When to bottle 1 gallon batch?

[shauni_g]

Hi all,

Got my first batch of home brew in my 1 gallon jug currently fermenting. Initially I was going to take a hydrometer reading at 3 weeks and then, as long as the FG was close to the expected FG, I was going to bottle. Having read a bit more on the forum this week however it seems that in checking whether a brew is ready for bottling more important than having the gravity reach a specific number is to get two (or more?) hydrometer readings at the same gravity.

This leaves me in something of a quandary as I had no problems losing one tube of brew to a FG reading but doing more than one is really going to start eating into my final amount of beer. Can anyone tell me, if I just leave the brew in primary for 3 weeks and then bottle, without taking a hydrometer reading, apart from missing out on finding the FG of my beer, are there any downsides/dangers to doing this? I guess I'm thinking mainly of exploding bottles here but would love to here any other draw backs more experienced folks can see, if any, with this plan?

Thanks,
Shaun

 

[MXDXD]

Simple answer : what was your OG ?
Your FG might never get to your target. If you're expecting, say, 1.009 and your at 1.012, fermentation might be completely over. Since 2 weeks, I might add.

By my personal experience... 3 weeks later, 1.050 is usually done and cleaned up, ready for bottling. I never really bothered to check gravity before setting up for bottling, mainly because I'm ... Patient ?

Either case, take a reading before bottling, if only to taste your beer. Problems can occur at many stages, and, well, if you can "isolate" a bottling problem by confirming that your pre-bottling beer was great, by all means, do so. Plus, beer straight out of carboy is usually pretty good.

 

[flars]

Exploding bottles is the only serious draw back to one SG reading. One SG reading may give you an indication if the fermentation completed by using the attenuation range for the yeast. Waiting four weeks to bottle may give you an added edge.

 

[C-Rider]

I like MXDXD's answer. I leave my ferments going for 3-4 weeks, never check FG until bottling day. Then just to figure out ABV. No rush the yeast, let them do their job of making alcohol and cleaning up the mess they make. LOL

 

[sumbrewindude]

All my beers sit 21 days minimum - sometimes a little longer if life gets in the way. I check final gravity at time of bottling. The beer will finish when it finishes, I don't believe in "rushing" the process for the sake of getting it into bottles quicker, and taking all those samples just invites disaster with contamination.

It's not hard at all to wait a few weeks, especially if you're brewing small batches often - bottling day sneaks right up on you before you know it!

 

[MindenMan]

I never get in a hurry to bottle, I have left beer in the fermenter for 6 weeks without trouble. I get it though, 5 oz to hydro test a beer that won't make it into the bottles, kinda blows when you get less than 10 bottles when you are done. It might help if you put your beer in the fridge for a few days before you get ready to bottle, hopefully the trub will compact and allow more beer to get into the bottles.