How long is too long for fermentation?

[Corey Kane]

So our first fermentation will be complete tomorrow 1/19 and when we went to buy bottles for bottling, our only local home brew store had none in stock until next Friday. Is it alright to let our beer stay in the fermenter for another week until next Friday or is that too long?

 

[rburrelli]

Probably as long as you keep it sealed well. How do you know your fermentation will be done tomorrow? Have you measures gravity to see if you are actually done?

 

[Corey Kane]

We’re using a northern brewer starter kit and tomorrow is exactly 2 weeks of fermentation, so we haven’t checked final gravity yet. What would we be looking at for a gravity that indicates fermentation is complete? Thanks for the reply!!!

 

[rburrelli]

Final gravity is reached when you take readings over multiple days and they are the same. Then safe to proceed to bottling. More than likely two weeks is done, but always best to verify.

 

[Kaz]

+1, there is no time line for fermentation, no visual indication that its 'done'. A hydrometer or refractomer or one of these new wireless gravity checkers is the only way to know for sure. Some beers/yeasts will take weeks and some will be done in 24 hours. Either way, no harm in letting it in the fermenter a little longer. I've left beers on the yeast for a month or more.

 

[Buick Beer Gardens]

I just finished brewing a Northern Brewer IPA kit. The instructions read that fermentation process can be two to three weeks. I see no reason another week will do any harm to your beer. I just bottled mine after two weeks. The bubbler stopped. Fermentation appears complete. I did not perform a gravity test.

My beer was fermented at a consistent 68 degrees. Find the coolest spot in your home for your fermenter. Gather your bottles.

 

[McKnuckle]

Homebrewers worry a lot about fermentation being complete, which is sometimes justified, but not always. If your beer is a medium gravity or below (~1.050 OG) and fermented under appropriate temps for the chosen yeast strain, it's typically finished fermenting in 5 days.

After that, allow for a couple of days of settling, then it's ready to be cold conditioned and packaged. You can either clarify before bottling (typical), or let it clarify in the bottle - which takes a bit more skill to avoid decanting muck in the glass.

BUT...

The reason homebrewers are cautious is because unlike a pro brewery, which can deeply cold crash in a settling tank and filter out yeast before bottling, we usually cannot. All it takes is a couple of additional gravity points of residual fermentation to create enough extra pressure to risk bottle bombs... especially when sugar priming is also not done with precision.

This is why you'll get lots of different answers to your question. People have different degrees of process rigor, control, knowledge, and risk aversion. It's not that the actual fermentation time differs much between brewers. It's actually pretty quick in most cases.

 

[rburrelli]

I just finished brewing a Northern Brewer IPA kit. The instructions read that fermentation process can be two to three weeks. I see no reason another week will do any harm to your beer. I just bottled mine after two weeks. The bubbler stopped. Fermentation appears complete. I did not perform a gravity test.

My beer was fermented at a consistent 68 degrees. Find the coolest spot in your home for your fermenter. Gather your bottles.

You are gambling when you don’t verify that fermentation is actually complete. You risk bottle bombs. Just because the airlock is not bubbling does not mean fermentation is done.

 

[Buick Beer Gardens]

You are gambling when you don’t verify that fermentation is actually complete. You risk bottle bombs. Just because the airlock is not bubbling does not mean fermentation is done.

Northern Brewer must love to gamble!

 

[Willie66]

My standard practice is to ferment for a month. However, time constraints have forced me to leave as much as 2 months. Note that is in a glass carboy fermenter with a good airlock in place.