LBC first-time fermentation

[redwhite11]

I need a little advice from you more experienced. I've made beer over the years, off-and-on, in 5 gallon batches, with moderate success. Got weary of waiting to boil, stirring frantically to avoid boil-over, waiting for cool-down (never had a wort cooler), lugging the fermenter out to the back porch for bottling so I could make a mess out there instead of in the house, etc etc. The 2-gallon Beerdemon outfit seems like a good compromise. 1. I never before used a hopped extract. Does it seem to get good results? And 2. The general consensus from those-who-know seems to be, 2 to 3 weeks in the fermenter. The BD instructions say, of course, 7 days in the fermenter and, if it tastes like flat beer and not sweet, then bottle it. My wort is 7 days old today, and it tastes like flat beer and I don't taste any sweetness. Still, would you advise that I leave it in for another week (or two)? I haven't actually seen the bubbler bubble in the last couple days, but the pressure in the fermenter seems to be higher than outside pressure because the liquid (vodka actually) in the bubbler is high in the right side tube and down low in the left tube. (As I wrote that, the bubbler bubbled once, so maybe I just answered my own question). Still, any advice would be welcome. I don't want any bottle bombs going off in my closet.

[RickBeer]

1) Yes, you get good results. Not as good as all grain from those that do it, but good.

2) 3 weeks in the fermenter, 4 weeks in bottles at room temp is the general rule.

[Wings_Fan_In_KC]

I have given my brews to family and friends to sample and a lot of the time the response is, "YOU MADE THIS????" I brew with extracts and added ingredients (steeping grains, DME and hops additions).

As RickB stated, the general guideline is to leave the brew fermenting for a full three weeks if you do not have a hydrometer. (If you do have a hydro and take gravity readings then you can move the beer to the bottles as soon as it's ready to be moved - after the gravity reading doesn't change for a couple of days.) Some folks say that leaving the brew in the LDC that third week allows the yeast to clean up after itself, clarifies the beer somewhat and also eliminates some of the acetaldehyde that's present in the brew after the fermentation process has slowed.

How long you leave it bottled (room temp and in the dark, please) is up to you - a Brewmaster's Preference ™ if you will. I can tell you that I have had 2 week old, 3 week old, 4 week old, 5 week old, 6 week old, 1 month old, 3 month old beer and 6-8 month old beer and it gets better with time with a few exceptions. (Those exceptions are wheat beers that don't need that much time to to condition (or clarify) and IPA's where you want to get the essence of the hops while its youngest and strongest.)


(Note to Kealia" I didn't use "B. C." your trademarked term but I have my owned trademarked
term now so )

[Brewbirds]

Hi redwhite11 I see this is your first post so welcome to the Beer .

Rick and Wings (if you could read the purple part ) have the 3-2-2 method for new brewers who don't have a hydrometer covered as well as letting the yeast "clean up in the fermenter rather than the bottle.

So I'll ask how long has it been since you've brewed and do you still have any of your brew gear?

Since you have some experience with brewing you may want to look around in the BIAB and Advanced sections of the forum and see if anything rings a bell from your 5 gallon days, you can do a lot of different things and ferment in the LBC as long as you can control the ferment temps.

The point is that if you had trouble with your brewing attempts in the past you are in the right place to ask questions and seek support there are a lot of very knowledgeable folks here who are ready to help you enjoy this hobby.

[redwhite11]

I'm grateful for the input, gentlemen. So I guess wiser heads prevail: it's 3 weeks in the fermenter and 4 weeks in the bottle. I actually have a hydrometer on the way, when I learn how to use it maybe I'll be able to be more precise. To Brewbirds questions: has been 3 or 4 years since my last involvement w/brewing, still have most of the gear, fermenter and priming tank I got from Williams (the logo is prominently displayed), and odds and ends, tubing, airlock, bottle filler, an old fashioned but very good bench capper, etc etc, so I'm good to go. Concerning the ferment temps, that's a concern. Summer is supposed to be over here in Santa Fe, but the daytime temps are in the high 80s, and even with a small window cooler it's hard to keep the room temp below 78-80, and the thermometer on the fermenter has been pretty constant around 75-79. So we'll see. 9 days so far and there's trub on the bottom, pressure inside (bubbler vodka is high on the right side), a little krausen on top, so I guess the yeast are still at work. Patience.
Does anyone know where I can get one of those t-shirts that says "life is too short to drink cheap beer"?

[haerbob3]

The temp sounds perfect for Belgiums and Saisons

[Brewbirds]

Bob is right about the temps that sounds pretty high for most ale yeast strains though I'm not familiar with Brew Demon's products.

I did ask about controlling fermenting temps in the LBC for those of us in warmer climates and without a basement and did not get an answer.

You could get some unpleasant off flavors by fermenting warmer.

If the current batch is already 7 days in any damage from high temps is probably already done but you might want to rig some kind of "swamp cooler" for your conical.

Again, I haven't used a LBC yet but I did a 5 gallon ale pale batch and inverted a colander over the airlock, placed the pale into an ice chest, placed a large towel over the colander so it draped down the pale into the ice chest, put frozen water bottles in the bottom of the ice chest under the towel and poured refrigerated water to soak the towel thoroughly and wrapped a windshield sunscreen around that for insulation. It kept the ale pale around 66F in a 81F ambient house. You have to replace the ice twice a day (or as needed) to keep temps stable and replace the towel every couple of days with a clean one so it doesn't sour or get mildewy.

But you are in Sante Fe and by the time I typed this it has already cooled down. So look into warm weather yeasties and brew seasonally to avoid everything I just said.

[Wings_Fan_In_KC]

* knock knock knock *

Hello, a PSA here:

Please refer to the Little Demon Conical as the LDC not the LBC.

That is all.

* drops mic *

[Brewbirds]

[Wings_Fan_In_KC]

That's Brew Demon's moniker for it.

[philm00x]

The LBC can be misconstrued as Long Beach, CA, as my knowledge of 1990's rap/hip hop leads me to believe

[mashani]

> I never before used a hopped extract. Does it seem to get good results?

I have a friend who had a bunch of local brew pub owners over, he served them various beers he made with just old Mr. Beer (before Coopers as in Brew Demon now) HMEs and also some Muntons Gold kits - with S-05 or S-04 yeast instead of the fromunda - they brought over stuff from their brewery. They had a good time and they liked all of his beers. He does have impeccable process/sanitation and excellent temperature control. That makes a bigger difference in yum vs. yuck factor then anything else IMHO.

[FrozenInTime]

Welcome to the forum Red!

[Kealia]

(Note to Kealia" I didn't use "B. C." your trademarked term but I have my owned trademarked
term now so )

Well played!

[Yankeedag]

You can get fine beers from extracts. LME/DME. Add your choice of hops and presto jiffypopinacan, beer.
On that other part, thats why I called it the "C-Brew".
All y'all are just plain dang lazy typers to call it "lbc" or "bdc" or abc.