Bottle after 15 days in primary?

[markiemark]

Hi all,

I brewed a holiday spice ale 15 days ago and was wondering if its ok to bottle now? I know most on this forum say to do 4 weeks in primary and 3 in bottles to carb, but I want to give some beer as gifts a week or so before christmas. And I probably need to fridge them for a few days so yeast gets cakey, right? The gravity has been stable now for a few days at least.

What will happen if I bottle now? Better if I wait one more week?

Thanks

 

[manoaction]

Your beer will taste better if you wait. End of story.

However, it isn't going to ruin it if you bottle now. Your beer will continue to condition in the bottles to some extent, but you run the risk of having it taste slightly different from bottle to bottle.

The risk grows with the complexity of the flavor profile. The more complex the flavor, the longer it should condition in the fermenter.

If I were you, I'd wait until the 27th to bottle, give it three weeks to carb and it should be ready-ish a week before Christmas.

It is better to give more time conditioning, and it is better to give more time for carbing, but it will most likely come out good enough if you do it now.

 

[Captain Damage]

It should be okay to bottle now.

 

[QuaffableQuips]

Hi all,

I brewed a holiday spice ale 15 days ago and was wondering if its ok to bottle now? I know most on this forum say to do 4 weeks in primary and 3 in bottles to carb, but I want to give some beer as gifts a week or so before christmas. And I probably need to fridge them for a few days so yeast gets cakey, right? The gravity has been stable now for a few days at least.

What will happen if I bottle now? Better if I wait one more week?

Thanks

In general, the higher the OG, the longer I would leave it in primary, with 3 weeks being minimum in my mind if there's no secondary.

Were I in your position, I'd leave it in primary another week and then bottle. You can skip the refrigeration step entirely. As long as your gift recipients pop 'em in the fridge a few hours or more before they want to drink them, I don't see any reason why you need to include cooling in your bottle conditioning schedule.

 

[passedpawn]

Go for it. However, if you want to drop the yeast out of it you should cold crash the carboy for a few days with gelatin (if you have a way to do that).

Putting the bottles in a fridge for a week before you pass them on is a great idea. I find it really does compact the yeast well.

You going to label them? It's easy (search for Kinkos and milk).

 

[Pappers_]

You going to label them? It's easy (search for Kinkos and milk).

I'm a glue stick man - but many here like using the milk.

 

[JBrady]

I think you'll be ok. I average 21 days on my primary fermentations and it seems to be plenty. I've gone as low as 12 days on some lower gravity beers and it works out ok, it just seems like they need a little more bottle conditioning time to peak out. Just be sure its done fermenting before you bottle, lol.

 

[manoaction]

I'm a glue stick man - but many here like using the milk.

THAT is heresy. Milk is law.

Observe:

 

[markiemark]

You going to label them? It's easy (search for Kinkos and milk).

That sounds really cool! I read that the labels come off in an ice chest easily though, is that true? Any other label ideas or threads to point me to? I'm giving some away as gifts and want them to look and feel fairly legit.

 

[Fantastical]

Nice label manoaction!

 

[passedpawn]

Milk-adhered labels will come off right away in an ice chest. That's one of the beauties of them, that they are easily removed.

 

[brew2enjoy]

How exactly do you use the milk? just wet the label with milk and let it dry? Does the label need to be made from a certain type of paper?

 

[akthor]

No bad idea leave it in primary at least a month.

 

[Revvy]

If you are giving them as gift you can always put a "do not drink before" tag on your bottles. I've done that, and folks have understood.

The hanging tags that I have the templates to in my bottling thread do indeed say show a recommened drinking date.

The one on the left says "This higher strength ale will benefit from anywhere up to 6 months more cellaring time at room temp. Waiting at least til feb. 2009 is recommended."

 

[HexKrak]

As long as the gravity is no longer changing you're safe to bottle any time, the rest is all about quality, and I'm not familiar enough with this recipe to give any advice there.

 

[akthor]

Those are cool! Thanks for that!

If you are giving them as gift you can always put a "do not drink before" tag on your bottles. I've done that, and folks have understood.

The hanging tags that I have the templates to in my bottling thread do indeed say show a recommened drinking date.

The one on the left says "This higher strength ale will benefit from anywhere up to 6 months more cellaring time at room temp. Waiting at least til feb. 2009 is recommended."

 

[Revvy]

Those are cool! Thanks for that!

You find the links in the bottling thread to the MS documents???