How long to keep the bottles in room remperature

[Brewer #56808]

Greetings! I'm a newcomer to brewing and currently on my second batch of beer. I'm using a beer kit called "Golden Blonde Ale" from saga premium crafts. I started on saturday (9th Jan), and according to the provided manual I should put in the hops after 7 days, and it will be ready for botteling around the 19th.

The problem now is, I will be gone from 31st jan to 06th feb. Should I place the bottles in the fridge before I leave, or is it ok if they stay in room temperature until I come home?

Also; the kit came with 100g of "priming sugar". I also bought a bag of beer kit enhancer I was planning to use instead of sugar. Which one of them will be best to use?

Appreciate any help!

 

[jeffpn]

I don't store my bottles in the refrigerator. I only put them in when I'm ready to drink them. There for a while I only had 3 bottles in my fridge at a time. Then I got smart, and took a shelf out, so I could store about 8 more. The other 100-150 bottles have to wait their turn. My beer fridge ain't that big!!

Considering your schedule, I wouldn't put any bottles in until you get back.

I've never heard of beer kit enhancer. I'll let someone else address that question.

 

[Nosybear]

I'm assuming the beer is in a carboy? Leave it there, add nothing, until you get back. Once you get back, toss the beer kit enhancer and use the priming sugar to bottle the beer. I have no idea what the beer kit enhancer is, either, except unnecessary. You probably should have pulled the dry hops out but if you didn't, hey, you aren't going to ruin your beer. At worst, you'll get a bit of "vegetal" flavor in your beer, think grass. Not what you want but nothing tragic. In fact, more time to "condition" generally improves beer - it will be clearer and cleaner tasting than if you'd bottled it as per the instructions. Good luck with it and it's time to introduce you to the homebrewer's mantra: Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew, abbreviated RDWHAHB.

 

[Brewer #56808]

The beer is in a 6,5 gallon fermenting bucket. So I should just leave it there for the whole 28 days and then bottle when I get home? The beerkit enhancer is 50% spraymalt and 50% glucose.

 

[jeffpn]

If the beer is indeed ready to be bottled on January 19th, then they could be nicely conditioned by the time your return on Feb 6.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

A loose guideline I tell new brewers is 2 weeks minimum for a beer under 5.5% and 3 weeks for a bigger beer.
That being said, there are a lot of factors that go into when a beer is ready.
Considering that you're going out of town, I'd suggest that prior to leaving, gently transfer your beer to a carboy and wait until you get home to bottle. The beer will definitely benefit from additional time on the yeast.
Brian

 

[jeffpn]

For a fourth correct answer, you'll have to wait for a fourth person to reply.

 

[Brewer #56808]

Thanks for all the answers! I don't have a carboy, and there is no local store here which sells them. I think I'll let the beer sit in the fermenting bucket until a day or so before I leave, and then transfer it to flasks. When I did my first brew I transfered the beer to bottles after just 6 days, and I think that might be the reason the result was not very good.

 

[Nosybear]

I thought it only took three brewers to get four correct answers.... Live and learn.