Brew to Bottle in 1 week... Bad decision?

[thezepster]

I did my first AG brew last sunday (7/18) and pitched with an OG of 1045 (right on). Then, after 4 days fermenation was done. I tested the FG and it was 1006 (Beersmith calculated it as 1010. Little low). I knew fermentation was done so I transferred it to secondary on 7/22 to clear up. After 2 days in the secondary it was perfectly clear. I was antsy to bottle so I bottled it last night (7/25). This morning I was wondering if i had made a bad decision by bottling it so soon. I plan on giving it a week to bottle condition, and then 3 days in the fridge. Do you guys think this was a bad decision?

Recipe

 

[jmf143]

You have powerful brew mojo on your side . . .

 

[brewagentjay]

Only time will tell I know people who do that. My LHBS is quick to keg or bottle his stuff.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I would call it a bad decision taking the beer off the yeast after 4 days. There is much work still to be done after converting sugar to alcohol. Then You will also most likely have flat beer after only 1 week in bottle. You're beer won't be be near it's potential with that schedule. I'd leave the bottles at room temp at least 4 weeks now before chilling and tasting my first bottle. Then give them a few more weeks before drinking the rest.

 

[marubozo]

The good news is you made beer. The bad news is that it's such a shame to limit the potential by rushing things. Making good beer takes time and there's no way around it. Some beer takes less time than others, but your schedule is not going to be doing the beer any favors.

1. Less than a week on the yeast is not good practice.
2. Moving to secondary for just two days is not really accomplishing anything.
3. Conditioning a week in the bottle generally isn't long enough to carbonate fully, and nowhere near long enough for the beer to actually condition properly.
4. Moving bottles to the fridge before the beer is carbed and conditioned will just leave you with flat green beer and leave you disappointed.

Your best option is to do what IrregularPulse suggested and leave the beers to condition for at least 3-4 weeks at room temp before putting any in the fridge. You can't make up for the errors prior to bottling, but there will still be improvement with time in the bottles.

 

[thezepster]

ya this is what I expected. Even after all the reading i've done on this forum I still had the first brew jitters. Ill keep the beer at room temp for 4 weeks like you guys have said. Im doing another one this weekend and I wont make the same mistake. Lesson learned. Thanks for all the input

 

[Palefire]

Just took a look at the recipe - is that right that the only hop additions were 3oz of cascade at 60 min? If that's true, regardless of when you bottled, you probably won't get much of the "sharp, citrus aroma" the description says you'll get. Just a lot of bitterness. It'll still be beer, but might not end up being what you're expecting.

Another reason to keep in the fermenter for longer: gives you time to decide to dry-hop, if you want to!

 

[Malticulous]

As long as your fermentation temps were under control I think your fine and will have a nice beer in a week or two. 1.006 is too dry for a APA. It must be a blonde.

 

[android]

yeah, i bet you'll be surprised. i totally agree with the advice given above, but considering it's your first homebrew, you'll be pretty happy.