Usually I check my beer's gravity 3 days before bottling and then once again on bottling day to make sure it has not changed. However, I have heard that as long as you leave the beer in primary for 1 week and secondary for 2 weeks, 99% of the time fermentation will be complete by then. I'm trying to cut out checking the beer's gravity 3 days before bottling if possible. Any thoughts?
Fermentation Always Done After 3 Weeks?
- Thread starter bmwwd6
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I would suggest you just leave it in the primary for 3 weeks and then bottle, but yes most of the time fermentation will be more than done in 3 weeks. If you are fermenting in a place that is cold or using a yeast that is known to take a long time to finish than I would be cautious. WLP400 is one yeast that is known for taking a long time to finish. Although not always a reliable indicator if after 3 weeks your air lock is still showing frequent activity I would want to verify with a hydrometer or give it more time.
Something you might miss by not using the hydrometer is a stuck fermentation. The yeast may be done doing their work but your FG might end higher than anticipated and you wont know it until you start drinking the beer.
I have done several batches where I never checked the gravity. I was doing partial mashes so it is very hard to mess up the SG. After 3-4 weeks in the primary if the fermentation wasn't finished I couldn't do much about it anyway. This isnt ideal but the beer turned out fine.
Something you might miss by not using the hydrometer is a stuck fermentation. The yeast may be done doing their work but your FG might end higher than anticipated and you wont know it until you start drinking the beer.
I have done several batches where I never checked the gravity. I was doing partial mashes so it is very hard to mess up the SG. After 3-4 weeks in the primary if the fermentation wasn't finished I couldn't do much about it anyway. This isnt ideal but the beer turned out fine.
I read your post again and the biggest danger in your process would be taking the beer out of the primary after 1 week. If the beer hasn't finished in a week and you take it off the yeast cake you can induce a stuck fermentation. If you aren't taking gravity reading before transferring you might be pushing it. With 3 weeks in the primary you would be pretty safe in counting on fermentation being finished. Without gravity readings 1 week in the primary is going to be a gamble. Sometimes it will be finished sometimes it wont.
The method that has worked best for me is cutting out the secondary. It is simply not required at all unless you are adding adjuncts (dry hops, and fruit) and even then it is debatable. Place your wort in the primary, pitch your yeast and ignore it for 3 weeks (yes, it could be done faster). At that point check the gravity on 3 days to make sure it is stable. If it is stable bottle/keg it.
For a normal gravity beer with normal temps with a proper amount of yeast pitched, you might well be safe after 3 weeks 99% of the time. That might be a reasonable risk to take if the other 1% didn't involve exploding bottles and glass shrapnel.
Testing is the only way to know all else is a guess, too many variables... recipe, pitching temp, aeration, fermentation temp, amount of yeast pitched, and so forth. Test it, make sure it is stable then package.
Personally I never touch the primary before 21 days, after 21 days take a sample and test, if 75% attenuation or better test 36 to 48 hours later, if identical crash it and package if not identical seal and wait 7 days and test again. If less than 75% attenuation seal it up and wait 7 to 14 days and test again. (the 75% is a varying percentage based on yeast strain but is a good average.)
Testing is the way to go.
Personally I never touch the primary before 21 days, after 21 days take a sample and test, if 75% attenuation or better test 36 to 48 hours later, if identical crash it and package if not identical seal and wait 7 days and test again. If less than 75% attenuation seal it up and wait 7 to 14 days and test again. (the 75% is a varying percentage based on yeast strain but is a good average.)
Testing is the way to go.
Even though I've never really held to the "you have to secondary" philosophy I still like to transfer a day or two early into a carboy just to give it a chance to settle out as much as possible. Otherwise, I'd say you can't get around using the hydrometer. It's too easy not to test here and there to make sure everything is on track.
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