markcurling
Well-Known Member
Hi chaps,
My name is Mark, I'm new to this forum.
A couple of years ago I used to do a fair amount of extract brewing at university , usually with perfectly acceptable results but never producing anything particularly stunning!
Anyway, last week I decided to give it another go and went all out for my first all grain mash (London bitter) with various pieces of budget DIY equipment. I think it went well and it has been fermenting away nicely (although in my haste I was too lazy to take any readings from it).
Previously, I always used to bottle directly from primary after 5-7 days and then leave for a month or so. I plan to bottle my brew this time round (due to limited equipment), however from browsing this forum I gather that consensus is, it would be better to leave it in primary for up to three weeks before bottling such that it has more time in contact with the large yeast bed for bulk conditioning before bottling/priming/carbonating/bottle conditioning.
Anyway, on to my question. I fear this will make many of you cringe, but I need to be able to drink this brew on May 22nd. A few other friends have been brewing away and we set this as the date for the brew-off competition! This gives a total of 33 days from yeast pitching to drinking. Not ideal, but hopefully workable! So my question is, does anyone have any input on what day would be best for bottling? While a three week primary may be best for the long term, the subsequent 12 days in bottles before drinking would undoubtedly be too short for proper settling of the yeast from the priming fermentation?
My guess at the moment is to do a 10 day primary and 22 days in bottles. However, I have little understanding about the flavour-impact, rate and importance of the processes of conditioning and yeast clearance in the primary phase, in bottles and before/after priming sugars. Any input would be highly appreciated!
My name is Mark, I'm new to this forum.
A couple of years ago I used to do a fair amount of extract brewing at university , usually with perfectly acceptable results but never producing anything particularly stunning!
Anyway, last week I decided to give it another go and went all out for my first all grain mash (London bitter) with various pieces of budget DIY equipment. I think it went well and it has been fermenting away nicely (although in my haste I was too lazy to take any readings from it).
Previously, I always used to bottle directly from primary after 5-7 days and then leave for a month or so. I plan to bottle my brew this time round (due to limited equipment), however from browsing this forum I gather that consensus is, it would be better to leave it in primary for up to three weeks before bottling such that it has more time in contact with the large yeast bed for bulk conditioning before bottling/priming/carbonating/bottle conditioning.
Anyway, on to my question. I fear this will make many of you cringe, but I need to be able to drink this brew on May 22nd. A few other friends have been brewing away and we set this as the date for the brew-off competition! This gives a total of 33 days from yeast pitching to drinking. Not ideal, but hopefully workable! So my question is, does anyone have any input on what day would be best for bottling? While a three week primary may be best for the long term, the subsequent 12 days in bottles before drinking would undoubtedly be too short for proper settling of the yeast from the priming fermentation?
My guess at the moment is to do a 10 day primary and 22 days in bottles. However, I have little understanding about the flavour-impact, rate and importance of the processes of conditioning and yeast clearance in the primary phase, in bottles and before/after priming sugars. Any input would be highly appreciated!