Thoughts?

Going thru directions for northern brewer nut brown ale kit that I'm brewing tonight. Says to ferment 2 weeks in primary, then bottle. Yeast starter is going. Does this seem like a long enough fermentation?

The last brown ale I brewed had a pretty quick turnaround time too. I found that the beer actually tasted better the fresher it was, it did not improve with age. I would follow their directions and take gravity readings toward the end to be sure.

It will most likely be bottleable after two weeks. My nut brown did 2 weeks primary, 2 weeks secondary, 3 weeks bottles... and still didn't fully hit its stride for another 3-4 weeks. It was good after 3 weeks in the bottle, understand - but was pretty great after another month.

If you CAN wait, and you aren't doing an IPA/wheat beer, you might consider waiting a bit longer to bottle. But it's really your own personal call.

2 to 3 weeks for a sub 60 point batch is good. My rule of thumb is 2 weeks and then 3 days of checking the gravity. So my sub 60 GU beers usually stay in primary for 17 days. Beer higher than 60 points will stay in 3 to 4 weeks unless they are 75 or higher than they will stay in a little longer.

For a brown ale, 2 weeks should be good but 3 weeks wouldn't hurt.

If you are using a premade kit, you should follow the directions the first time you make it. Then you can make changes the next time you brew it

I tend to do 2-3 weeks for primary fermentation. Keep in mind these are general guidelines. The yeast don't work on deadlines, they're done when they're done. Your recipe, the age of the yeast, the size of your yeast starter, the amount of oxygen the yeast get at pitching time, the fermentation temperature, your water, all these factors affect the yeast. I like to be patient and give the yeast enough time to do their thing. If I see no activity for a couple of days, I take a gravity reading and proceed from there. If I've done everything correctly, the FG reading is about where I expected it to be and I proceed to bottling.

Horrible directions. Go 3 weeks to be sure - yea - you COULD bottle it but there is so much more going on when fermentation is finished. You need a week for the yeast to clean up after itself.

If you are making a yeast starter AND you are reading this forum you are on the right path to good beer. Make it 3 weeks and THEN bottle.

BTW - Browns, of which I have made many, tend to need time to age. They are in-between beers. Lighter colored beer can be good right away because the hops will hide any off flavors that need to be aged out. Darker beer has more malt which hides aging greenness.

Browns - man they can taste green sometimes and then just keep getting better. So if your beer is not wonderful after carbonation, just wait a bit longer.

You'll be anxious to get it bottled so you can drink it, but it's well worth the extra week wait like grinder said. Just because the beer hits it final gravity doesn't mean the yeast's work is complete. Think of it like brewday...you're done making beer once you pitch the yeast, but you still need to clean the kettle and whatever else mess you left behind. Let the yeast clean up after themselves and you'll be glad you did.

Slowfro said:

You'll be anxious to get it bottled so you can drink it, but it's well worth the extra week wait like grinder said. Just because the beer hits it final gravity doesn't mean the yeast's work is complete. Think of it like brewday...you're done making beer once you pitch the yeast, but you still need to clean the kettle and whatever else mess you left behind. Let the yeast clean up after themselves and you'll be glad you did.

Click to expand...

This, and this.

I made northerns nut brown over winter. Good stuff. Best of luck !