A question of timing...

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!

Is this a regular strength beer?

Without more info, I think I'd opt for 11 or 12 days in the fermenter, then 20+ days in the bottle. But then it also depends on what's going on in the fermenter. You need the fermentation to be done before bottling. Check the gravity around day 10, then day 11 and 12 and if it's the same reading, go ahead and bottle on day 12. Don't judge by airlock activity.

If you can keep those bottles warmer, say 21-23 C, they'll condition up nicely in that time.

For the record, I always bottle at the three week mark, then 3 weeks in the bottle. Works great for me.

Yes regular strength, though without OG readings it'll be very much taste it and see!

Thanks a lot for the tips, that sounds like a sensible plan.
I'm sure fermentation will be done by then, it was very vigorous for the first 48 hours. Do the conditioning reactions cause the gravity to change noticeably over time or is that immeasurably small compared to the sugar->alcohol reaction?

Looks like I'll have to do another batch with 3 weeks + 3 weeks, another 40 pints of beer, what a shame!

markcurling said:

Do the conditioning reactions cause the gravity to change noticeably over time or is that immeasurably small compared to the sugar->alcohol reaction?

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I don't really understand this phrasing. The gravity changing IS the sugar turning into alcohol.

Conditioning generally softens the beer up, reducing some of the more harsh flavors of various sorts that are in young beer. Conditioning is generally considered to be happening after the fermentation is over, so the gravity doesn't really change further. But I think you'll be fine here. You'll get some nice conditioning in the bottle if you give it close to 3 weeks in there.

If it wouldn't be too much of a pain for you, you could always bottle enough for the competition at 10 days and leave the rest to bulk condition for another week or 2.

You could also bottle a couple extra at the 10 day mark and set them aside and compare them to bottles from when you bottle at the 3 week mark and see what the extra bulk aging did.

For the competition though, I would definitely give the bottles plenty of time to carb and perhaps even a few days at the end to cold crash and clear up. The beer will continue to condition in the bottle.

markcurling said:

Thanks a lot for the tips, that sounds like a sensible plan.
I'm sure fermentation will be done by then, it was very vigorous for the first 48 hours. Do the conditioning reactions cause the gravity to change noticeably over time or is that immeasurably small compared to the sugar->alcohol reaction?

Click to expand...

MattHollingsworth said:

I don't really understand this phrasing. The gravity changing IS the sugar turning into alcohol.

Click to expand...

I think he's asking if there will be a significant gravity change during conditioning, especially as compared to the primary fermentation.

If you take gravity readings and they hold steady over a couple days, then fermentation is more or less done, and done is done. There isn't enough food left for the yeast to produce any significant amount of alcohol.

I guess you have to work backwards from the deadline, so I guess I'd say give one day to cool the beer down, and two weeks to bottle condition. Sometimes two weeks isn't quite enough to bring the beer up to the proper CO2 level, but going a bit light on carbonation is in style for your beer, and you're in England, so you like flat, warm beer, right? Of course!

So I'd bottle 14-15 days before competition, which is May 22 minus 15. Leave it in primary until May 7, and if you're busy that day, I'd go with bottling May 6 over May 8, but no biggie.

[EDIT]I also really like the idea of bottling some at one date, then the rest at another. Good experiment.[/EDIT]