I am new to home brewing and will brew my first batch tomorrow. I have the essential brewing kit and will brew Irish Red Ale. I want to make sure I understand correctly that when not doing the secondary fermentation I only need to add 1 week time to my primary fermentation. That means instead of fermenting for 4 weeks, I only ferment for 3? Is it possible to over or under ferment? I know this may seem like a simple or stupid question, but I just don’t want to mess this up! I wanna make an amazing brew! Any other tips for first time brewers? Thanks guys!
When I’m not going to use a secondary I go four weeks primary. You want to be sure that it is done fermenting, and the way to do that is by taking a sample and testing the gravity with a hydrometer or refractometer. You can’t go by the air lock activity. I like to take two or three readings at the end of the four weeks. If the reading stays the same I keg it. Try to ferment your beer in the low to mid 60’s if you can. Have fun and enjoy the process of making beer.
This is sound advice. In addition relax and don’t over think things. You are better off being a day late thn a day early when it comes to beer. Another thing, brew the kits like they come until you get yor techniques down. If you change the recipe and it doesn’t turn out its hard to determine if it was a technique or the recipe/ingredients.
+1. This was my first batch. I altered it. It turned out not drinkable and I’m still not really sure why. Hold off experimenting until you get your processes down.
Thanks so much for the tips! I’m so excited to start this process!
