Should I bottle now my beer tastes good?

[eastoftherivernile]

Hi Guys,

I've been brewing a strong scotch ale (ABV 7.4%, OG 1.080) and I'm just wondering if I should bottle it now.

I used a good starter and the ferment appeared to happen pretty quickly, by 1 week I'd hit FG so I moved it to a secondary. Its now had 2 weeks in that and I sampled a little today and it tastes great. I know the advice is usually to leave stronger beers longer but if it tastes good and its cleared is it worth it? Will the flavours improve more in the bottle or the fermenter?

Thanks

 

[TyTanium]

Totally up to you. As long as the gravity is stable, no harm in bottling. But also no harm in bulk aging. If it tastes good and you want to drink it, bottle it up!

 

[Hopper5000]

+1 to Ty

 

[dawgmatic]

As long as the gravity is stable, no harm in bottling.

+1000
No one likes a bottle bomb, or an overcarbonated beer at the least

 

[unionrdr]

You could bottle it & let it age that way. I've done that with a couple of my beers for up to 10 weeks.

 

[eastoftherivernile]

Thanks guys, just bottled it all up now. After its carbonated I think I'm going to put this in the cellar and give it a few months just to see how it comes out. Is conditioning in the bottle any different to bulk conditioning?

 

[Yooper]

Thanks guys, just bottled it all up now. After its carbonated I think I'm going to put this in the cellar and give it a few months just to see how it comes out. Is conditioning in the bottle any different to bulk conditioning?

Bulk conditioning takes a bit longer than bottle conditioning, but not by much. The beer will age just fine in the bottle at cellar temps.

 

[feinbera]

Dawgmatic and Ty implied it, but somebody oughtta say it outright: take another gravity reading, just be sure your gravity isn't still (slowly) dropping.

If readings a couple of days apart come up the same, you know the yeast have fermented everything they're gonna ferment, so, you're safe to bottle.

If it's still moving, the yeast is still working, and your bottles will end up with the CO2 from both your priming sugar and whatever the yeast are still chewing on in the original beer, which will be too much, leading to overcarbonated beer and possibly bottle bombs...