I just finished brewing the 115th Dream IPA extract kit and am looking for some advice on fermentation times.
The instructions say 1 to 2 weeks in the primary, 4 to 6 weeks in the secondary. What has your experience been with this kit??
There’s no set fermentation time, nor can you tell by bubbles in the airlock. You need to get a hydrometer to measure the gravity of the beer. Take a reading after 2 weeks in the primary then take another reading 3 or 4 days later, if they’re the same you can go ahead and rack to a secondary or bottle it. That’s a really big beer though, it could likely take 3-4 weeks to ferment out.
Now for my rant. I wish NB would change their instructions that come with the kits, they’re misleading to new brewers. Stating 1-2 weeks in the primary is BS, especially for a big beer like this one, you have to take a gravity reading to know for sure that it’s done fermenting. And now they don’t even include a hydrometer in their brewing kits anymore, that’s an upgrade. A new brewer who doesn’t have a hydrometer is very likely to transfer the beer before it’s done fermenting. It could be potentially dangerous if they bottle the beer.
That leads to the so called “secondary fermenter/fermentation”. There is no such thing, transferring to a secondary is for conditioning, dry hopping, adding fruit/spices, etc. Never transfer until you get consistent gravity readings, you could see it drop a few more points during extended conditioning though.
Finally, the instructions call for pitching yeast when the wort is 78° and to move the fermenter to a warm spot. This is really bad advice for most beers. 70° would be the highest I’d ever advise to anyone, mid to low 60’s ideally.
NB’s a great company but it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to change a few of the lines in their instructions. Besides being confusing to new brewers, it’s also a disservice to themselves, people making mediocre beer with their procedure may give the hobby up then they’ve lost a customer.
That’s it for the rant, carry on. :cheers:
Thanks for the reply Glug. I have a hydrometer. And will definitely check for steady gravity readings before transferring into the “secondary”. But the latter is the genesis of my confusion. I know when fermentation is done, all I have to do is check my gravity readings. But when is a beer done conditioning? How does one know?
For most beers 2-3 weeks is probably adequate, basically when it’s cleared up and any trub that got transferred has dropped. However, big beers like barleywines will benefit from months of conditioning. The exception would be big IPAs like you brewed, too much aging and the hop flavor will begin to diminish, plus that big hop flavor will cover the hot alcohol taste. So for your beer, I’d probably do the 2-3 weeks thing.
I loved the 115 and have kept a bottle archived for over 1.5 years now. It evolved over time, which complicates answering your question on how long to condition the beer.
I pitched a large starter (1500 ml) and fermentation was massive/violent at 55-65 degrees. I did follow the SG until it stabilized very near the recipe’s expected FG (1.011). Then I racked it to a secondary so the yeast and hop trub could settle out further. I left it there at 55 degrees for almost a month before bottling (re-pitched with Nottingham dry yeast and primed).
All through process the beer developed. Potent hops, with some herbal notes and a little mustiness at racking to secondary. Mellowed a bit at bottling, more esters, spicy, vanilla. Still hugely hoppy, but more subtle and balanced.
I like bulk conditioning my big beers in the “secondary” when my basement temps allow for it. I won’t do it in the summer, though, preferring to bottle and keep the bottles in a cooler place than I can use for my secondary carboy.
Probably not a useful answer, but there you go.
p.s. Yes, I take copious notes of all my brews and recommend it highly.
[quote=“Tom_B”]I loved the 115 and have kept a bottle archived for over 1.5 years now. It evolved over time, which complicates answering your question on how long to condition the beer.
I pitched a large starter (1500 ml) and fermentation was massive/violent at 55-65 degrees. I did follow the SG until it stabilized very near the recipe’s expected FG (1.011). Then I racked it to a secondary so the yeast and hop trub could settle out further. I left it there at 55 degrees for almost a month before bottling (re-pitched with Nottingham dry yeast and primed).
All through process the beer developed. Potent hops, with some herbal notes and a little mustiness at racking to secondary. Mellowed a bit at bottling, more esters, spicy, vanilla. Still hugely hoppy, but more subtle and balanced.
I like bulk conditioning my big beers in the “secondary” when my basement temps allow for it. I won’t do it in the summer, though, preferring to bottle and keep the bottles in a cooler place than I can use for my secondary carboy.
Probably not a useful answer, but there you go.
p.s. Yes, I take copious notes of all my brews and recommend it highly.[/quote]
I also brewed this on Friday, and I’m wondering about the re-pitching of yeast at bottling. Some of the reviews mentioned that… is it really required? I harvested the yeast cake from my last batch to use, and I’m getting a pretty epic fermentation at 55 degrees already, so I’m tempted to try my luck at eventually bottling without added yeast. Will I be disappointed?
I now repitch before bottling all my big beers after a couple of failures of big Belgians to fully carbonate, especially after a long bulk conditioning time. I’ve never had trouble carbonating big beers since with repitching. I’ve read that the yeast gets “exhausted” and there might be a lack of viable yeast at bottling. Its easy to do and really no downside, so I would recommend it to be safe.
I’ve used a dry yeast like Danstar Nottingham because the forums said that a neutrally-flavored yeast works well, one with high flocculation. But some Belgians gain additional flavors by repitching and bottle conditioning with the same yeast used for fermentation.
[quote=“Tom_B”]I now repitch before bottling all my big beers after a couple of failures of big Belgians to fully carbonate, especially after a long bulk conditioning time. I’ve never had trouble carbonating big beers since with repitching. I’ve read that the yeast gets “exhausted” and there might be a lack of viable yeast at bottling. Its easy to do and really no downside, so I would recommend it to be safe.
I’ve used a dry yeast like Danstar Nottingham because the forums said that a neutrally-flavored yeast works well, one with high flocculation. But some Belgians gain additional flavors by repitching and bottle conditioning with the same yeast used for fermentation.[/quote]
Possibly a stupid question, but does it matter how much to repitch on bottling day? I’m assuming since most of the sugars have been converted, it shouldn’t matter a ton, but that’s a guess on my part…
[quote=“uberculture”]does it matter how much to repitch on bottling day?[/quote]A half a pack of dry would be more than enough. What I do when I have a big beer to bottle is to plan bottling day about 3 days after I’ve brewed a batch, I pop the lid on the bucket of the fermenting beer, get 2 or 3 scoops of the krausen with a sanitized spoon and add it to the bottling bucket with the priming solution then rack the beer on it.
Yep, that’s about what I do, more or less. At first I would eyeball about half a sachet of dry yeast and just dump it in the bottling bucket. Now I rehydrate with boiled, cooled water then pour it in when I prime.
