Comments on Homebrew Junkie: How long can Home Brew sit before bottling?

Hi fellow brewer, If this is your first brew, I w...

2011-04-05T22:38:49.155-07:00

Hi fellow brewer,

If this is your first brew, I would suggest you stick to the instructions (temps, aging, etc) as closely as possible. To deviate would require some advanced skills to know what you are doing and for it to come out right.

Strictly speaking it won't really be a lager, or at the very least it is not following a lagering brewing process. But who cares? What matters is you end up with a good brewski!

To follow more traditional brewing techniques (and likely to end up with better tasting beer) I suggest for your next batch to pick up a copy of Charlie Papazian "Joy of Home Brewing" (Amazon or bookstore) which contains instructions and recipes for beginners and advanced brewers alike.

And let me know how your Cooper lager turns out!

I am brewing a California Pale Ale which I am calling the Paschal Ale (it will be ready in time for Easter), and I have a batch of raspberry hibiscus honey Meade in the making as well.

Cheers!

- Robert

I love the site! Quick question. I just got a Co...

2011-04-05T21:01:55.287-07:00

I love the site! Quick question.

I just got a Coopers Microbrew kit and brewed my first lager kit. It's stored in my basement at around 60-65 degrees.

The kit says to age for 6 days, then bottle and age for 20 days.

In your opinion, do these time periods sound good? Also, is 60-65 degrees a good temp to store at?

Thanks for your help!

Just got my Coopers Microbrew Kit and brewed up my...

2011-04-05T20:59:04.807-07:00

Just got my Coopers Microbrew Kit and brewed up my first batch of Lager (the ingredient kit it comes with). I have it stored in my basement at 60-65 degrees. Here's my question, the kit says to wait 6days, bottle it and then mature for 20 days.

In your opinion, does this sound like a good time period? Also, is 60-65 degrees a good temp to store at?

Love the site!

So I added the yeast to the wort and then left it ...

2011-03-04T19:45:58.559-08:00

So I added the yeast to the wort and then left it in the basement at optimal temperatures for like 4 months. I left for my first year of college and just completely forgot about it. Is it still drinkable??

Anon, There's absolutely nothing wrong with y...

2011-01-18T23:29:16.082-08:00

Anon,

There's absolutely nothing wrong with yeast at the bottom of the bottle. This is normal for all bottle conditioned brews. Remember, you are not filtering the beer (unlike most commerical brews) so yeast is freely present in your beer, and settles during the last stage of the brewing process, which occurs in the bottle. I would be worried if no yeast would be at the bottom of the bottle!

So, don't worry and try a brew tomorrow, and let me know how it came out!!

I think I bottled my beer to early I have a little...

2011-01-18T17:10:24.397-08:00

I think I bottled my beer to early I have a little yeast at the bottom of the bottle is still ok to drink? I have only had the beer bottled for two days can I fix this or should I start over?

Lone Wolf, Strictly speaking, you won't end u...

2010-06-10T11:54:40.643-07:00

Lone Wolf,

Strictly speaking, you won't end up with a Maibock (without lager yeast and traditional lagering method).

The foaming should be normal, it may also be an indication of excessive oxygenization while racking.

Well, either way, by now you should have tried the finished product. How is it??

I am brewing a Maibock with an ale yeat so I don&#...

2010-04-28T08:35:53.272-07:00

I am brewing a Maibock with an ale yeat so I don't have to cold ferment. I racked it after 1 week and all fermentation has stopped. After being racked into secondary for 6 hours the fermentation started again and became foamy on top again. The bubbling has continued for a week now. Is this normal?

Daloo, You'll be fine. Just bottle it up whe...

2010-03-17T14:23:31.252-07:00

Daloo,

You'll be fine. Just bottle it up when you come back and "lager" it after two weeks (once it's carbonated) for a few more weeks and then enjoy.

I'm making a bock beer (non-lagering) and will...

2010-03-13T14:13:00.132-08:00

I'm making a bock beer (non-lagering) and will be traveling for 3 weeks in 2 weeks.

I plan to move to a secondary fermenter in the typical 5-6 days, and then leave it in secondary until I return, 4 weeks later. This is driven by logistics more than anything else, I'm a newbie and don't know much about brewing. I'd appreciate any insight about what will help it come out best.

thanks for your help and time, i hope it turns out...

2010-01-12T23:09:08.210-08:00

thanks for your help and time, i hope it turns out ok ill let you know

Rusty, As long as you didn't see any kind of ...

2010-01-12T11:20:04.809-08:00

Rusty,

As long as you didn't see any kind of fermentation going on then you should be fine, however, it's hard to say because bacteria love wort. As long as your fermentation kicks off relatively soon, you'll probably be fine. If you get any kind of funky stuff growing on it that looks like mold and it smells bad, then it may be infected. You can search the blog for infected beer to see one of my beers that got infected.

All this being said, I think you'll be fine provided everything was properly sanitized.

I am a first time home brewer and well i put the w...

2010-01-12T11:14:32.091-08:00

I am a first time home brewer and well i put the wort in an air tight bucket and 2 days later realized i forgot to add the yeast. i opened the bucket and added the yeast. Will this be ok or will this first batch be a waste.

Thanks for your help

Chaz

Good article. My friends and I recently brewed a p...

2009-08-11T09:39:47.068-07:00

Good article. My friends and I recently brewed a porter and moved from primary to carboy on the 6th day, and that may have been a bit early. That was our first beer, though, and our second beer (a pale ale) we are waiting until late in day 7 before making the move to carboy.