How long to let stout ferment

I'm going to make an Imperial Stout and have never made one before. I usually let my Hefy and Kolsch go for about 10-14 days before I bottle it. But the stout will have a higher gravity then both of those. How long should I let it sit? Would 21-28 day work or do I need to let it sit longer. I haven't started it yet but want to plan my schedule so I can have the time needed for it. Also, the recipe calls for 1 lb of dark brown sugar. I've read that adding a little molasses helps give that nice chocolate/coffee flavor that I'm after. What do you suggest and how much to I add? Thanks in advance.

Just going to answer of the "how long". You have a hydrometer? well after you can see that the most active fermentation has stopped then wait a day or do and take a reading. If its at the predicted fg then its done. especially with adding that brown sugar it might take a little bit longer for it to finish

I'd let it ferment until it is finished....and your hydro will be the key to figuring out where it is in the process.

The fermentation chapter in How to Brew has a lot of useful info:

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter8.html

You might want to check out this thread:
http://homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=43014

Beer doesn't have a calendar or schedule.

My recommendation for an imperial stout or other really big beer is 1 month in the primary, and a second month or more in a secondary (preferably glass or a Better Bottle). Really big beers take time to mellow out and really become good. Early on the flavors will be harsh as less complex.

In general my normal beers I leave in the bucket for 3 weeks then bottle.

Craig

On all beers you should transfer to the secondary when you have reached the final gravity. You can aquire off flavors (some minor, some not) if you leave the beer on the sediment too long. You want the beer to taste it's optimal best.

There is also no real need to leave the beer in the secondary for a long time either. Bottle once the beer is clear (if it doesn't clear within 10 days transfer again to get rid of the sediment, and let set another week). Beers that are this big do need to age for extra time. The beer can condition in the bottles or keg away from all of the sediment.

Forrest

Thanks guys for you advise. I have a hydrometer and use it when I brew anyway before I bottle. I'm just wondering how long should I expect to let it work. It sounds to me like I need about a month. Test it then for my FG. I just don't want to be testing every week it I need to wait a month. Thanks

Lyle

flyboy said:

I've read that adding a little molasses helps give that nice chocolate/coffee flavor that I'm after. What do you suggest and how much to I add?

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Brown sugar is just white cane sugar with molasses added. If your recipe already calls for brown sugar, I would not add molasses also. If you want more molasses flavor, choose the dark brown sugar over the light brown.

flyboy said:

Thanks guys for you advise. I have a hydrometer and use it when I brew anyway before I bottle. I'm just wondering how long should I expect to let it work. It sounds to me like I need about a month. Test it then for my FG. I just don't want to be testing every week it I need to wait a month. Thanks

Lyle

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Month? More than likely it will reach FG way before that. Your hydro is the key to finding out....

Hi

Hi guys... I've had a coopers stout kit as a present. I've 23 litres in the bucket for almost 2 weeks. As yet no bubbling noises on the top. Is this normal? Sorry if this sounds like a pretty vague ignorant question, just learning about this!

Thanks
Simon

Quicky said:

Hi guys... I've had a coopers stout kit as a present. I've 23 litres in the bucket for almost 2 weeks. As yet no bubbling noises on the top. Is this normal? Sorry if this sounds like a pretty vague ignorant question, just learning about this!

Thanks
Simon

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It could be normal as a lot of buckets leak just a little bit and that lets the CO2 produced avoid bubbling the airlock. Open the bucket and look inside. There should be a ring of gunk just above the beer. This is a krausen ring and it indicates that the yeast were active. While you have it open, sniff just a little. It should smell like beer now. Don't get your nose too close or you'll discover what CO2 does to the nose.

To flyboy: with high gravity beers, the most important thing is to pitch an adequate amount of healthy yeast and maintain a temperature that is within that yeast's ideal range for the entirety of primary fermentation. For proper pitching rates, use an online calculator such as this one: http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

If you do both of those things, I doubt you're beer will have trouble reaching its FG within 2 weeks, probably much less than that - but as others have pointed out, this is where a hydrometer comes in handy.

I rarely rack any beer to secondary, but I do think it's probably a good idea for a big beer like this one. Homebrewing is all about what works for you, and I don't mean to knock what anyone else does, but I personally would never rack a beer to secondary and then rack it a second time after 10 days because a little more sediment formed. That makes no sense to me.

I know this is an old post. But I thought I'd just chime in. I brewed a RIS 7 days ago with O.G. 1.088. Airlock activity stopped 3 days in. I checked the gravity yesterday and it's already reached it's projected F.G. Now I've got it on diacetyl rest (about 2 days). As the others have said, use your hydrometer. Otherwise you could be sitting on a beer for a month that you could have had in a keg or bottles in only two weeks. (Sample tasted great by the way)(on that note, always drink your hydro sample, it will tell you all those little things your hydrometer can't).

Quicky said:

Hi guys... I've had a coopers stout kit as a present. I've 23 litres in the bucket for almost 2 weeks. As yet no bubbling noises on the top. Is this normal? Sorry if this sounds like a pretty vague ignorant question, just learning about this!

Thanks
Simon

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Your yeast may have expired. Maybe go to your LHBS and get some more to repitch.

Should take the exact same amount of time as any other beer to ferment. Stouts ferment at the same speed as any other ale.

I once had a stout that took almost three days before the fermentation started (the longest lag I've ever had), but the fermentation ended in about 5 days, and I let it sit in the fermenter for roughly two weeks before bottling.

But the only way to be sure is your hydrometer reading. If it's the same reading three days apart, then it's safe to bottle.

I've found that high-gravity beers ferment at the same speed as "normal-gravity" and low-gravity beers. High-gravity beers just need more yeast cells to get the job done and more conditioning time for them to mellow out.