time in fermenter vs time in bottles

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JLem

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I have my second batch in the fermenter - a mini-mash Oatmeal Stout I designed using BeerSmith. It's been in there now just over a week. We have approximately 4 more weeks to go until that all-important beer-drinking holiday. Which leads me to my question - how should I time my fermentation and bottling? My original idea was 2 weeks in the fermenter and 3 weeks in the bottle (of course, some sampling would have to be done after 1 and 2 weeks in the bottle :p), but I could also go 3 weeks in the fermenter and 2 weeks in the bottle.

Any thoughts? Does one week either way matter?
 
I'd go with 3 weeks in the fermenter, 3 weeks in the bottle.

Keeping the beer on the yeast cake for three weeks will allow the yeasties to clean up after themselves. And you need at least three weeks in the bottles
 
I have my second batch in the fermenter - a mini-mash Oatmeal Stout I designed using BeerSmith. It's been in there now just over a week. We have approximately 4 more weeks to go until that all-important beer-drinking holiday. Which leads me to my question - how should I time my fermentation and bottling? My original idea was 2 weeks in the fermenter and 3 weeks in the bottle (of course, some sampling would have to be done after 1 and 2 weeks in the bottle :p), but I could also go 3 weeks in the fermenter and 2 weeks in the bottle.

Any thoughts? Does one week either way matter?

Well, you're talking about drinking a 5 week old beer regardless of how you divide it. If the OG is low, and it ferments pretty quickly, you could drink it that young but it won't be at its best. Leave it in the fermenter until it's done, but at least 2 weeks. It should be in bottles (at 70 degrees) for three weeks, and then chilled for a couple of days before drinking.
 
5 weeks is all I've got if this is going to be drunk on St. Patty's Day. Apparently I should have started sooner, but so it goes.

I'm not planning on drinking all 5 gallons in one night, so much of it will sit in the bottles for longer. I was just curious about what was a "better" split - 2 in fermenter (assuming its done) and 3 in bottles or 3 in fermenter and 2 in bottles.
 
5 weeks is all I've got if this is going to be drunk on St. Patty's Day. Apparently I should have started sooner, but so it goes.

I'm not planning on drinking all 5 gallons in one night, so much of it will sit in the bottles for longer. I was just curious about what was a "better" split - 2 in fermenter (assuming its done) and 3 in bottles or 3 in fermenter and 2 in bottles.

5 weeks is five weeks, no matter how you divide it. You may want it in bottles for three weeks, just to ensure carbonation, but it doesn't age any differently.
 
5 weeks is five weeks, no matter how you divide it. You may want it in bottles for three weeks, just to ensure carbonation, but it doesn't age any differently.

Why do folks (you included I think) advise leaving the beer in the fermenter for longer than it takes to reach FG? I keep reading about yeast "cleaning up after themselves". Does this happen in the bottles as well?
 
The reason the yeast eats it's waste in bulk is because there are no sugars for it to eat. When you bottle, you add some easy to eat sugar so why would it eat it's waste?

The reason to age beer is that green beer taste not so good and aged beer is yummy. For a while after beer has reached it's FG it's still green.
 
Why do folks (you included I think) advise leaving the beer in the fermenter for longer than it takes to reach FG? I keep reading about yeast "cleaning up after themselves". Does this happen in the bottles as well?

There's plenty of info on WHY we leave the beer longer in primary, we discuss it nearly every day.....If you search for "Long Primary" or "No Secondary" or just poke around long enough you'l find what we've allpretty much written ad nauseum...

and as to the bottles, if you take a look at this thread you will see what happens often if you let your beer condition...

http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy/Of_Patience_and_Bottle_Conditioning/

ANd this is extreem bottle conditioning...but it oftne fixes bad batches.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/



It's magic :mug:
 
There's plenty of info on WHY we leave the beer longer in primary, we discuss it nearly every day.....If you search for "Long Primary" or "No Secondary" or just poke around long enough you'l find what we've allpretty much written ad nauseum...

and as to the bottles, if you take a look at this thread you will see what happens often if you let your beer condition... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

Yeah - I get that - I'd like to leave it in the fermenter longer and then age it longer in the bottles for the best possible brew. Does Yooper's comment that "5 weeks is 5 weeks...it doesn't age any differently" mean just that 5 weeks is too short period and it won't matter how that 5 weeks is split up between fermenter and bottle. Would it matter if it were 6, 7, or 8 weeks?
 
Yeah - I get that - I'd like to leave it in the fermenter longer and then age it longer in the bottles for the best possible brew. Does Yooper's comment that "5 weeks is 5 weeks...it doesn't age any differently" mean just that 5 weeks is too short period and it won't matter how that 5 weeks is split up between fermenter and bottle. Would it matter if it were 6, 7, or 8 weeks?

Yes, it would matter if it was a longer time. You'll notice that in this batch. While you can drink your 5 week old beer (especially if it's a lower OG beer), it'll be much, much better at 8, 9, 10 weeks old.

Leaving it on the yeast cake after fermentation is over allows the yeast to digest its own waste products (like diacetyl) and allows the beer to condition a bit, and to clear. Young beer ("green beer") often has some flavors of green apple, yeastiness, harshness, etc, that go away with a couple of weeks of aging and it makes a remarkable difference.

I like the beer to be clear before I bottle it, so there is less sediment in the bottle. But, you generally need about three weeks of time in the bottle to ensure decent carbonation. If I were going to cut anything short, it would be the time in the fermenter, assuming fermentation was complete (by SG readings) and a few days after FG is reached to allow some "clean up".
 
Yeah - I get that - I'd like to leave it in the fermenter longer and then age it longer in the bottles for the best possible brew. Does Yooper's comment that "5 weeks is 5 weeks...it doesn't age any differently" mean just that 5 weeks is too short period and it won't matter how that 5 weeks is split up between fermenter and bottle. Would it matter if it were 6, 7, or 8 weeks?

It's gonna take you three weeks minimum on average to carb up your beer IF you have an ambient temp of 70 degrees....but some beers take longer to carb, there's nothing you can do about that....you can't push a natural process...and just because a beer is carbed doesn't mean that it isn't still green and needs more time to condition...

You have to ALWAYS add the minimum 3 weeks@70 as a rule of thumb for bottle carbing...some beers like low ABV milds may be drinkable at a shorter time (MAY, is not WILL) I've had stouts, and Porters that don't pop for 8 weeks....and some beers need months to carb and oOndition in the bottle.....


I leave 99% of my beers in primary for a month...then I bottle...and right now I can't get 70 degrees in my loft to save my life...so I don't expect ANY of my beers to be carbed on time....so in the interim, I buy mix sixers of various beers to try as research for the next beers I plan on brewing and to build up my bottle stock.

Honestly, we get this all the time, new brewers who hope to have a drinkable beer ready for a set date that is often too short to gaurentee the beer will be A) Carbed and B)Not still tasting like ****...and we recommend that you buy beer just in case, an realize that as a brewer, next year you will have a pipline, and you will know enough to brew ahead for whatever holiday....

For Example, I brewed my Pumpkin Ale for Thanksgiving on Labor Day...figuring at 8 weeks, I MIGHT have some ready for Holloween...But they were still green, so I only brought a couple to my annuual Halloween thingy, along with a sampler of commercial pumpkins...BUT come Turkey Day the beer was fantastic, and was a hit at the holiday.

RIght now this is my current inventory...


Drinking....IPA, various bottles of Oaked Smoked Brown Ale, Smoked brown ale, Poor Richard's Ale
Avoiding....Marris Otter/Argentinian Cascade SMaSH (It sucks)
Bottle Conditioning.....Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde (but as a Lager,) Chocolate Mole Porter, Belgian Dark Strong Ale, Peach Mead
In Primary.....Schwartzbier, Vienna Lager
Bulk Aging....Mead
Lagering....Dead Guy Clone Lager

Pretty much anything still in Primary or Lagering I will not be drinking til the end of March, but more than likely April....the centennial Blonde in bottles will probably be drinkable next weekend...or in two weeks. The Mole Porter needs a minimum 2 more weeks as well....but the Belgian Strong is prolly going to need 3-6 months to be ready...

The Swartzbier has 3 weeks more in primary, then another month lagering, THEN 3 weeks at least in the bottles...

This week I will take a break from my own beers to drink a couple sixers of samplers, so I don't drink ALL my IPAs and other ready beers before the Centennial blonde comes online....Plus I'm craving a couple of styles that I don't have ready (like Vienna Lager) so I will make a bottle run....

And I'm also probably going to brew something this weekend...don't know what yet...maybe a low abv mild that I would only leave in primary till fermentation is stopped then bottled..so hopefully in a month they will drinkable.....

But do you see...you too one day will have a pipleine....

This quote from one of my friends sums it up....

The nice thing is to get to a point in your pipeline where you are glancing through your BeerSmith brew log and realize that you have a beer that you have not even tried yet and it has been in bottle over 6 weeks. This happened to me this weekend. The beer was farging delicious.

The thing is...as disappointing as it may seem...if your beer ain't ready for Patty's day....go buy some...it's a waste to drink your beer if it's still green and young tasting....they say, you best bottle of beer is ALWAYS the last one in your batch...many people on here (myself included) will tell you that we wished we waited a bit longer before diving into some batches of beer...because when they hit their peak...they were nearly gone...
 
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