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ey Guys,
Got a quick question for you all. I’m brewing my first home brew from extract, its an IPA and the wonderful directions say it should be ready in 6 to 8 weeks. So does that mean when I bottle it or when I can drink it. Also when do I know its ready to be bottled? Sorry for the newbie questions.
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If you’re going from a kit, it should tell you about when you can bottle. Usually once all fermentation dies off, and then a few days after. Kit stuff we’ve done we usually end up bottling about a week after brew day. Then if you’re bottle conditioning, generally 2-3 weeks to let it condition.
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http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/index.html
Give it about two weeks for the yeast to finish fermenting and clean up the beer. (If you’re dry hopping, this may have to be extended to account for the dry hopping period.) Then bottle and wait at least two weeks for carbonation. Maybe 3-4 weeks if you use malt extract as the priming sugar.
You know the beer can be bottled if it’s hit a reasonable terminal gravity and has stayed there for at least 3 days in a row. Reasonable depends on the yeast, but let’s hope it’s at least 75% for this recipe. 80% would be even better. Let’s say your original gravity (that is, the gravity of the full volume of wort after boiling) was 1.065. Just use the last two digits, 65, and multiply by 100 - 75 = 25% to see that the terminal gravity is hopefully 65 x 0.25 = 16 or lower. That’s 1.016 on your hydrometer.
However, if it still smells like green apples or butter at that point, give it a few more days. Those are fermentation byproducts that the yeast will clean up after there are no remaining fermentable sugars.
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Here’s a pretty good schedule for an IPA.
(1) 2 weeks primary
(2) 1 week secondary to dry hop(if called for)OR dry hop in primary
Check gravity over 2-3 days,if no change then bottle.
(3) Bottle condition @ 70F-76F 3 weeks to carbonate
(4) Refrigerate one overnight to allow all co2 to absorb into solution and try the next day.
(5) If satisfied then beers are ready for mass consumption but will be best after a couple weeks in the fridge to let additional suspended yeast fall out of solution.
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