I think the peak of my fermentation has just finished

Dave6187 · 07-13-2009, 01:40 AM

it's been 4 days as of today since pitching, and I think my fermentation is subsiding. It was at 63 when I pitched, spiked up to 66 friday night and as of right now it's back down to 63 and the airlock is only bubbling every so often now.... it's nice to know things are going as planned, but I can't wait till I can see and taste my beer.... what should I do from here? I was at least going to wait till a full week (this wed) before popping the lid off to do a hydro/taste test. but i suppose I should leave it in there for another week and let the yeasties clean up after themselves? at that point i'll prob rack to secondary for another week then bottle(want to free up my fermenter), depending on how clear it looks...

ODaniel · 07-13-2009, 01:57 AM

I would leave it at least 2 weeks in the Primary. I do 3-4 week Primary then bottle or keg, so I can have 2 batches going at once and don't have to deal with secondary.

Dave6187 · 07-13-2009, 01:58 AM

yea, I was going to do a 3 week primary, but right now I only have my bucket, and a 5 gal better bottle so I can't really do a second batch until my bucket gets freed up. So I figured 2 weeks in primary would be good, and then see where it was at at that point

ODaniel · 07-13-2009, 02:00 AM

Oh ok, yea that'd be fine.

ifishsum · 07-13-2009, 04:41 PM

2 weeks is a good primary time if you're going to use a secondary. Unless you just can't stand it, there's not a lot of point in opening it and taking a gravity reading until that time and you're ready to take some action based on the results.

JMSetzler · 07-13-2009, 05:00 PM

I agree with ifishsum. Don't worry about a gravity reading until you are ready to move it or bottle it. I generally do 2 weeks in primary and another two in secondary. What I really need to do is get another fermentation bucket