As a lot of you know I have my first ever extract brew a Midwest front porch pale ale kit in the fermenter as we speak. I brewed and began fermentation on the 16th, fermentation happened quickly and seemed to cease after a few days, cloudy for a bit temp was kept between 65-70. Well the beer is starting to clear up nicely and develop a nice color my question is and I do not have a hydrometer yet (I will have one for my next batch) I was planning to leave it in the fermenter until the 6th before bottling and conditioning for 3 weeks. Is that too long to leave in the fermenter? Thanks guys, slowly starting to get the hang of this.
Ferment Question
- Thread starter jcounter
- Start date
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I usually give them about 2 weeks before I bottle. Sounds like you are about in the at time line. 
Nothing at all wrong with leaving it in primary for 3 weeks. That's a very common length of time for people to primary.
I think 21 days in the fermenter is just fine unless you are doing a really big beer, which could benefit from a lot more time in the fermenter. You can often get away with less, but other than possibly losing a bit of dry-hop freshness, I don't think you have anything to lose.
In the interest of safety, I wouldn't go any less than 3 weeks if you won't be doing hydrometer testing. Stable gravity is the only way to be sure it's finished fermenting - plenty of fermenting time is the next best thing. (Bottling before fermentation is complete can lead to bottle bombs.)
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