Is my beer done fermenting?

Okay, so its obvious I didnt measure the gravity beforehand... so I am looking for a best guess here.

8 days in.
Used double the yeast.
No more bubbles.
A whole lot of spent yeast at the bottom.

Is it ready to bottle?

I would still let it sit at least another 2 weeks. Eight days, even if it is done fermenting, is too early to bottle.

Measure the gravity now and at least you'll know if you're in the ballpark of being done or not.

granpooba19 said:

I would still let it sit at least another 2 weeks. Eight days, even if it is done fermenting, is too early to bottle.

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Even if its done fermenting its still not ready.

Can you learn me something here?

It helps the beer to clarify more as more of the sediment will sink to the bottom. Further, it gives the yeast time to clean up their mess and eat up the by-products produced during fermentation.

I think there are a few other reasons, but I can't think of them at the moment.

edit: also, just because there are no more bubbles doesn't mean that the beer is done fermenting. It'll be hard to tell because you have no OG reading, but no bubbles doesn't mean fermentation is over

Take a hydrometer sample three days apart. If the reading has not changed than your safe to bottle. Then taste your sample. If it tastes like its done, then bottle. If you taste some off flavors like green apple or butter then let it keep going for a while. There aren't really any set rules. I have had beer ready to bottle after a week and some that take much longer. Some off flavors will not be helped at all by leaving your beer in primary.

Thanks guys.

I was thinking about bottling one bottle per day and label them. Then eventually start drinking them and write down when they taste good.

ryno1ryno said:

Thanks guys.

I was thinking about bottling one bottle per day and label them. Then eventually start drinking them and write down when they taste good.

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Why bottle one per day? I don't "get it".

bottling is bottling. There is no advantage to bottling early, but the advantages of waiting until the beer is clear to bottle simply mean less crap in the bottle. Bottling one per day means each one may have incrementally less crap in them, but each would be incrementally more oxidized as well. So what's the advantage? I guess I just don't "get" the point.

When the beer is ready to bottle, bottle the whole batch. Then maybe try one every week or so, if you want to see how conditioning affects each bottle.

I will start my one bottle per every day routine sometime today.

I will label each bottle with a date.

I will then have a taste test with 6 bottles after they go through conditioning.

One potential caveat is that the first bottle brewed will end up with a few extra days conditioning.

I will provide information on taste and clarity.

With the increase risk of oxidation and or infection you run by opening the FV and bottling one per day I would not do it,not to mention cleaning and sanitizing everything each time(assuming you are going to). Like Yooper I don't see any point in doing it this way.

The valve on the Mr. Beer kit is the only problem I see. But its just a simple open and close plastic ball valve.

I suppose that that valve would in fact somehow need to be cleaned after every pour.

Maybe I could just squirt a tiny bit of water/sanitizer on the outside exposed opening. Then the next day, when I go to pour, let the first oz drop into the sink.

Unless you think the entire ball joint internally would also have the beer on it and then become contaminated? The inner portion of the valve will always be exposed. But the ball itself in the middle could have beer residue on it after each pour in which I would have no way of cleaning.

Pouring out the first ounce in the sink should be sufficient for this drunken, non-scientific experiment. I see no need for a well documented methodology coupled with the ideal statistical model to not prove, but just document the results.

I would much rather do it myth busters style and then fill you in on my findings.

You can do that,you will lose a bottle over a 12 day period.

On second thought... Im just gonna leave that one fermenting and do this instead:

http://www.heartshomebrew.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14_70_89&products_id=408

Its only 15 bucks.