is my batch ready to bottle?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Guiness

Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2005
Messages
10
Reaction score
0
so tomorrow it will be two weeks since i put my first batch in the fermenter and i don't notice very much bubbling action. is my brew ready to bottle? should i take hydrometer readings the next few days or can i skip that step if it's been long enough?
 
The best way to be safe is to take a hydrometer reading 3 days in a row. If there's no movement in gravity you can safely bottle it.

Chances are being two weeks through your ferment you should be good to go. But make sure your gravity is low enough first.
 
If you did a secondary fermenter there's no reason not to let it sit until it stops bubbling almost entirely. If it's still bubbling once every 90 seconds or less, I definitely would not bottle. Letting things go on for a bit too long never hurt a beer.
 
Personally, I always take readings and drink the samples. I like to monitor the process of a ferment. It's the only way to know if something is going wrong. If a ferment starts slowly and the FG is high, I'll know to increase the amount of yeast for the next batch of that ale.

Taking notes on the flavors will eventually give you enough knowledge to make adjustments during the ferment. I don't do competitions, I'm just brewing for myself; however, I want to be able to fine-tune recipes.
 
Back
Top