Honey Ale Progress

[EricT]

So I'm on my third brew and it's a honey ale. The Recipe is as follows:
5# Coopers LME
2# Honey
1/2# Honey Malt
1/2# Carapils Dex malt
2oz Saaz (60 min)
1oz Saaz (5 min)

Fermenting with WL British ale yeast.

I did use a starter with the white labs yeast about 48 hours prior to brew day using a liter of water and about 5 tablespoons of the coopers LME.

I am fermenting 5.5 gallons, my OG was 1.058

It has been fermenting for 9 days and my gravity is at 1.011. I plan to check again in 2 days to see where its at. If it hasnt changed significantly I think I'm going to bottle this weekend. Any reason to let it go a full week more if the gravity doesnt change? It will be at 2 weeks in the primary at this point. Appreciate any feedback

 

[Sithdad]

I have only been brewing for about a year now and I used to bottle after 2 weeks (to the day). Then I read through a lot of threads on HBT and decided that I was going to just let it sit and "do it's thing". I now leave all of my beer in the fermenter for 3 weeks, minimum. Then, depending on the style; off to secondary, lager or bottle. When I bottle I let them sit another 3 weeks, minimum. I know it sounds like a long time and you're anxious to try your beer, but I saw a big difference in the quality of my finished product when I moved to this method. I like letting the beer sit for the 3 weeks, especially in primary, so the yeast can clean up after themselves and get rid of any off flavors that may have been produced.

Best thing I can suggest is to try letting batches sit for different lengths and see what works for you. My 3 weeks might be 2 weeks for you. It might even be only 10 days, who's to know.

 

[EricT]

Yah, I probably should leave it for the extra week. I was thinking of maybe cold crashing it to cut off a few days. It cleared up my scottish very nicely. This beer is a lot lighter of course and it taste great now, it can only get better