ferment time for stout - difference of opinion

[doornumber3]

So I decided to make my first stout and am getting difference of opinions from some people I consider pretty smart in beer making. Some are saying let it go for like a month and a half to 2 months in the fermentor and others are telling me after a month it's fine. The recipe is here:

https://beerbrew.com/downloads/Recipes/QuakingOatmealStout.pdf

Clearly i'll take the gravity readings to determine but i'm leaning towards the month and a half before even checking....sound right or is there a reason to only go a month or under with a stout.

 

[JonM]

For me, I've found that beers with lots of dark roasty malts tend to benefit from a long conditioning phase - not necessarily a long time in the fermenter, but a long time in bottles/keg. Most of my stouts, porters, etc. are good after a month of conditioning, but AWESOME after two or three months of conditioning. YMMV, but, for example, I brewed a stout on 4th of July weekend. I'm not planning on tapping that keg until later in October.

 

[Yooper]

I don't leave ANY beers in the fermenter longer than a couple of weeks. Some beers, as mentioned above, can benefit for some conditioning so the flavors can meld together. With over a pound of roasted barley in your recipe, that could very well be the case here.

That doesn't mean it needs to sit on trub for weeks, though. I'd ferment it until done, add a few days for it to clear, and then package as usual. I'd try one after three weeks in the bottle, to see how it's coming along, but otherwise wouldn't do anything special.

 

[GuldTuborg]

I always transfer a big stout for bulk conditioning once it's done. They never fail to continue to drop out loads of trub. I found out the hard way if I don't do that, it just end up in the bottle. The flavor always improves with this process, too.

Yours is on the bigger side of medium, so I'd consider doing that, too, if it fits your timeline.