Will it hurt anything...

If I bottle my beer after 2 weeks in the carboy (fermenting)?

I'm an over-the-road truck driver and am usually on the road for about 3 weeks out of the month. Usually, I brew shortly after I get home, let it sit in the carboy for the rest of that week and the 3 weeks, or so, that I'm on the road and then bottle when I get home.

I don't do the secondary fermentation thing, after reading up about it here, I just leave it in the primary until ready to bottle. Due to some difficulties with getting my truck serviced, I'm coming up on 2 weeks in the carboy and was wondering if there is any reason I can't bottle it now? I HAVEN'T taken a gravity reading yet - as I said it usually sits for about 5 weeks so I'm not in the habit of disturbing the beer whilst it's fermenting - but IF I've reached my target OG, does anybody see a problem with bottling this soon?

I don't HAVE to bottle now, but my pipeline is severely depleted after the winter, and it would be nice for it to be ready to drink when I get home next month!

bottle it! you will be ABSOLUTELY fine

The only reason I wouldn't bottle now is if it isn't done fermenting out. You'd raise the risk of getting gushers or bottle bombs. If you are reasonable sure that it is done then bottle it and let it develop in the bottle. Either way you'll still end up with a very drinkable beer.

^ +1 Only other thing i can think of is if it hasn't cleared much?

I bottle almost all my beers around 2 weeks. Should be good to go!

Thanks for all the replies! I was pretty sure it would be alright, but it never hurts to get some other opinions!

So, it's looking like tomorrow, I'll check the SG once and if it looks good, in the bottles it will go!

ideally, check it today and then again tomorrow to confirm it hasn't changed. If the gravity is still dropping (if it's an ale it probably won't still be dropping), then leave it. If you're stable you should be fine.

I just bottled a dunkelweizen after 3 weeks. I was getting ready to bottle after 2, thinking for sure that'd be enough for a smaller beer (1.050 OG). I got a reading of 1.019. I figured it wasn't done yet and left it until the following weekend. It got down to 1.012... if I had bottled it, I most likely would've been screwed.

Don't want to open a whole nother can of worms, just offering my first hand experience with "airlock not bubbling" and assuming it's done fermenting.

xjmox14x said:

Don't want to open a whole nother can of worms, just offering my first hand experience with "airlock not bubbling" and assuming it's done fermenting.

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Amen to that! I should have added that I always check for stable FG and end up bottling around 2 weeks. Cheers!

Piratwolf said:

Amen to that! I should have added that I always check for stable FG and end up bottling around 2 weeks. Cheers!

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And in the end, it isn't quite done yet...so I guess it will have to wait 'til I get home next time.

DANGITALLANYHOW!!! There goes my pipeline!