How Long Do You Ferment?

For your average beer - how long do you leave your beer in the fermenter?

I've been getting slight off flavors recently and wonder if it has anything to do with leaving my beer on the yeast cake.

Nearly all of my beers sit in the carboy 30 days after pitching the yeast. Temperature controled @ 60 degrees.

for an average ale (in the 1.050 neighborhood), usually 10-14 days. never really seen any benefit from going longer than that. the beers do tend to improve as they condition and clear in the keg, so i just have to make sure i'm not drinking too much of it before it's prime.

45 years, so far. How about you?

Some have recommended the 1, 2, 3 plan, where you primary for 1 week, secondary for 2 weeks, and bottle condition for 3 weeks. I think many of us see the value of leaving the beer on the yeast so they clean up the beer, so I do a 3, 3 plan: 3 weeks in primary, and 3 weeks bottle conditioning. That is just my basic rule of thumb. An 11% imperial stout was in primary for 6 weeks and secondary for three months, and bottle conditioned for 5-6 months.

3-4 weeks in primary, then straight to bottling.

ultravista said:

For your average beer - how long do you leave your beer in the fermenter?

I've been getting slight off flavors recently and wonder if it has anything to do with leaving my beer on the yeast cake.

Nearly all of my beers sit in the carboy 30 days after pitching the yeast. Temperature controled @ 60 degrees.

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What yeast(s) are you running at 60°F? Some ale yeasts are known to produce flavors you might not desire at that temperature...

Cheers!

I typically go 4 weeks in primary, then transfer to keg, put on CO2 to carbonate (the 2+ week "set and forget" method). Bigger brews get more time on the yeast. IF I'm going to do some aging on an element that works best off the yeast cake, then I'll transfer (like oak).

I've gone 7-8 weeks in primary before without any negative effect/flavors. I do aim to keep the fermenting brew around the middle of the temperature range it calls for (depending on what I'm brewing)...

I primary for 3-4 weeks, bottle or keg and am good to go. Sometimes life gets in the way and the beer sits for twice that time and it's still fine. Clearer, even.

B

Once the FG is steady for 3 readings over 3 consecutive days, I bottle. For bigger beers, 7% ABV or above, I give them 3-4 additional days in primary after the steady FG before I bottle.

2 weeks for session beers, 3 weeks total for IPA's (2 in primary and 1 in secondary dry hopping) and 3-4 weeks with big beers or Belgian beers.

I usually go 1 week in primary, and two weeks in secondary. My last brew was a big Belgian ale. At one week when I racked there was a lot of material still in suspension. Next time with that beer I think I'll let it stay in the primary for a few more days. Two months after kegging this beer is fantastic.

Thanks for this post! I just started brewing and tried a 2-2 approach (2 weeks in primary and 2 in the bottle). I think I am going to try a mix of 3-3 and the 3days of consecutive gravity readings to ensure I don't over-carbonate my bottles.

Also I have had much better results waiting for two months before general consumption. Better taste and a clearer beer. I'll sneak a taste at 6 weeks. And, my last two brews I have employed a yeast starter which seems to have helped the final product.

I do 2 weeks primary and 2 weeks secondary for my IPAs and my lighter beer styles.

My Scottish ales and darker beers I let go a full month in primary and 2 weeks to a month in secondary to allow them to clear up and condition on mass.

I usually leave my beers in the primary for about a month. I prefer to not have to deal with figuring out exactly when when it has finished fermenting then planning the next course of action from there. For anything that's not going to be bulk-aged, I prefer to plan around when I have time to bottle. If I have to dry hop, I start to correct number of days before I plan on bottling.

Anywhere from 2 weeks on up, depending on the brew. A session beer, 3 weeks unless I'm adding something after fermentation, then 2 week primary before secondary. Bigger beers I'll let sit for a month or so in primary. Really big beers, like a RIS go for 6 weeks, then onto secondary for bulk aging (months if I can wait that long. I don't plan on bottling the RIS I brewed yesterday until late summer).

downtown3641 said:

I usually leave my beers in the primary for about a month. I prefer to not have to deal with figuring out exactly when when it has finished fermenting then planning the next course of action from there. For anything that's not going to be bulk-aged, I prefer to plan around when I have time to bottle. If I have to dry hop, I start to correct number of days before I plan on bottling.

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I agree on this. Rarely do I check my FG anymore. I am going to drink the beer regardless of what it ends of being.
usually 3-4 weeks for an average beer, they are going to be kegged anyway so I am not too concerned even if there is a small amount of fermentables left that the yeast want to munch on.

I plan on doing a wee heavy soon, i will probably let that one sit a little longer.

i primary everything for 30 days then right to bottle

jmprdood said:

Once the FG is steady for 3 readings over 3 consecutive days, I bottle. For bigger beers, 7% ABV or above, I give them 3-4 additional days in primary after the steady FG before I bottle.

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I have read that many brewers check the gravity 3-4 days in a row for final gravity. I know that is how it is supposed to be done. I have never done it, because I don't know how to easily do it. I just give it 3 weeks, check gravity right before I bottle it and hope for the best. I brew mostly 3 gallon batches, so would I take a tube of beer out of the fermenter, test it, and add it back or drink it? I don't want to lose three tubes of beer to the test. Can you explain your process for collecting the beer and checking it? Thanks, Jon

3 weeks in primary then racked to the keg.

I you are using a glass carboy why not drop in a $5 hydro and leave it in there?

4 weeks in primary, then either secondary for a week for dry hop or into the bottles and keg or Bourbon Barrel for a few months then into a bottle and keg! I always bottle some even if I keg.....
Cheers

lylo said:

I you are using a glass carboy why not drop in a $5 hydro and leave it in there?

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Well, for one thing it would be covered with krausen and hard (if not impossible) to read and secondly I'd be afraid it would break when I moved the carboy to rack the beer. Or be very difficult to get out once I removed the beer.

I keep my beer in the fermenter about 14 days most of the time.

I used to flip ales in the pub in 2 weeks brew to glass in most cases, as little as 7 days in a crunch. Was using SO4 (which I still use as my house yeast at home), ferment out in about 4 days, minimum 3 days crashed. At home I keg only... I have done 7-10 days in a rush, I prefer 14-21. With lagers I let the primary go on around 50 ish until I am satisfied it is finished, then bring down to around 35 to lager as long as I have patience. The commercial standard is 14 days ale/28 days lager. Obviously, if you can lager longer than that it's great (once managed 6 months lagering in a pub with a maibock), ales pretty much never sit in a fermenter over 2 weeks unless they are something huge like a barley wine... and even those I have seen packaged shorter.

I'm wondering and still trying to nail down the source of my slight off-flavor. I swear it's due to the trub/yeast cake transferring from the fermenter to the keg. I've always been to get it down to the last drop but not any more.

After tasting the yeast cake, and the astringent hoppy mouthfeel, I feel this may be the source of my issue.

It all comes down to NOT draining the kettle and trub completely dry and leaving the yeast cake undisturbed when kegging.

This problem is driving me crazy.

eanmcnulty said:

I have read that many brewers check the gravity 3-4 days in a row for final gravity. I know that is how it is supposed to be done. I have never done it, because I don't know how to easily do it. I just give it 3 weeks, check gravity right before I bottle it and hope for the best. I brew mostly 3 gallon batches, so would I take a tube of beer out of the fermenter, test it, and add it back or drink it? I don't want to lose three tubes of beer to the test. Can you explain your process for collecting the beer and checking it? Thanks, Jon

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Don't put any sample back in

Typically 2-3 weeks in the primary, 1-2 weeks in the secondary and 2 weeks minimum in bottles.

For my normal pale ale styles I'll do 4 weeks in primary. Then rack to keg for 2 weeks. Anything with a higher OG I'll do 6 weeks in the primary.

ultravista said:

I'm wondering and still trying to nail down the source of my slight off-flavor. I swear it's due to the trub/yeast cake transferring from the fermenter to the keg. I've always been to get it down to the last drop but not any more.

After tasting the yeast cake, and the astringent hoppy mouthfeel, I feel this may be the source of my issue.

It all comes down to NOT draining the kettle and trub completely dry leaving the yeast cake undisturbed when kegging.

This problem is driving me crazy.

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Have you looked at other possible sources of this astringency? Mash ph? Oversparging? Sparging too hot?

Anyways, I usually primary for 3-6 weeks and the only time I've had any problems with astringency was using a new thermometer that I didn't calibrate and sparged too hot.