Summer Glory Kit - can you ferment beer for too long?

[KneeDownMarce]

Hi everyone,

Am still quite new to home brewing and am trying the Festival Premium Ale Kit - "Summer Glory"

It's now nearly had 3 weeks fermenting in the "bucket", so i sampled it to see if I think it needs hops (supplied in the kit) or not as I don't want an overpowering bitter after taste if possible.

But am a bit concerned as it doesn't really taste very nice and has a slightly odd smell/taste - hard to describe.

So now I'm a little worried this might be what spoiled beer tastes like... in which case I'm stuffed... but if not, does anyone think it's Ok to leave it fermenting an extra week or so to see if the yeast can finish off and improve the taste? Could I ruin it by leaving it too long fermenting?

Thanks for any advice!

Marcel

 

[An Ankoù]

For a 5%er, I'd say 3 weeks in primary is a bit long, but that depends on the ambient temperature. My advice would be take a hydrometer reading and if it has attenuated sufficiently for bottling or kegging then do it sooner rather than later.
Yes, you can ruin it by leaving it in the bucket too long, but 3 weeks is quite long enough for a kit beer, as I remember.

 

[Slid]

Agree with An Ankou, after 3 weeks a kit beer in very unlikely to improve. Just add your hops and bottle in the time scales indicated in the instructions.

 

[terrym]

You haven't told us why you thought it necessary to leave it three weeks in the FV. For example was there a target FV given in the instructions which you have yet to achieve?
Otherwise, without good reason, three weeks for a kit beer in the FV is unusually long as others have said.

 

[pms67]

To be fair I’ve left a kit beer for four weeks in the FV on the same yeast (on holiday then unwell) and it turned out fine.
Although I did lower the temp right down after fermentation was complete so maybe that helped?

 

[KneeDownMarce]

Hi Terrym, (and everyone else's input!)

Well this is only my 3rd attempt, but I noticed the 2nd attempt (a winter ale) tasted better than the first (Wilco's Mexican Cerveza) and had 3 weeks fermenting instead of 2. I also noticed a sample tasted quite drinkable before bottling it, whereas try #1 didn't, and didn't taste particularly great even having been bottled for a few weeks. So maybe I'm wrong, but that was my reasoning behind leaving this brew 3wks in the bucket.

This Kit says ferment for 5 days, throw in the hops and leave for another 5 days... as I'm now nearly at 3wks, do you think It would be OK to put (some of the) hops in and leave for a day before bottling? That would take me to exactly 3wks... or would it be best to forget the hops now and just get it bottled tomorrow before it spoils?

Just for information, the Kit says keep the fermenter between 20 - 25 degrees - I've kept the bucket at a steady 20 degrees for the 3 weeks.

 

[KneeDownMarce]

PMS67, Thanks - that's good to know. Maybe mine will be Ok too!

 

[An Ankoù]

If you'd kept it at 20C for the first week and then dropped it to about 12C, it would have been a lot better. Still, chuck the hops in, put it somewhere cold and bottle up tomorrow evening. There's not much to lose at this stage. What are the instructions for priming the bottles, by the way?
If there's the slightest smell of vinegar, then bottle up straight away.

 

[terrym]

@KneeDownMarce
You have still not told us why you have considered it necessary to keep your beer in the FV for 3 weeks. You do not judge a beer being ready on taste, the usual measure is SG, then followed by airlock activity and beer clarity.
So what is the current SG of your beer, irrespective of anything else?
And as far as the taste of your beer in the FV is concerned, it can be very different to the finished product and varies from beer to beer.

 

[obscure]

Have to agree with a few of the comments here, regarding taste. I make a Landlord clone fairly regularly and take a quick sample before kegging (5L stainless steel growlers) it’s not terrible but flat, I suppose what you would call green beer.

Three weeks later and it’s carbed up and is a whole different beer.

As for time in primary looking at my notes the longest I have ever left a kit was 35 days, as I came down with a horrible cold shortly before I was going to bottle. It was still a perfectly drinkable beer.

You could of course be right I had to pour two dozen bottles down the drain this week, didn’t taste great when I sampled it before bottling and didn’t improve with age not off just not very pleasant. So I would say add the dry hops leave it for a few days and then bottle it. Best case scenario you get a good drinkable beer, worst case you throw it out a few weeks later than originally planned.

 

[pms67]

Terrym is right, I’ve had beer tasting horrible at bottling but came good after 3-4 weeks and sadly also the opposite

 

[KneeDownMarce]

HI Terrym,

In answer to your question about leaving it fermenting for 3 weeks instead of 2, it's simply because I believe from info I've read from this site that leaving it for 3wks can produce a better tasting brew... I may be completely wrong but that's the reasoning behind it.

This is only my 3rd attempt at brewing beer, but I noticed the 2nd attempt (a winter ale) tasted better than the first (Wilco's Mexican Cerveza) and had 3 weeks fermenting instead of 2. I also noticed a sample tasted quite drinkable before bottling it, whereas try #1 didn't, and didn't taste particularly great even having been bottled for a few weeks. So maybe I'm wrong, but that was my reasoning behind leaving this brew 3wks in the bucket.

Not sure of the current SG - but I will check it and let you know.

Thanks again for everyone's comments and time.

An Akou mentioned I should have had the beer fermenting for a the first week at around 20 degrees and the second week at around 12... is that standard practice? I thought both weeks should be at around 20 degrees as per the kit instructions... but I'll happily bow to the wisdom of experience if that's not the case! :-)

Kr, Marcel

 

[terrym]

@KneeDownMarce
The reason I have asked for an SG reading is that the brew could have stuck, even though that is probably unlikely. So in my view at this time without knowing the SG it's not particularly good advice to suggest moving to the next stage, irrespective of how long it's been in the FV, because if it has stuck high and does get going again in the bottles who knows what can happen. So that's why I have backed off suggesting to you that you go ahead and dry hop, although when we finally get to know the SG of your beer, it may turn out that it is in fact OK to proceed to the next stage, and probably the sooner the better.
Finally you may still find this helpful even though you now have few brews under your belt
Basic beginners guide to brewing your own beer from a kit - The HomeBrew Forum