I have a brew fermenting and the air lock stopped bubbling 2 days after it started. I have left it alone for 3 more days for a totol of about 5 days. I took a reading with my hydrometer and it read right were it should 1.010. I was going to leave it in the fermenting bucket for 3 more days to make it just about a week then bottle it. it this the right thing to do? It is an Ale and I am keeping it at 67 degrees all the time.
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- Thread starter Jbird
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everything sounds good. fermentation can be fast if conditions let it. read up on leaving your beer in primary for a bit after FG is reached, lots of useful info. i personally primary most of my beers for three weeks or more, even if FG is reached in three days. just a matter of personal preference, but it does produce a cleaner, clearer, more developed brew, in my experience.
BYW, welcome to the forum. whatcha brewing?
BYW, welcome to the forum. whatcha brewing?
People here will say to wait to 2 weeks. It should clear more if you do. I don't know what I'd do, but it sounds like it may be o.k. to bottle if you really must. Best to wait a day or two and recheck SG to be sure.
the reason they say that is that experience has shown them and others that just because fermentation is finished and FG is stable, the beer benefits from some time on the yeast to clean up and condition a little.
i know how it is to be thrilled that you can make beer, and being exited to get it into drinking form, but good beer takes good time. i still get impatient, and i have tons of beer in the pipeline ready to drink, but i resist the temptation to rush my latest creation.
What I have learned from being on here for almost a year is you want to pitch the right amount of yeast and you want to keep the beer at the right temp. Those are two very important things. I just started making starters so I have the pitch count down. Now I am trying to work on temp control because right now I don't have any control at all lol
67 air temp is too high and you might get some off-flavors. 67 beer temp is still a little too high but not bad. A lot of people like to keep their beer on the lower end of the temp range for the yeast, so 65 would be on the high side for them. This is what I want but I just haven't bought the equipment or found the right spot in my house to do that.
To answer your question, as long as the gravity reading is the same for 3 days straight your beer will be done fermenting. So you can bottle it. However, you will find people like to leave their beer in for 10 to 14 days to let it clear and clean up after the party they just had. If you NEED to bottle in, then I would say you can. If you don't need to bottle then leave it alone for another 5 days.
67 air temp is too high and you might get some off-flavors. 67 beer temp is still a little too high but not bad. A lot of people like to keep their beer on the lower end of the temp range for the yeast, so 65 would be on the high side for them. This is what I want but I just haven't bought the equipment or found the right spot in my house to do that.
To answer your question, as long as the gravity reading is the same for 3 days straight your beer will be done fermenting. So you can bottle it. However, you will find people like to leave their beer in for 10 to 14 days to let it clear and clean up after the party they just had. If you NEED to bottle in, then I would say you can. If you don't need to bottle then leave it alone for another 5 days.
When I started home brewing several years ago I wanted to rush to bottle my beer after the fermentation seemed done. I learned that having an extra 10-14 days of patience allowing for beer to stay in the fermentor really imporved the taste of my beer. This is a very big debate amoung some members here about how long to let the beer stay in the primary for best results and it is something many brewers figures out on their own depending on the complexity of their recipes and brewing sessions. I just don't see that you have anything to lose in letting the beer stay in the primary for 3-4 weeks provided it is in a climate control area and good sanitization practices are used. If yoy end up doing this you can then just get a small pipeline going so the extra 1-2 weeks does not affect your supply.
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Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
Ambient temperature isn't nearly as important as the wort temperature during fermentation. This is why you should [at the very least] have a fermometer on the side of the vessel you're fermenting in. Yeast strain will determine what the ideal temperature range is.
Personally, I would taste it after a week, or three, and see IF it's ready for bottles/drinking. IMO, if you detect no off flavors while in primary, then you can bottle at any time. There's absolutely ZERO harm from letting an ale go two weeks, or longer (I've gone almost 8 weeks so far) in primary before you either keg, bottle, or rack it to a flavor element.
Most of my ales (which is pretty much all the beer I make uses ale yeast) go 4 weeks in primary then to keg. They then rest in the brew fridge for 2+ weeks on gas to carbonate (actually, half the batch does since I use 2.5 and 3 gallon kegs, and get about 6 gallons from each batch). So, I typically go 6 weeks grain to glass. Could I go less time? Probably, but where I have to brew at a buddy's place (due to an AA landlord) I just brew/keg once a month (unless we get the chance to do it in between those times). It's far easier to both brew, and transfer to keg, on the same night than to try and get there to keg during the week.
I also use starters (have since about batch #3) and have been oxygenating with pure O2. Both help to get better beer out of fermenter. Temperature control will come once I have moved to a better/bigger place.
BTW, some will argue that racking to secondary gets them clearer brews than leaving it in primary. Others will advocate using finings (gelatin, etc.) post fermentation in order to get clear brews. I've done none of those and I still get very clear brews. I think it has more to due with the yeast selection than other things. Sure, adding some elements WILL make for a cloudy brew, no matter what you do (unless you actively remove them). But, if you select a highly flocculating yeast, and give it enough time, you won't need to worry about yeast being the haze in your brew.
Personally, I would taste it after a week, or three, and see IF it's ready for bottles/drinking. IMO, if you detect no off flavors while in primary, then you can bottle at any time. There's absolutely ZERO harm from letting an ale go two weeks, or longer (I've gone almost 8 weeks so far) in primary before you either keg, bottle, or rack it to a flavor element.
Most of my ales (which is pretty much all the beer I make uses ale yeast) go 4 weeks in primary then to keg. They then rest in the brew fridge for 2+ weeks on gas to carbonate (actually, half the batch does since I use 2.5 and 3 gallon kegs, and get about 6 gallons from each batch). So, I typically go 6 weeks grain to glass. Could I go less time? Probably, but where I have to brew at a buddy's place (due to an AA landlord) I just brew/keg once a month (unless we get the chance to do it in between those times). It's far easier to both brew, and transfer to keg, on the same night than to try and get there to keg during the week.
I also use starters (have since about batch #3) and have been oxygenating with pure O2. Both help to get better beer out of fermenter. Temperature control will come once I have moved to a better/bigger place.
BTW, some will argue that racking to secondary gets them clearer brews than leaving it in primary. Others will advocate using finings (gelatin, etc.) post fermentation in order to get clear brews. I've done none of those and I still get very clear brews. I think it has more to due with the yeast selection than other things. Sure, adding some elements WILL make for a cloudy brew, no matter what you do (unless you actively remove them). But, if you select a highly flocculating yeast, and give it enough time, you won't need to worry about yeast being the haze in your brew.
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
IME, 10 days is a short fermentation time. In order to ensure that at least the beer is DONE fermenting, take two SG readings, spaced 2-3 days apart BEFORE you go to bottle it up. You space them 2-3 days apart to ensure that if the brew is still slowly fermenting, you pick up on the SG change. Also, taste the hydrometer sample. If you detect ANY 'off' flavors, either read the threads about them, or give it more time. All but a few off flavors can be fixed with time.
borden
Well-Known Member
This isn't very good information. Every yeast and style will dictate different temperatures, as will personal preference. 67 ambient might mean a fermentation temperature in the low to mid 70s, but that's still in the acceptable range for many ale yeasts, and for styles where the esters contribute a lot to the finished product.
Regarding the OP's question: don't rush to bottle it. Better to give it 2 or 3 weeks to let the yeast clean up and drop out. Bottling earlier can be just fine, but often will result in a beer that's not as clean or as clear as it could've been with more time in the fermenter.
lowtones84
Well-Known Member
That week long trip sounds like the perfect amount of time to leave it in the primary for a little longer! Bottle it when you get back (or hey, another week won't hurt either) and I bet the beer will be much better in the end. But if you feel like you really have to bottle before your trip just make sure your gravity readings are stable.
Just saw that you said Jan. 11th. That's absolutely fine in my experience and I'm sure others will agree.
Have a nice trip and let the yeast do its thing!
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
I typically go 4 weeks for batches with an OG of under 1.070. I get great results this way. The brews are in a basement that's typically about 65F (ambient) for most of the year. I wouldn't worry about it going 4-6 weeks on the yeast. Hell, I wouldn't worry about it going up to 4-6 months on the yeast, depending on conditions.
If it's been in the fermenter for 5 days already, and you'll be back on the 11th, that should put it at about 3 weeks in primary. You should be able to safely bottle any time after that. I would still confirm a FG reading first, as well as taste the sample (both of them) before going to bottles. Also figure out where you want the carbonation and use one of the calculation tools to figure out how much priming sugar to use. Would really suck to go through all this only to get bottle bombs in 3-4 weeks (hence you need to confirm it's finished fermenting, and then use the correct amount of priming sugar).
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
Don't test it that much... Every time you open the fermenter, you risk contamination. Not saying it will happen, but it's extra risk you don't need to take. I would get into a mode of leaving a brew alone until it's been in primary for at least 2-4 weeks (for modest OG batches).
I have a big brew in primary now. I'm not going to touch it until it's been in primary for at least 6-8 weeks. Even then, I might go another 2-4 weeks before checking on it.
borden
Well-Known Member
Just so you have a feel for what others do, my routine is to ferment in primary for 3 weeks, then check SG to see if it's near the target (typically 1.010-1.014 depending on recipe/yeast), and if it is, I bottle. I've gone as long as 5 weeks in primary, as short as 2, but 3 seems to be the reliable sweet spot for most of my beers, which usually start around 1.040-1.055. (I don't do a lot of big beers.)
The main things are to a) make sure you've given enough time to ferment, but equally, b) make sure you've given enough time for things to get cleaned up and the yeast to drop out a bit.
Researching the yeasts (e.g. by searching these forums) will help you figure out what you can reasonably expect from them and how you should treat them in terms of temperature, time, and so on. What I wish I'd done early on is learn a few strains in and out and just use those. I was in such a hurry to use every Wyeast variety under the moon that I didn't start to really "know" strains very well until about a year in to brewing. Now I rarely venture from S-04/05, Nottingham, and the Wyeast Scottish strain, except when doing something that really needs a specific yeast (like a wheat, for instance). I feel a lot more comfortable knowing when my beer is done fermenting, when it's done cleaning up, and when it's really ready to drink. Familiarity is a good thing.
