Single stage fermentation

I am currently fermenting the american honey ale extract kit from more beer. The directions say to ferment for a week and let sit for a week, before bottling.

What do people think about this, or should I bottle after just a week?

Those directions are not bad, with the correction of instead of 'ferment for one week and let sit for one week,' I would change it to"Let sit for one or maybe two weeks, AFTER IT HAS FINISHED FERMENTING". How do you know when it is finished? Take serial SGs a couple days apart. If they are stable, then she is finished. Could take as soon as a couple days or as long as a couple months.
The instructions to let it sit after that is a good idea. It allows the yeast to cleanup any off-flavor compounds, and lets everything settle to the bottom and form a nice firm trub layer so your beer will look clearer. Most(nonhomebrewer) people are turned off by cloudy beer.

Or, to eliminate frequent checks, just leave your beer alone for 3-4 weeks since you pitched your yeast. I usually leave mine for this long and don't need to do multiple checks. I'll check once when I go to bottle it and as long as nothing is really off, I just continue with bottling.


- ISM NRP

True Ivan, but what newbie can leave their precious nectar alone for 3 weeks?

Ferment for a week, sit a week !!!! That's real bad advise !!!!
I think it's a safe bet that anyone who has brewed a bit, would never, ever, even think, or dream , of buying any product from that source, even if they were depressed and wanted a laugh!!

I don't think two weeks in the primary is too short, but one week is pushing it. I personally would let it sit longer so the yeast can clean up after themselves. Three or four weeks is good, then just draw a sample before bottling, like Ivan said.

Potanus, the op said 1week primary+a week! you then correctly refer to three four weeks ? make it five then that's good advice. Have you had a brew or three ?

The OP said to ferment a week and let sit for another before bottling, for a total of two weeks in primary, as I read it. I said I think that would be OK but that three or four weeks would be better. What's the confusion?

Sitting on the fence gives you splinters in you bum.
Two weeks to bottle is too quick. I think you said that?
I also think you said that three four weeks would be better?
?
Three four five weeks IS better ! No splinters in my bum !

Better still when the SG is stable for several days !

Potamus said:

The OP said to ferment a week and let sit for another before bottling, for a total of two weeks in primary, as I read it. I said I think that would be OK but that three or four weeks would be better. What's the confusion?

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I agree.
The directions read funny. No reason to rack a honey wheat to secondary so that is out.

OP: When you brew, plan to not touch your beer for 10 days. If you get antsy on the 8th day there is no harm, but don't touch it within the first 5 days. Give the yeast a chance to do what yeast love to do. They don't wake you up in the middle of the night, you should let them be as well.

2 weeks then bottling is actually quite fast but not unheard of. Only bottle when you have proven stable gravity readings.

Brewing beer takes patience. the greatest thing is that you can always buy beer to drink while you wait for yours. It will lessen the impatience streak that we have all gotten.

In both of my posts I said two weeks should be OK, but that three or four weeks is better. I don't know how I can possibly make that more clear.

Only having a laugh Potanus. The point here for me is that for any new brewer to be bottling anything after two weeks is really dangerous bottle bomb territory.
We need to really discourage it.
The risks to the brewer, family, children friends, those risk must not be taken.
Even at four five weeks the criteria is a stable and finished SG.
The time it's had is immaterial.

fartinmartin said:

Only having a laugh Potanus. The point here for me is that for any new brewer to be bottling anything after two weeks is really dangerous bottle bomb territory.
We need to really discourage it.
The risks to the brewer, family, children friends, those risk must not be taken.
Even at four five weeks the criteria is a stable and finished SG.
The time it's had is immaterial.

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What the...

The best thing to do is check the gravity with a hydrometer. Check it after about 8 days, record that reading. Then recheck it at 10 days and if it is the same the fermentation is complete. At that point let it set another week to clear and condition itself.

Also what yeast did you use and how much?

The directions should have a final gravity of the beer when its done.

I used WLP001. The company estimates a finishes gravity of 1.054-1.059. I will check it tomorrow as day 8.

BJOHNSEN1 said:

I used WLP001. The company estimates a finishes gravity of 1.054-1.059. I will check it tomorrow as day 8.

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You sure that's not supposed to be your original gravity? If I were guessing your final gravity should be 1.014-1.008.

As has been mentioned the only way to know if its done is consistent gravity readings. And even at that point most beers benefit from sitting for a while longer. The time frame after fermentation is done depends on the style of beer and your willingness to wait.

Whatever you do don't rush it if its not done fermenting because that could lead to bottle bombs which are at the least a very messy inconvenience and at worst a dangerous little glass shrapnel bomb.


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Yes what m1batt1 said. Original gravity should have been about 1.050 and final should be about 1.008 or so.

I did look at the recipe online and it is some what confusing.

I have stopped taking gravity readings I just let the little yeasties do their thing for a month ( yes I said a month four weeks 30-31 days. then I bottle. The more time the better. I know it is difficult to wait but the beer comes out better.

I took the gravity on it. As it stands now, it is at 1.013.

I gave it a taste, it definitely has fruity notes and slightly hoppy on the end. Not too bad. It was a cloudy with trub floating in it. That might have been from taking it from the valve on the bottom. I think I will let it sit for the rest of week two, check the gravity on wed, Day 14, and if t is the same as before siphon into the bottling bucket.

Thoughts?

And thank you for the advise so far. This is my first brew and am excited to try more.

If you're having trouble waiting then yes as long as the gravity is consistent you can bottle. The cloudiness likely was from the bottom tap and it sucked some up. But if you were to wait longer it'll clear more. But in the end as long as the gravity has leveled out you can move forward.

The first is the hardest to wait for but Patience is the main ingredient I'm good beer.

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Unless your temperature is far lower than around 68-70 then fermentation is very likely done after about a week. I do mostly ales and never see activity even after the first 5 days. But that second week is good for conditioning and further compacting the trub layer per one of the previous comments about clarifying. So I would wait the additional week. If you can't wait you might sacrifice a little aging smoothness but not to the point where it's going to be a substantially different beer, IMHO.

Ok, the gravity stabilized. It is in the bottle. After a taste it has citrus notes on the fRont end with a fairly dry finish. The hoppy taste is has mellowed out a lot. Interested to see what it's like after a few weeks in the bottle.