Wait Time During Fermentation

[ScrandyAndy]

Okay, so on a lot of the kits I brew they have specific general time frames for brewing...1 week primary, 1 week secondary, 2 weeks bottled...or 2 weeks primary, 2 weeks secondary, and 2 weeks bottled, going up from there for bigger beers.

My question is this. Say I rush it on long stuff, and do 1 week primary, 1 week secondary, and bottle...can I leave it in bottles for say 4 weeks before drinking and achieve the same results? Or is it best to really wait until you're "happy" with it before you bottle it?

And if so, how do I know that I am "Happy" with it to bottle it?!


Let me hear you ideas folks!

[siwelwerd]

You are better off leaving it in primary instead of rushing to bottle. Premature racking can leave you with undesirables such as acetaldehyde (green apple) and diacetyl (buttery) that would be cleaned up by the yeast naturally if you just let it be.

If so, how do I know that I am "Happy" with it to bottle it?!

Taste it.

[ScrandyAndy]

Primary only? Or just primary or secondary?

[Bugeater]

Most of the beers I have brewed over the past 7-8 years have been primary only. I leave them in primary for a minimum of two weeks, but usually for 3 weeks. Longer for my big beers (O.G. 1.070+) Fermentation may appear to be done after 5-6 days, but the yeast is still working to clean up unwanted esters. The extra time will only help improve the flavor of your beer. Yeast works on it's schedule, not yours so just be patient. Use this time to get the next batch going so you won't run out of beer before the next one is done.

Wayne

[siwelwerd]

One should not secondary unless one has a good reason. A lot of dated literature (from when available yeast was of much poorer quality) touts the "one week in primary, then rack to secondary" method. Using fresh yeast (i.e. White Labs or Wyeast or quality dry yeast before it's best by date), this is unnecessary and potentially detrimental. I have tasted a number of beers where the only thing wrong with them was the brewer followed this "one week in primary, then rack" nonsense, and ended up with an otherwise good beer riddled with diacetyl.

Like Wayne, 2-4 weeks in primary, then package from there is standard for me.

[spiderwrangler]

Temperature, yeast health, gravity, etc all play a role in how long it will take your yeast to finish fermentation. In addition to the off flavor issues that were mentioned that may be cleaned up by the yeast with longer time, bottling too soon (while there is still fermentables) can result in gushers if they over carb.