stupid newbie question

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Question:

Hello brewers, Im new to this, but I am planning on becoming a master. I will be ordering a system, book, and ingrediants soon. I was just kind of curious about the time one batch takes from start to finish. ken tulsa ok.

It can certainly vary, but 4 to 5 hours for an extract brew session – 6 to 7 hours for all-grain is in the ball park. Robert A. 5 gallon "ball-lock" Kegs – NOW ONLY $15.00 (3 and 10 gallon also available) 12 gallon SS Boiling kettles – $55.00 (temp out of stock) See them at…. http://www.calweb.com/~robertac

Response:

Welcome to the addiction… err I mean hobby. Here’s a quick answer to your question. For a ‘normal’ Ale of about 5% alcohol: Allow about 3 hours on brewing day to clean, sterilize, and actually boil/brew (my wife says add an extra half hour for cleanup.) Let it sit in the ferementing vessel for about a week (take gravity readings to make sure it is in fact done.) Sometimes this can take only a few days for it to ferement. Then you can either transfer it into a secondary ferementation vessel and allow to clear or you could bottle on this day. Allow anywhere from 2-4 hours for bottling. Depending on Kegging or using regular bottles. Let age atleast a week in the bottle/keg Drink. The whole affair in my house from boil to quaff takes about 3 weeks, but I usually let it sit in a secondary fermentation for about a week. Enjoy! Oh…. and when you achieve "Master" status in about a decade, gimme a ring. I’ll try to look on the store shelf for "Ken’s Ale". Thomas E. Johnson

Response:

Start to finish? Depends on the brew. (And what you mean by start to finish). The actual brewing process, using extracts, takes a few hours. From that point on, primary fermentation can take up to a week. (Sometimes more, but rarely) "Secondary" fermentation can take a week, to a month or more, again, depending on the brew. Bottle conditioning? Figure on two weeks. To actually _answer_ your question, as I see it, from start to finish, with a very basic English Bitter, or Pale Ale, about 5 weeks, on the average. I’ve been driniking a brew in as little as 3 weeks though, with forced carbonation. Just a wee bit green, it was. <G

Response:

I was just kind of curious about the time one batch takes from start to finish.

Well, for a beginner doing an extract-batch, plan on a good five hours on brewing day. This time will get shorter as you gain more experience. Now it takes me about 3.5 hours, but I’m making the transition through partial mashes to all-grain, so that time is about to go up again! I do all my brewing activities on consecutive weekends for convinience’s sake, so the second weekend (transferring to the 2ndary fermenter), maybe 45 minutes to an hour at the most. The third weekend (bottling day) I’d guess 90 mintues to 2 hours. I’ve never really timed myself, so these are all estimations, but cleanup is included. After that, it can take anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks for most beers to become carbonated enough to be enjoyable. Good luck!

Response:

I was just kind of curious about the time one batch takes from start to finish.

thanks for everyones response. I was looking for brew to drink time, got my answer. I will be ordering a kit this week. Im sure you’ll be hearing more from me. ken

Response:

I’m a partial extract brewer and typically spend a 2 – 3 hours brewing a given recipe, depending on the procedure. That’s from filling the brewpot to sticking the airlock in. An immersion wort chiller really cuts down on the waiting time to pitch yeas, but they cost around $40 (store bought, can be constructed a little cheaper) and you may want to wait and see how much you like brewing before buying anything beyond the barest essentials. Also, my brewing time doesn’t include cleanup time, since I’ve usually had a few beers in the process and am generally past worrying about the dishes when I’m done. Transferring to a secondary and nottling usually take me an hour and two hours, respectively. Hope that helps. clr – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I was just kind of curious about the time one batch takes from start to finish. Well, for a beginner doing an extract-batch, plan on a good five hours on brewing day. This time will get shorter as you gain more experience. Now it takes me about 3.5 hours, but I’m making the transition through partial mashes to all-grain, so that time is about to go up again! I do all my brewing activities on consecutive weekends for convinience’s sake, so the second weekend (transferring to the 2ndary fermenter), maybe 45 minutes to an hour at the most. The third weekend (bottling day) I’d guess 90 mintues to 2 hours. I’ve never really timed myself, so these are all estimations, but cleanup is included. After that, it can take anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks for most beers to become carbonated enough to be enjoyable. Good luck!

Response:

: Hello brewers, : Im new to this, but I am planning on becoming a master. I will be : ordering a system, book, and ingrediants soon. I was just kind of : curious about the time one batch takes from start to finish. That depends on style and techniques. I understand that a brown ale using only primary fermentation can be bottled and carbonated in two weeks from brew day. I always use a secondary and usually figure on 3-4 weeks from brew day. But if you want to do a lager, you’ll need to plan on a good 8 weeks. Barley wines (never made one myself) benefit from aging (i.e. 12 months). Tim — http://pages.prodigy.com/tbode Divine Light Lutheran Church ** CENTRAL OHIO ** Free multi-media CD-ROM: Family Forgiveness Send E-mail!

Response:

Hello brewers, Im new to this, but I am planning on becoming a master. I will be ordering a system, book, and ingrediants soon.

In the mean time I bet your a master bater. Aw, shucks! And I fell for it too! I’m Edwin

Response:

I generally brew extract brews with specialty grains steeped in the brewpot prior ot adding the extract. I’m not sure exactly what you are asking in your question, whether it is the time it takes to BREW the beer or the time it takes for the entire process, brewing, fermenting, bottling etc. The BREW process for me generally takes about 3-4 hours. From the time it takes to sanitize things, get the pot going, steeping the grains, boiling the wort, and finally getting the beer into the fermenter and cleaning up. I like to put aside an entire afternoon because there is always some "tinkering" that I do with my other beers, like tasting, racking from primary to secondary etc. But, if I’m looking at just one batch on it’s own, it is for me about a 4 hour process. Now, if you are asking about the time from start to finished beer, that is a different story and depends on the style of beer. Generally, an ale will take about 2 weeks in the fermenter and another 2-3 weeks to carbonate and be drinkable. It will continue to improve with age somewhat but it is generally a 5-6 week process. Some stronger beer styles and especially lagers take a lot longer to ferment and age. I have had a dopplebock in a secondary for about 6 weeks now, and a lager in the refrigerator for about 4 months. I’m expecting the dopplebock to take about 4-6 months in the bottle to age and smooth out. The lager is just about done but I have to admit, I’ve been sampling it over the past few months. Hope this helps out, feel free to e-mail or post follow ups to this, I’d love to help out more if I can. Let us know how the first batch comes out. Welcome to a great hobby and to a great place to gain knowledge on the process.

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