Fermentation finished early? Bottle now or wait?

[Divisadero]

Hello! I brewed up an extract based red ale (with some specialty grains) 9 days ago and it appears that fermentation has already finished. My final gravity is at the bottom of the range it said I'd get, and my original gravity was at the top.

I transferred to a secondary carboy at the 6 day mark. Instructions said I should expect another 7 - 14 days of fermentation after that, but here I am 3 days later.

The carboys have been stored in my basement which has kept a temperature below 70 ºF. Mostly in the range of 67 - 65 ºF.

I'm eager to bottle (of course), but I'm wondering if I should let things hang out longer. Is it possible the fermentation could already be done?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[sputnam]

won't hurt anything to bottle if FG is reached. Did you get 3 identical readings over the course of several days?

 

[myndflyte]

For me, regardless of when I hit the FG, I usually let it go for 3 weeks. The yeast are still working to clean up the beer.

 

[brew_ny]

won't hurt anything to bottle if FG is reached. Did you get 3 identical readings over the course of several days?

as said above if it is done then it is done

S_M

 

[unionrdr]

Take a gravity sample. Wait till the 3rd day & test it again. If the numbers match, it's at a stable FG. At that point, I usually give it another 3-7 days to clean up any by-products of fermentation & settle out clear or slightly misty. Then bulk prime & bottle.

 

[dkevinb]

I always leave my beer in primary for 2-3 weeks (depends on the style) before bottling. You may have hit FG but there's still stuff in there the yeast needs to go back and clean up during the conditioning phase. John Palmer has a pretty good description in How To Brew:

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter8-2-3.html

 

[MindenMan]

Divisadaro, The instructions that come with most brewing kit are sadly poor. As mentioned above there is no need to move to secondary, unless you are adding adjuncts. Sometimes racking a beer too early will shock the yeast into sleep mode.
I have had beers in the primary for well over a month when my schedule fills up, I have never had anything bad happen. If I were to impress anything about conditioning in the fermenter, it would be make sure the airlock doesn't dry out.

 

[Divisadero]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I had no idea there was further work the yeast did besides the obvious. Does the bottling phase also provide time for the yeast to "go back and clean up"?

 

[surffisher2a]

forget about the beer for two or three weeks. your patience will be rewarded!

 

[unionrdr]

Most of the cleaning up is done in primary after it hits FG. some does happen in the bottles, but not as much in my opinion.

 

[BlackGoat]

definitely would suggest giving it a couple weeks and trashing your instructions. The yeast didn't finish early, it finished exactly when it wanted to... its just the instructions are written at a very general level and don't account for the processes at work with live yeast. I would look into some of the discussion regarding the need for a secondary as well, just using a primary would really help simplify things when just starting out (and reduce the potential for oxidation and contamination associated with unnecessary racking).