Ferment time

[Grinder12000]

I've brewer perhaps 130 brews - partial mash. 95% of the time I ferment for 3 weeks no matter what.

I'm in a brew club with a competition and the people running it are AG brewers who believe 1 week is good and then keg it so 3 weeks from brew to drink is fine.

WHAT??? They say 1 week is all you need for fermentation - I say if you do that the yeast will not clean up after themselves. PLUS it teaches inexperienced brewers to rush!

Any comments? Opinions?

 

[Yooper]

Yes, I'd say they are right. A well made beer certainly doesn't need weeks to finish.

Generally, a well made beer will be finished fermenting in 3-5 days, and the 'clean up' phase is about 24 hours after FG is reached. The beer is then only sitting and clearing. If it's done, and clear, it's not going to get 'doner'.

A week from pitching to bottling may be a bit quicker than I'd do, but certainly I package many ales by day 10. If I'm dryhopping or something, it's 3-5 days longer.

I don't understand the 'three to four weeks in primary' camp. Many of my beers that are better fresh, like IPAs are gone by four weeks old, and oftentimes a nice hoppy IPA will peak by then and the hops aroma and flavor will already be fading.

Of course, that is a generalization. For lagers, on about day 7 I may start the lagering phase for a few weeks so most of my lagers are of course older than that, or big stouts that take a bit more time to mellow may be a bit older when I'm drinking them.

 

[ericbw]

But you're talking about perfect temperature control, too, right? In other words, you chill to pitching temp and hold it at 62 (for example), for 5 days till FG is reached. Then raise it to 68 for a day. Then cold crash at 35 for a day, keg it cold. That's 7 days. But it's very precise.

It can give the wrong impression to new people, but it can work for someone with the right setup.

I understand the effect it can have on really hoppy beers, but what about less hoppy? Is there a significant change for those?

I also think it's important not to rush the conditioning time. With a keg, you can carb it in a few days, but it usually tastes better after a couple of weeks anyway. With my Irish red, it's carbonated at 1 week, tastes better at 2 weeks, and is significantly better after 3-4 weeks in the keg. That's probably more important than time in the fermenter.

 

[ericbw]

One other thought is that if a beer is sitting and clearing, then it's not clear. And I suppose you could say that it's not done until it's clear.