could store the primary cool after primary fermentation is complete would be a benefit. Cheers!
QUOTE="CarolusP, post: 4174075, member: 1057746"]I've heard that once the beer is in the primary fermenter that you shouldn't shake it around much[/QUOTE] Only true after the first 24-48 hrs or so...why not brew right before you come home (last day)?
I thought about giving this advice... it's true that the beer would not be harmed by shaking in the first 48 hours. On the other hand, a lot of things can go wrong when transporting a full fermenter by car. The risks seem lower just leaving the beer in place. Another consideration is who is going to monitor the fermentation? (Keep the airlock full, etc.) So, long story short, there's no brewing-specific problem with transporting the beer, but there are the usual transporting-a-large-volume-of-fluid risks. If you decide to go this route, I wouldn't put an airlock on the fermenter until I got home. In the meantime, just cover the top with aluminum foil (or if it is a bucket, put the lid on and put a piece of tape over the hole where the airlock goes). [Edited to add: Or you could, like, put plastic wrap over the mouth of the carboy and hold it in place with a rubber band. Whatever it takes to keep the beer inside and insects out.]
Ok. If I were to go this route, would I wait to add the yeast until I was home also? Thanks for all the input, guys!
keep it cool. keep it dark. keep it covered. it will be fine. Cheers. edit- once the beer is in the primary you should shake the bejesus out of it. lots of oxygen. then let it be. once fermentation starts, that is when you do not want any added oxygen. that is a basic rule to good beer making. the yeast need oxygen at first, and then they don't.
I've gone 5 weeks in primary before, and the beer turned out great. In fact, it was one of my best beers to date. Buddy of mine did this. We brewed a split batch of pumpkin ale, and he had to drive home with his half of the beer. He just put some sanitized aluminum foil over the carboy, and strapped it into the passenger seat with the seat belt. Made it home safely and it turned out great. Either way, you'll be fine. Honestly, I think waiting 5 weeks and then bottling at your parents' is the way to go. It'll keep you from tampering with the beer
You could just pitch the yeast before the drive home. The splashing in the car will help aerate it. Fermentation shouldn't take off for at least 12 hours after pitching
I would not recommend this. the time for infection is the open time between when the wort is within the desired temps. you are asking for trouble if you wait to pitch your yeast. this will give the bad bugs plenty of time to divide and conquer. rather it is best to inoculate your wort as soon as possible with a large colony of desirable bugs (beer yeast) as quickly as possible. this will greatly diminish the chances for bacteria to each your wort and make something horribly wrong. Cheers. edit- yeah, if it is a few hours only, then sure. that's not such a big deal. days? no way.
I would leave it for the 5 weeks, should not be a problem. It is more important to watch your fermentation temperature vs. stress over 3 vs 5 weeks in the fermentor. You do have a way to manage fermentation temps, right?
No, nothing advanced anyway...I'm not that well-to-do. If I leave it at my parents' house, I'll probably have them leave it in the office for the first week of fermentation (mid-60's temp), then transfer it to the basement against one of the outside cement walls for the remainder. It'll hopefully sit at around upper 50's/lower 60's there.
Ideally, you should measure gravity and taste the beer before you decide to cool it down. If that's not possible, I'd suggest keeping it in the first location for at least two weeks. You don't want to crash your yeast before they are done with everything they need to do. Upper 50s/Low 60s might or might not do that depending on the yeast strain and other factors.
Sorry, I did not mean anything fancy, I just didn't want you to end up leaving it in a room next to the heating vent or something. The basement sounds perfect for "storage" but I would do what VikeMan suggested, either test it or leave it for a couple weeks and then move to the basement.
use a bucket/tub with T-shirt to cover...and by all means drive slowly and defensively...a public service announcement : )
As the others said, 5 weeks would be ok. Also something to consider: you could make your wort, not pitch the yeast, and bring it home with you and pitch then.
I've done the roadtrip route myself, both waiting to pitch and pitching before. I just put it in the passenger or back seat with his seatbelt on. I recommend waiting because you are going to be in the car 4 hours or longer depending on traffic. What if the sun is beating down on the wort and it gets up to 85*? That wouldn't be great if the yeast were already in there, but if not, you could just cool it to proper temp when you're home. You have a bit more control that way. Also, if you haven't pitched, you can just bung the carboy or bucket so no bad stuff will get in there and none will splash out. If you pitch before, 4 hours of hot car ride may get the yeast going and blow a bung so you'd need to airlock or foil, but then splashing may be an issue. All that said, 5 weeks is totally fine as well.
