Time to bottle?

[MXDXD]

I'll try to keep it simple.

I brewed a Saison, exactly 10 days ago. There is still a very small Krausen at the top (by that, I mean on the beer itself, not on the sides of the carboy), but no apparent airlock activity. OG was 1.053, and I worked by Belle Saison.

So, I'm at the stage where I can possibly bottle it, in order to drink it two weeks later.

I have two choices :

- A : Either I bottle tomorrow. That would mean the beer could be ready to drink roughly in two weeks (September 1st).

- B : Either I wait... another two weeks before bottling, because I'm going on vacation. Coincidentially, that means... bottling around September 1st.

No hydrometer sampling (I thought my Thief would work well in my carboy, and that was a noob mistake).

I gather that, ideally, choice B would be better -- that couldn't possibly be TOO early. I wonder if Choice A would be... well, too early considering SG? I'd probably bottle a 1.043 OG beer, but 1.053 seems a bit risky (to me, anyways). My beer isn't that clear at the moment, but that's a Saison and it's not supposed to be really clear anyways. Let's just say it's not murky at all.


I tried to read an old thread about fermentation times and it was mostly insults, rhetorics, and preaching, thus not very helpful.

 

[NTXBrauer]

I would go with choice B above. Without knowing the specific gravity at this point in time, bottle bombs could be the unfortunate outcome. The additional 2 weeks in the carboy will not hurt you beer at all, but only allow for it to clear a bit more and the yeast can clean up a bit after themselves. Good Luck!

 

[brewbama]

My .02: I would take a cpl hydro readings a few days apart. If stable you can package. If timing is wrong I would wait until I get back and can take the readings.


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[jrgtr42]

without knowing any other details, after 10 days in the fermenter and more importantly, with some probably activity still going on, I would NOT bottle under any circumstances at this point. Leaving for a couple more weeks would not hurt the beer in any way.

 

[MXDXD]

My .02: I would take a cpl hydro readings a few days apart. If stable you can package. If timing is wrong I would wait until I get back and can take the readings.


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That's the thing... Is it something that can safely be done without Thief? I mean I guess I could fill the Thief as much as I can, put it in my test tube, then fill the Thief again if there's a need (and transfer to test tube).

In that case, is it "safe" to put back the sample in the beer (whether with the thief or with the test tube?)

 

[icebob]

drink the sample, don't put it back in the fermenter, this is lokking for trouble...

 

[unionrdr]

Go ahead & test it. Since it's been fermenting quite a bit, you'll want to taste it to see how it's coming along anyway. If it's stable two or three days apart, you can bottle it. But it might not be with a 1.053 OG.

 

[Trox]

If your thief is too short just use your racking cane to draw the sample; otherwise I would wait until you are back and have bought a longer thief in which to draw a sample with prior to bottling. You might think waiting that long will be safe enough, but if you don't bother checking your FG and fermentation stalled out you could end up with bottle bombs.

 

[MXDXD]

Tks Trox for the suggestion. Actually, my carboy is too short for the thief. I always check out FG prior to bottling and probably wouldn't bottle my saison if its above 1.020.