ESB ferment time seems low - what do you think?

samiley216 · 05-07-2009, 08:29 PM

Brewing based off the Red Hook ESB recipe from my hb store's recipe books - and ferement time for primary says 4-5 days. This seems pretty short - do i go by this as a "bendable guideline" and wait for fermentation to complete then rack to secondary?

suggestions?

BioBeing · 05-07-2009, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by samiley216

suggestions?

Wait.

Then wait some more.

You want fermentation to be complete when you rack off the primary. Take a hydrometer reading after about 1-2 week, then another 3 days later. If they are the same, then you can think about racking. The consensus here though seems to be leave it on the yeast for 3-4 weeks or so, then go straight to bottle or keg. You can secondary if you want, but as far as I can tell, the main reason for this is so you can get another beer into the primary. Important for big breweries; homebrewers can just buy a new bucket!

samiley216 · 05-07-2009, 08:48 PM

thats what i thought! i'll follow the norm and watch and wait, test and wait.

thanks Bio!