Will this give me overly sweet beer?

So i'm on a time constraint for bottling my beer. It's been fermenting since this past Sunday (May 20) and it has to be bottled by June 2. Fermentation was vigorous for the first 2-3 days and not has died off. I will take a hydro reading tonight, tomorrow and Sunday to make sure fermentation has ceased then I will rack the beer to a secondary for a few days (just to clear it out a little bit). Next Friday I plan to bottle my brew.

Do you guys think my beer will be overly sweet if I don't let it sit in the primary for 2+ weeks or will it be fine as long as the fermentation has stopped?

The reason i'm saying this is because I see all kinds of threads in this place about people saying they keep their beer in the primary for 3,4, even 6 weeks! Has anyone bottles after 1-2 weeks and how did the beer turn out???

Thanks peeps!!

This depends on A LOT of factors. What was your OG? What were fermenting temps? What type of beer you're brewing? But you have the 1 important step down. If your FG is stable for a few days, your beer will be no sweeter than if you left it in there for a year (hyperbole).

Whenever primary fermentation stops, you can bottle/keg/secondary/whatever. If you are still getting differing FG reading from day to day, but still choose to bottle, you're beer will taste different, possibly overcarbonate, and maybe explode. Active fermentation means that there are still fermentable sugars in suspension and there are still yeast to eat them.

If it is very slow, you may be OK, but you'll definitely change the taste of your beer.

FYI, this is free, and a quick read
http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

Of course it will be alright. We used to almost always do exactly what you are saying. Now brewers have found out the yeast continues to work and "cleans up" some off flavors and such if it is allowed to work longer. Pretty minor flavors at that. It might be preferable in a perfect world, but there are many posts on here from guys who go on a schedule like yours and get it in a keg and drink it three days later.

It will depend also on the recipe, and how big a beer it is. For a normal 1.040-1.055 range you'd be good I think. Unless you are adding gelatin or some other fining agent, I'd just leave it in the primary. Whatever you do, make sure your F.G. is down where you expect it to be of you could have very unpleasant results from bottling a still fermenting beer. I'd check the gravity on the 30th, and the 1st, and if it was the same I'd bottle on the 2nd as you plan. It will need at least a week to carb and a week+ under refrigeration to finish out. It may not be the best beer you ever make, but I bet it will be decent enough.

Thanks for the quick replay!

My original gravity was about 1.051 and i'm brewing an IPA (no extract, no corn sugar, all DME). I pitched at about 77 degrees and the first 2-3 days (while fermentation was nuts) was about 73.5 degrees. After that, and still now, the temperate is 70 degrees. For the record i'm using Nottingham dry yeast.

inturnldemize said:

Thanks for the quick replay!

My original gravity was about 1.051 and i'm brewing an IPA (no extract, no corn sugar, all DME). I pitched at about 77 degrees and the first 2-3 days (while fermentation was nuts) was about 73.5 degrees. After that, and still now, the temperate is 70 degrees. For the record i'm using Nottingham dry yeast.

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Notty will hammer that baby at those temps, and my guess is even more that you'll be fine. That is pretty warm and you may get some off flavors, but it's a done deal now. Good luck!

inturnldemize said:

Thanks for the quick replay!

My original gravity was about 1.051 and i'm brewing an IPA (no extract, no corn sugar, all DME). I pitched at about 77 degrees and the first 2-3 days (while fermentation was nuts) was about 73.5 degrees. After that, and still now, the temperate is 70 degrees. For the record i'm using Nottingham dry yeast.

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Your temps were a little high so there may be some off flavors associated with the beer that you may not be able to let the yeast take care of because of your timeline

Normally I would suggest the beer sit on the yeast longer to help clean things up but if you can't do that then just a heads up on the final flavors you may experience.

If you bottle before the beer ferments out, it won't be too sweet - rather, it will ferment in the bottle, and will be really bubbly or may even explode. After 1-2 weeks should be fine if you pitched at a good rate, oxygenated well, and did not ferment too low.

My primary is my white bucket. My secondary would've been my carboy but if I decide not to rack to a secondary and I let it sit in my primary for a few more days then bottle, will my beer be very cloudy?

And when i'm ready to bottle, is it a good idea to rack to carboy, wash out my white bucket and get rid of the sediment, then rack back to white bucket (where the priming sugar will be added), and then finally bottle? Or will this oxidize the beer?

Again thanks guys!!

Letting it sit in primary will allow it to clear same as it would in secondary. The main point of using a secondary (bright tank) is to get the yeast out of the equation for fear of autolysis, which is not really a concern at homebrew scale.

masonsjax said:

Letting it sit in primary will allow it to clear same as it would in secondary. The main point of using a secondary (bright tank) is to get the yeast out of the equation for fear of autolysis, which is not really a concern at homebrew scale.

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So, does the second part of my last message make sense then? Going from primary to secondary for a few minutes (just enought time to clean out my primary and boil my priming sugar), then rack back to primary and bottle from there.

I would bottle straight from a carboy, at least it's what I did when I was out of buckets

ak-71 said:

I would bottle straight from a carboy, at least it's what I did when I was out of buckets

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I would do that, however, the hole at the top is too small for me to fit a stirring apparatus in. I won't be able to properly mix in the priming sugar, unless someone's got a suggestion!

Never stirred sugar in before, mixes as you rack, I just put sugar (boiled in water) in first. I think most people do that.
Am I right? Experts?
Some suggest doing it in 2 steps - half on the bottom, half midway, but I never had problems with uneven carbonation in one step.

Notti at 74 degrees...

inturnldemize said:

I would do that, however, the hole at the top is too small for me to fit a stirring apparatus in. I won't be able to properly mix in the priming sugar, unless someone's got a suggestion!

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Mix your priming sugar/hot water, then pour it into your carboy with a funnel (or just be careful). Then rack from primary to the carboy, then bottle directly from there. If you want to, let it sit in the carboy for a few days. You can pour in your priming sugar in at bottling time, then give it a little swirl.

I don't even use a carboy. Primary works just fine if you ferment for less than a month.