When to bottle?

[Groundhog]

Howdy folks-

I brewed 3 gallons of a Chinook/ Cascade Pale Ale on 1/31. I cooled the wort too quickly/ much- pitched the yeast ( White Labs: California American Ale ) around 60- 62 degrees F. Checked the brew on the evening of 2/1 and the temp was in the low 50's F- no visible fermentation. I moved the carboy upstairs, waited a day and temp got up to 68 F- still no visible fermentation. Pitched dry packet of Muntons yeast on evening of 2/2. By 2/4, there was visible fermentation @ 66- 67 F.

On 2/7, the airlock was bubbling once every 2 minutes- visible fermentation dying down. I dry hopped the brew- using carboy as a single stage fermenter.

It is now 2/15 - I'm tryin' to figure out when to bottle.

Any thoughts or ideas are much appreciated!

Cheers ~
Groundhog

 

[amh0001]

give it 3-4 weeks since the beginning of fermentation to let it condition. Even once the yeast is done fermenting, they are still hard at work cleaning up any off flavors they might have produced.

 

[mojotele]

Check the gravity with your hydrometer. Wait 24 hours, check it again. Wait another 24 hours, check it again. If all three are equal then it is safe to bottle.

But, that doesn't really answer your question. When you want to bottle is a different story. In your case, I would bottle no sooner than 2/25, preferably 3/4. As stated by amh0001, it will give the yeast time to clean up all the by products they've created that would otherwise create strange flavors. If you bottled sooner, they'd probably still go away in time. However, it would take a lot longer.