Double the yeast to increase fermentation? Secondary required?

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welker85

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Hey all,

Please bear with me as I'm a "brewbie" and this is my first time posting here.

I visited my local brewer on Saturday with the intent of brewing a beer in time for a family Christmas Eve party. I was told that most beers wouldn't be ready by then, but that I could double the amount of yeast in my primary to increase fermentation speed (without affecting flavor, he said) and have it ready in time for Xmas. My primary is now happily bubbling away right next to me while I anxiously wait for it to finish, but I do have quite a few questions:

1) What would have happened if I didn't pitch that second vial of liquid yeast? What can I expect from this batch to be different, since it has two vials?

2) When do I take my next gravity reading? I've read that it's usually sometime after bubbling stops in your air lock.. when that happens, do I just open the cover of the primary, stick in my thief and take my gravity reading, and then repeat the process the next day to see if it's changed?

3) The recipe kit I used doesn't call for a secondary fermentation stage, but the recipe also didn't take into account that I used two vials of yeast. Would secondary fermentation be helpful for this, and would it just slow the process down even more?

4) When I eventually rack the beer from my primary into my bottling bucket, I just take the lid off of both and then use my autosiphon to transfer the beer to the bottom of the bottling bucket, correct? I recall reading something about minimizing the amount of air you get into the beer, how do you do that precisely?

5) And lastly, the recipe I used used two different types of hop pellets and some dried orange peel. Although the recipe said to put all of them into different muslin bags at various stages of the wort, is that really necessary? I mean, it's going to all be strained out when you put it into your primary anyway.. I know the recipe was referring to hop plugs and not pellets, but since they ran out they put hop pellets in it instead, and I'm wondering if it's okay to NOT use a muslin bag with pellets / things like orange peel.

I'm sorry this is a pretty lengthy post, but I appreciate any help you experts can provide!!
 
1) What would have happened if I didn't pitch that second vial of liquid yeast? What can I expect from this batch to be different, since it has two vials?

Depending on the beer and the date on the vials of yeast, you may have pitched enough, too much or too little. Check out this webpage to get a good grasp on how much yeast is enough for your beer:
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html
Pitching more yeast will speed up the growth phase of the yeast but it will not speed up fermentation.

2) When do I take my next gravity reading? I've read that it's usually sometime after bubbling stops in your air lock.. when that happens, do I just open the cover of the primary, stick in my thief and take my gravity reading, and then repeat the process the next day to see if it's changed?

Take the gravity reading when you think it's done. Chances are, it will be done within a week but I always let my beer sit for three weeks.

3) The recipe kit I used doesn't call for a secondary fermentation stage, but the recipe also didn't take into account that I used two vials of yeast. Would secondary fermentation be helpful for this, and would it just slow the process down even more?

If you want this beer to be ready by Christmas Eve, skip the secondary. In fact, I say you should always skip the secondary but that's just my preference.

4) When I eventually rack the beer from my primary into my bottling bucket, I just take the lid off of both and then use my autosiphon to transfer the beer to the bottom of the bottling bucket, correct? I recall reading something about minimizing the amount of air you get into the beer, how do you do that precisely?

Minimize the air by not splashing it around. Siphon silently.

5) And lastly, the recipe I used used two different types of hop pellets and some dried orange peel. Although the recipe said to put all of them into different muslin bags at various stages of the wort, is that really necessary? I mean, it's going to all be strained out when you put it into your primary anyway.. I know the recipe was referring to hop plugs and not pellets, but since they ran out they put hop pellets in it instead, and I'm wondering if it's okay to NOT use a muslin bag with pellets / things like orange peel.

Some people dont use bag and dont strain it before dumping into the primary. It will just result in a little more gunk in the bottom, which wont hurt anything. I use a hop bag but that, again, is just preference.
 
Dont rush your beer, it will be ready when it's ready, you can't force it to be ready by a certain date. Primary fermentation will be over when you get the same gravity reading over 3 days, I personally go for about 3 weeks in primary only on almost all my beers, then another 3-4 weeks in bottle. Back when I started I rushed my beer a bit cuz I didn't have a nice pipeline to keep me distracted.....usually I realized with the last bottle that the beer was finally perfect, while good previous I drank it all while it was decent and not ready and excellent
 
i think that was really solid advice by the guy at the brew store. more yeast means a faster ferment with fewer ("off") flavor compounds being created by the yeast. you want this for the 24th, go for 5 days in the primary, measure for FG, then cold crash outdoors for one day, then siphon and bottle. easy peasy. if you're still bubbling after 5 days, you have no choice but to wait it out. i think it will be done though.

how long was it from pitching the yeast to seeing your first bubble? what temperature did you pitch at?
what is the temperature of your fermentation room? what kind of beer is this? what was the OG?

the VERY LATEST you need this in the bottle is by this Friday.

for future reference, this is pretty suboptimal. my 'ready by christmas beer' was brewed on 11/17
 
i think that was really solid advice by the guy at the brew store. more yeast means a faster ferment with fewer ("off") flavor compounds being created by the yeast. you want this for the 24th, go for 5 days in the primary, measure for FG, then cold crash outdoors for one day, then siphon and bottle. easy peasy. if you're still bubbling after 5 days, you have no choice but to wait it out. i think it will be done though.

how long was it from pitching the yeast to seeing your first bubble? what temperature did you pitch at?
what is the temperature of your fermentation room? what kind of beer is this? what was the OG?

the VERY LATEST you need this in the bottle is by this Friday.

I'm not quite sure when the first bubble was, but I would have to guess a couple of hours or so? This was yesterday, on Sunday. The recipe calls for the yeast to be pitched at around 65-75 degrees, I think mine was closer to 65-67, since we put the wort in an ice bath before straining it into the water in the primary. The OG was 1.054.

It's a "Golden Nectar of Belgium" recipe kit I purchased at my local brewery - I guess I'll list the ingredients here - 2 cans light LME, 1lb light Belgian candy sugar, 1/2 lb. pale malt, 1/2 lb. wheat malt grain, 1/4 lb. crystal malt, 2 oz. chocolate malt, water salts, 1.5 oz. Hallertau hop pellets, 1/2 oz. Saaz hop pellets, tablespoon corainder seeds, ounce of dried orange peel, a teaspoon of Irish moss, and then the two vials of a "Belgian strong ale" liquid yeast.

What exactly is "cold crashing"? Just sticking it in my garage or something where it's a lot colder? What about in a fridge?

Edit: Also, thanks a TON for all the quick responses / great advice! I truly appreciate it.
 
I think that was terrible advice from the guy at the brew store. Over pitching yeast will not really make it ferment faster and it will cause off flavors. It might cut the lag time by a few hours maybe, but nothing that would make it worth doing. There is a correct amount of yeast to pitch for every beer and anything below OR ABOVE that will result in off flavors. There is good bit of wiggle room where you won't really notice the off flavors, but if you are too far off from the correct amount, bad things happen. As was said before, use the Mr. Malty pitching calculator (http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html) to figure out how much yeast. If this was a 5 gallon batch then I think 2 vials of liquid yeast is pretty close to what you should have pitched, depending on the OG. Also, don't bottle until you have a couple days of consistent gravity readings. You can't judge fermentation to be over by airlock activity.
 
I think that was terrible advice from the guy at the brew store. Over pitching yeast will not really make it ferment faster and it will cause off flavors. It might cut the lag time by a few hours maybe, but nothing that would make it worth doing. There is a correct amount of yeast to pitch for every beer and anything below OR ABOVE that will result in off flavors. There is good bit of wiggle room where you won't really notice the off flavors, but if you are too far off from the correct amount, bad things happen. As was said before, use the Mr. Malty pitching calculator (http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html) to figure out how much yeast. If this was a 5 gallon batch then I think 2 vials of liquid yeast is pretty close to what you should have pitched, depending on the OG. Also, don't bottle until you have a couple days of consistent gravity readings. You can't judge fermentation to be over by airlock activity.


Yeah, looking at the calculator, 2 vials actually seems to be closer to what it should've been.. OG having been 1.054 and the amount being 5.5 gal (recipe called for 2 gal of water for the wort and then 3.5 gallons in the primary fermenter).. which is surprising, because the recipe kit only comes with 1 vial of yeast, but the guy recommended a 2nd one if I wanted to possibly get it ready for Xmas. Was that good or bad advice though? Seems to be conflicting opinions in here.

Also, does anyone know what kind of final gravity I should be shooting for? The recipe didn't say.
 
your final gravity will be when you hit consecutive SG readings over 3 days time, that's when it's done fermenting, primary fermention!. BUT you might want to let it sit a good week more to ''clean up''. That's when all the yeast get hungry and start eating their own byproducts and make better beer.

2 vials with no starter is the recommended dose for a 5 gallon batch, ~200 billion cells per 5 gallons is perfect, one vial has only 100 billion cells.

Even if the recipe gave you an estimated FG that doesn't neccesarily mean anything, something under 1.020 with a steady reading over multiple days is what you're looking for. That's when you know it's done....mostly.

I let all my beers sit 3 weeks minimum before bottling, I think you could rush it with low OG beers but at 54 pts.....Sorry bro, you're best off realizing that that beer isn't ready by xmas, wait until it's ready and drink it when it's ready.

Pitiching more yeast doesn't mean it's finished faster.
 
your final gravity will be when you hit consecutive SG readings over 3 days time, that's when it's done fermenting, primary fermention!. BUT you might want to let it sit a good week more to ''clean up''. That's when all the yeast get hungry and start eating their own byproducts and make better beer.

2 vials with no starter is the recommended dose for a 5 gallon batch, ~200 billion cells per 5 gallons is perfect, one vial has only 100 billion cells.

Even if the recipe gave you an estimated FG that doesn't neccesarily mean anything, something under 1.020 with a steady reading over multiple days is what you're looking for. That's when you know it's done....mostly.

I let all my beers sit 3 weeks minimum before bottling, I think you could rush it with low OG beers but at 54 pts.....Sorry bro, you're best off realizing that that beer isn't ready by xmas, wait until it's ready and drink it when it's ready.

Pitiching more yeast doesn't mean it's finished faster.

What do you mean "at 54 pts" exactly? And to measure the gravity now, do I just take the lid off of the primary and take a sample with my thief and do it that way, or is there some sort of special way to not get oxygen in there? And what about cold crashing it instead of letting it sit once fermentation has completed?
 
Here's an option which I wouldn't recommend to ever duplicate, but may work for your situation as a one time deal. Let this ferment until December 15th and bottle on the 15th or 16th at the latest. You need at least a week to get carbonation so that gives you plenty of time. 3 weeks is the suggested wait time for bottles, but lots of people are satisfied waiting one week and having lightly carbed beer. Plus if it's not finished fermenting by the 16th that's ok because you will be drinking all the bottles in less than 2 weeks so bottle bombs shouldn't be a problem.

I think if you did something like this you are still going to have great beer and it will *probably* be carbed by Christmas eve. Just my thoughts.
 
What do you mean "at 54 pts" exactly? And to measure the gravity now, do I just take the lid off of the primary and take a sample with my thief and do it that way, or is there some sort of special way to not get oxygen in there? And what about cold crashing it instead of letting it sit once fermentation has completed?

All cold crashing does is get the yeast to drop out faster so that you have clearer beer faster. This is also a kegging term, but it looks like you are not kegging. When you put the bottles in the fridge or cooler the day before the party to get them nice and cold you are "cold crashing"
 
All cold crashing does is get the yeast to drop out faster so that you have clearer beer faster. This is also a kegging term, but it looks like you are not kegging. When you put the bottles in the fridge or cooler the day before the party to get them nice and cold you are "cold crashing"

So I shouldn't cold crash my primary before siphoning it into my bottling bucket and bottling?

Also, is there any advantage to letting the beer stay in the primary even after fermentation has stopped and you're getting the same gravity readings?
 
So I shouldn't cold crash my primary before siphoning it into my bottling bucket and bottling?

I wouldn't ever do that personally but I can't say what others would think about that. Just put your bottles on the fridge 24 hours before the party and that will clear the beer, which is the point of cold crashing
 
Dont rush your beer, it will be ready when it's ready, you can't force it to be ready by a certain date. Primary fermentation will be over when you get the same gravity reading over 3 days, I personally go for about 3 weeks in primary only on almost all my beers, then another 3-4 weeks in bottle. Back when I started I rushed my beer a bit cuz I didn't have a nice pipeline to keep me distracted.....usually I realized with the last bottle that the beer was finally perfect, while good previous I drank it all while it was decent and not ready and excellent

This ^^^^

Not this

If you want this beer to be ready by Christmas Eve, skip the secondary. In fact, I say you should always skip the secondary but that's just my preference.

Fermentation and conditioning just takes time. Depending on the style that time could be as little as 3 weeks or as long as a year. There is really no getting around it if you want a quality product. You dont HAVE to use a secondary so bottling after primary is finished would be your only option if you want to carb in time. Just be sure to have your guests leave 1/8th inch of beer in the bottom to avoid sediment re mixing in. that can taste quite bad.
 
You dont HAVE to use a secondary, but why not throw it in a secondary until the 23rd then bottle that night. beverages almost always condition better in bulk.

Well, the recipe doesn't call for a secondary, and after many hours of poking around the forums today it seems that secondaries aren't really recommended unless you're doing something special like dry hopping, using fruit, or using oak chips or something like that..

The general consensus seems that beer should be bottled for 1-3 weeks before drinking it, and that it improves with age; but how long should it be primaried for? Let's assume that I get two of the same gravity readings twice in a row on Friday and Saturday (this was brewed Sunday) -- would that mean it's ready for racking into my bottling bucket and bottling?
 
I prefer to rack to secondary as soon as I hit FG. In your case you could do that with your bottling bucket instead of a dedicated secondary. Then give it about 3 days in the bucket for cleanup, that's usually enough when you use a secondary.

That also gives your beer some time to settle before you bottle. You'll still get some sediment, but it shouldn't be a big deal.

It will be a squeeze for time, but I'd also get your bottles in the fridge as soon as you have your carbonation level where you want it. A day cold crashing in the fridge will drop the sediment, but it will be easily stirred up when you are drinking from the bottle. If it's cold crashed for more then 3 days it's usually compacted and is harder to stir up.

In any event, you just don't have the time to do a huge amount of clearing.

Finally, relax. It's almost impossible to make homebrew that's worse then the typical macro brew. :mug:
 
Belgians can be finicky. Tomorrow I would let that start warming up, about a degree per day if you can so it is finishing at about 70-72F, that will also help you get to your FG. Sounds like you're making a wit so clarity is not a huge deal but some settling time would be a benefit.

After you bottle keep those things warm, like in the house, 70F warm. After a week you can try one by putting it in the fridge for 24 hours then opening to test the carbonation. One week for carbing is really pushing it but you're not going to have much more time than that.
 
What do you mean "at 54 pts" exactly? And to measure the gravity now, do I just take the lid off of the primary and take a sample with my thief and do it that way, or is there some sort of special way to not get oxygen in there? And what about cold crashing it instead of letting it sit once fermentation has completed?

Sorry, 54 pts meaning OG of 1.054. You don't have to worry to much about O2 getting in there, just be sanitary and pull a sample out for your hydrometer. I was thinking of a few recipes Ive read with OG in the 1.040 range, I think it's a bit easier to rush them as fermentation is fast. I think in those cases it's still a 2 week fermentation though
 
well, i think HBT probably has the OPs head spinning by now. lots of conflicting advice and plenty of unwavering declarations in this thread.

good luck, OP! (and yes, when i said cold crashing i meant putting the primary outside or in the garage where it is cold but not below freezing)
 
What's nice is your Belgian style will be complimentary of "green" beer flavors. A green beer is a young beer that can potentially have some off flavors from poor conditioning. These flavors can express themselves in acetylaldehide (green apple), dicetyl (butterscotch) or phelonics (banana, clove) from other fusel alcohols. These rudimentary alcohols are formed in greater concentrations by yeasts initially, then re-consumed by yeasts as the available malt sugars are depleted. That's why most folks go with a 3 week primary, to allow the yeasts to clean up their own off flavors.

You can rush your beer, just be prepared for some of those off flavors. I think you'll find that the longer you let it condition in the bottle, the better the beer will taste. Sometime in mid January, it'll taste like a completely different beer. :)
 
Belgians can be finicky. Tomorrow I would let that start warming up, about a degree per day if you can so it is finishing at about 70-72F, that will also help you get to your FG. Sounds like you're making a wit so clarity is not a huge deal but some settling time would be a benefit.

After you bottle keep those things warm, like in the house, 70F warm. After a week you can try one by putting it in the fridge for 24 hours then opening to test the carbonation. One week for carbing is really pushing it but you're not going to have much more time than that.

This is good advice. The warmer you keep it, the more active the yeast are, so the faster they do their jobs. You don't want to keep most yeasts too warm because they will produce bad esters and fusel alcohols, but Belgian yeasts need to have the temperature ramped up so they will produce the esters and phenols that are typical of the style. This works out well for your situation.

Usually the bulk of fermentation is done after a week and the rest of the time in primary is the yeast cleaning up after itself. So you should be good to bottle this weekend and have about a week and half to carb, which is pushing it. But keeping the bottles warm (low to mid 70's) will help it carb faster.

Like helibrewer said, Belgian yeasts can be finicky and take longer to ferment everything out sometimes, so I would take consecutive gravity readings to make sure it's done. Just make sure you sanitize the thief and try not to disturb the beer too much. Because CO2 is heavier than air, there will be a "blanket" of CO2 over the surface of the beer in the bucket. So just be gentle and don't disturb this invisible "blanket" too much and you shouldn't have to worry about oxidation.

I hope you're not too overwhelmed with the onslaught of information in this thread. Just remember you are doing the greatest thing in the world.... making beer!! :mug:
 
good point, aiptasia. a belgian can taste like feet and still be in style.
 
I say go ahead and bottle once gravity readings are consistent for 3 days then let the bottle sit at room temp until 24 hrs prior, and try one just before the party, you will probably still have decent beer, and you will have experience with making beer too quickly. An important thing to remember about brewing is all experience is good experience. Even if the beer is bad, you'll have this batch to inform your future efforts.

And just for the record, I wouldn't normally recommend rushing the process, it just seems that in this case, you are in a hurry, and it's a good learning opportunity.

Also double pitching to speed up fermentation seems silly to me. Look into yeast starters, you'll achieve the same goal as double pitching (which is cell count, not speed), you'll have more control, and you'll spend less money
 
Wow, thanks everyone for all the advice and words of wisdom! Really friendly forum you guys got going here. Although a little overwhelming, I really appreciate it.

So I understand that what I'm doing is not optimal, as it may produce off flavors - but you guys are saying that I won't ruin the beer even IF I bottle this weekend and have it conditioning for a week / week and a half, because the yeast will continue to settle even afterwards and continue to improve in flavor, correct? Or would it be "stuck" in a permanent bad state because I bottled too early?

I was thinking of maybe only bringing 6-12 of my 22 ounce bounces to the party, and refrigerating them only the night before. Assuming I want to let the rest of the beers condition properly, they should remain at around room temperature for a total of 2-3 weeks, correct?

I'm thinking of doing the following:

Taking gravity readings this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - if I get consecutive readings, I'll "cold crash" it by sticking it in the fridge for most of Sunday, and then bottle late on Sunday. That'll give some of the bottles about a week and a day to condition, and then I'll stick them (not all of them, but the ones I want to take to the party) in the fridge either the night before or maybe even day of just to chill them.. should I could crash it BEFORE or AFTER I rack it into my bottling bucket? I'm guessing afterwards, since racking might stir up some of the yeast?
 
welker85 -- somehow you've done the impossible and disseminated the onslaught of information in this thread to a coherent and reasonable strategy.
 
So I understand that what I'm doing is not optimal, as it may produce off flavors - but you guys are saying that I won't ruin the beer even IF I bottle this weekend and have it conditioning for a week / week and a half, because the yeast will continue to settle even afterwards and continue to improve in flavor, correct? Or would it be "stuck" in a permanent bad state because I bottled too early?

The yeast in the bottle should keep cleaning up after itself, maybe just not quite as well as it would in bulk. It won't be stuck in that early bottle stage or anything and will get better the longer you condition it in the bottle.

Taking gravity readings this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - if I get consecutive readings, I'll "cold crash" it by sticking it in the fridge for most of Sunday, and then bottle late on Sunday. That'll give some of the bottles about a week and a day to condition, and then I'll stick them (not all of them, but the ones I want to take to the party) in the fridge either the night before or maybe even day of just to chill them.. should I could crash it BEFORE or AFTER I rack it into my bottling bucket? I'm guessing afterwards, since racking might stir up some of the yeast?

This sounds like a great plan, but I would skip the bulk cold crashing. Just ferment until Sunday, bottle, then put as many bottles as you want for the party in the fridge 24 hours ahead of time. Though I would try one before you take them to make sure it's something you want other people to drink. Good luck! :mug:
 
my preference would be to cold crash it before racking to avoid a bunch of gunk in the bottles especially because with only 7 days fermenting, a lot of yeast will still be in suspension if you don't crash it. but that is just me. a side effect may be that less yeast in suspension means it will take longer to carb up. either way works! either way will be tasty. yeasty character is part of a belgian brew so you're not going to ruin it either way.
 
my preference would be to cold crash it before racking to avoid a bunch of gunk in the bottles especially because with only 7 days fermenting, a lot of yeast will still be in suspension if you don't crash it. but that is just me. a side effect may be that less yeast in suspension means it will take longer to carb up. either way works! either way will be tasty. yeasty character is part of a belgian brew so you're not going to ruin it either way.

I thought the priming sugar would be the main means of creating carbonation during conditioning, and not from leftover yeast?

Also, if I were to cold crash it, should I rack it into my bottling bucket first or no?
 
I thought the priming sugar would be the main means of creating carbonation during conditioning, and not from leftover yeast?
it is. there is only a finite amount of sugar to eat. a lot of yeast will eat it faster, fewer yeast will eat it slower, but the amount of co2 produced is the same.
Also, if I were to cold crash it, should I rack it into my bottling bucket first or no?
no, crash and then rack and add priming sugar right before you bottle.
 
I thought the priming sugar would be the main means of creating carbonation during conditioning, and not from leftover yeast?

Also, if I were to cold crash it, should I rack it into my bottling bucket first or no?

The leftover yeast converts the priming sugar to carbonation in the bottle. If you wanted to cold crash in bulk I would do it before you transfer to your bottling bucket just to keep sediment out of the bucket.

Either way your beer should turn out fine. Welcome to HBT!
 
There is no way this beer will be ready for Christmas. Do yourself a favor and go buy some beer to serve. You do not want your friends and family to think you brew Shi**y beer. Let it finish and serve it at another time.

A beer like that takes at least 3 weeks in the fermenter and then at least another 3 weeks in the bottle. That is really rushing it so it really should take longer.
 
If you want a clearer beer, cold crash before transferring to the bottling bucket.

What cold crashing does is basically put the yeast into hibernation. The downside to this is that they may not want to come back out of hibernation immediately. So there's an off chance that you will have some trouble getting your beer to carb in time. I don't really consider that likely, but it is possible.

Since the yeast will have mostly shut down metabolicly, they aren't going to be doing much about cleanup either.

For my money, I'd leave them active until just before your xmas party. 3 days in the fridge would be good, but even overnight is usually ok.

One reason you get so many contradictory opinions here is that everybody likes things a little different. Some people like to taste yeast, so they don't secondary or clear. Some people hate it. So they go to a lot of trouble to get as much yeast out of solution as possible. In the end, your methodology is a product of what you want to produce.

Remember, there are 9 and 16 ways of singing tribal lays...
 
A beer like that takes at least 3 weeks in the fermenter and then at least another 3 weeks in the bottle. That is really rushing it so it really should take longer.

Now I understand why it should be in the bottle for 3 weeks to properly carbonate, but why does it necessarily have to be 3 weeks in the fermenter, if I can just cold crash it when the gravity stops changing?
 
Now I understand why it should be in the bottle for 3 weeks to properly carbonate, but why does it necessarily have to be 3 weeks in the fermenter, if I can just cold crash it when the gravity stops changing?
The idea is that the yeast 'clean up after themselves' by converting unpleasant fusel alcohols into pleasant fruity esters after primary fermentation has completed. Personally i find the science of what happens during this time a little scarce and the popular support somewhat hysterical.
 
Now I understand why it should be in the bottle for 3 weeks to properly carbonate, but why does it necessarily have to be 3 weeks in the fermenter, if I can just cold crash it when the gravity stops changing?

Ideally you don't want to cold crash or bottle it right when the gravity stops changing. When the gravity stops changing, the bulk of fermentation is done but you really want the yeast to stay active for a while longer so that they will cleanup all of the off flavors and undesirable byproducts they produced in the mad rush of fermentation. This could be as short as 2 weeks with lower gravity beers, or as long as a few months to a year with higher gravity beers. This conditioning is done best when all of the beer is together, with a lot of yeast in suspension, i.e. in the fermentor.

Personally, I have never cold crashed a beer before bottling because I don't have the capability, and all my beers have turned out just fine.
 
Every time I've rushed a beer for an event it hasn't been ready in time, with young green apple flavors and I've been uncomfortable serving it. I've learned to brew 2-3 months ahead of time for things like these. Brewing is a Long term hobby there will be plenty of time to wow people in the future will beer that has been properly aged.
 
I just talked to my local home brewer store, and was told that leaving beer in your primary fermenter after the gravity has stopped changing will actually PRODUCE off flavors instead of eliminating them.. the manual that came with my kit also recommended 5-7 days. Seems like everybody's dead-set on their opinions! We'll see how this turns out..
 
I just talked to my local home brewer store, and was told that leaving beer in your primary fermenter after the gravity has stopped changing will actually PRODUCE off flavors instead of eliminating them.. the manual that came with my kit also recommended 5-7 days. Seems like everybody's dead-set on their opinions! We'll see how this turns out..

You won't have to worry about off flavors in the primary fermenter unless you leave your beer in there for more than a month.
 
I just talked to my local home brewer store, and was told that leaving beer in your primary fermenter after the gravity has stopped changing will actually PRODUCE off flavors instead of eliminating them.. the manual that came with my kit also recommended 5-7 days. Seems like everybody's dead-set on their opinions! We'll see how this turns out..
That is possible. Though in beer it isn't horribly likely. Occasionally the yeast will run out of some key nutrient during the cleanup phase and release an enzyme that breaks down dead yeast cells and releases the nutrients in them. That produces a lot of unwanted compounds in addition to the nutrients that are needed by the yeast. Most notably H2S, which smells pretty much like rotten eggs. Many people don't realize this can happen anytime you have live and dead yeast cells in the same solution, not just during the actual fermentation.

The thing is, I would be gobsmacked if this happened to somebody brewing a normal gravity beer. The wort of a typical beer is so loaded with nutrients that are inadvertently extracted along with the malt sugars that this is extremely unlikely.

To be frank, this is only a problem I've ever had with certain types of fruit based wines. Usually with ones that do not contain much in the way of yeast friendly nutrients, and have high abv targets. IE: Peach, lime, blueberry, or strawberry. That's one reason why it's more common for wine to be racked to secondary.

If, on the off chance, you do get the problem you would want to move your beer to another container and leave the yeast cake behind. That way you won't have as much material to break down. If it happens after fermentation your probably to late to add nutrients and address it that way. Once your off the yeast cake, I would advise adding 1 old penny per gallon of beer to the brew. That needs to be a 1981 penny or earlier, or it isn't copper and won't work. Though anything that is uncoated copper will work. Then stir/shake the living **** out of it. That will release most of the H2S from solution in the liquid. Small amounts of copper oxide will form on the outside of the penny and have a little party with the H2S. The result is a form of H2S that isn't water soluble and will settle out of solution fairly quickly.

If you get a rotten egg smell during primary, then you would want to add yeast nutrient, then rack to secondary and do the copper and shake thing. You would need the nutrient to keep the new yeast growing from doing the same thing as the old ones.

If you did leave in primary for more then 3 weeks you might get some breakdown of yeast cells without the need for the enzyme. It's more typical for that kind of thing to start 4-6 weeks after fermentation is complete though. At lower temps this can even take 2-3 months.

EDIT: I'll say it again in case I forgot. Chill. Beer isn't that hard to make. You might not have exactly what you wanted, but it will still be beer. Plus it will almost certainly be better then your typical macro brew.
 
I just talked to my local home brewer store, and was told that leaving beer in your primary fermenter after the gravity has stopped changing will actually PRODUCE off flavors instead of eliminating them.. the manual that came with my kit also recommended 5-7 days. Seems like everybody's dead-set on their opinions! We'll see how this turns out..
that is an old school myth that has been debunked
 
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