fermentation over?

[scottie]

my red ale was bubling like crazy for the first 3 days of fermentation, but now 5 days in it has shown very little action. should i take my fg reading now? should i wait the recommended 7 days? can you leave it in the fermenter for too long?

 

[s3n8]

I would be patient, yes, this is difficult I know... I would never rack a beer prior to 2 weeks. Even though there may be little to no airlock activity, but the yeast is still consuming sugars and cleaning up byproducts of fermentation. Many people leave it in primary up to 4 - 5 weeks routinely.

 

[malkore]

there's no hard-fast timeframe for primary.

Yes, you could go ahead and take a gravity reading today...write it down, and seal the fermenter back up for two days.

On day 7, take another reading. If it hasn't dropped, fermentation is complete IF AND ONLY IF the gravity reading is very close to the recipes expected final gravity. If it stopped 20 points high...it ain't done and might be stuck.

Whether you choose to rack to a secondary after 7-10 days, or just do a 3 week primary and then bottle...is up to you. There are pros and cons to every method, and 10 homebrewers will give you at least 10 opinions on that debate.

If it makes good beer...you're doing it right

 

[scottie]

i can be patient now, my last batch is bottled and drinkable, a little sour (prob due to impatience..). i know now that i can make beer, now im set on making GOOd beer!

 

[scottie]

the fg reading is in! sg was 1.045, and my current reading is 1.008. my recipe didnt have expected gravety readings with it, but these numbers are around what i assumed they'd be. still havent racked to secondary yet, i want to be patient. is there any benefit to leaving it in the primary for a few more days? or should i just say screw it and rack it?

 

[double_e5]

Like malkore said, it is really up to you when you rack to secondary, it at all. If you are going to rack to secondary, wait another couple days and check the gravity again. If it is the same, go ahead and rack it.

The alternative is to just leave it in the primary for a 3 weeks, and then straight to the bottling bucket and bottle it from there. There a many threads out there about not using a secondary.

People have success doing both. I go for the no secondary approach, because it is one less time I have to handle the beer, and get good results withought increasing the chance for infection.