Any beer ever needed more than 30 days?

[Trokair]

So I just realized that I haven't been taking hydrometer readings before bottling to confirm fermentation completion. I've been fermenting my beers for 30 days in primary then bottling at my next convenient day. They have all been small beers, 5% or lower and fermented at the correct temperature in a chamber.

So this begs the question has anyone ever had a beer that had to be fermented longer than 30 days in normal conditions? Obviously if you are brewing something super strong like 12% or fermenting at a low temperature you would need more time but is 30 days enough to say 90% of beers will be complete? Any input is appreciated.

 

[JonM]

Time isn't what determines when fermentation is done. Sometimes the yeast can stop after a couple days because of bad yeast, cool temps, etc. the problem is when they get roused back into activity by racking and bottling. If they hadn't finished the job before being roused, they will finish the job in the bottle and .... KA-BOOM!

 

[Curtis2010]

Certain styles of beer are appropriate to "condition" from 30 days or more, but normally primary fermentation will be complete within a few days to two weeks under proper conditions (assuming of course that you don't have a stuck fermentation or conditions causing it to go slowly). The only way to know whether it is really "done" is a hydrometer reading.

Meads and ciders by contrast can have very long running fermentation.

 

[david_42]

My first barleywine was still fermenting after 45 days. That was a long time ago, before I really knew what I was doing. Way under-pitched.

 

[Trokair]

Time isn't what determines when fermentation is done. Sometimes the yeast can stop after a couple days because of bad yeast, cool temps, etc. the problem is when they get roused back into activity by racking and bottling. If they hadn't finished the job before being roused, they will finish the job in the bottle and .... KA-BOOM!

So a good active starter + correct fermenting temperatures + ballpark correct FG should net me a winner after 30 days in most cases then.

Has anybody tested what the gravity difference has to be to have severely overcarbonated beer? If your OG/FG is on point then there shouldn't be enough residual fermentables left to cause a major bottle bomb I would think.

 

[Trokair]

My first barleywine was still fermenting after 45 days. That was a long time ago, before I really knew what I was doing. Way under-pitched.

I'm actually considering my first barleywine sometime in the next few months. If I were to do that sans-hydrometer testing it would be at least a 60 day endeavor in the primary.

 

[billl]

1 lb of priming sugar is 46 points in a gallon - or about 2 points worth on a 5 gallon batch for a 4oz priming addition. So, even at 1 point short of FG, you would be 50% high on sugar and getting overcarbonation. At a couple points, you would certainly be moving into bottle bomb territory.

Mathematically, sure, you probably have a 99% chance of being at FG after 30 days. However, there really is no good reason to take an unnecessary 1% chance of injuring yourself, your kids, your pets etc with exploding glass bottles.

 

[DPBISME]

I know of no beer that can't be bottled after 30 days, I guess it is possible.

But for those high gravity beers they will still need time to "Condition".

An English Mild/Brown or a lot of HefeWeisens will be ready to drink but a Barley Wine or even a bunch of IPAs are not going to be in their prime.

DPB

 

[unionrdr]

My version of the #3 Burton ale was OG 1.065. It took 5 weeks to get to FG. At 6.8%,it was def in strong ale territory. That takes more time to ferment,let alone condition.