For those who brew all-grain, and bottle their beer.
How long do you keep your beer in fermenter before bottling ?
Thanks
Generally until it is clear to my specs (usually w/fining, not always). Depending on the beer I may add a little rehydrated dry yeast back in before packaging
At minimum until fermentation is complete, help avoid bottle bombs. Then 2-7 days for clarification
On average, please state the number of days from pitching yeast to bottling.
For sours, it can be up to 18 months. When using Kveik, it can be as little as 7 days.
It depends on what you are brewing, how you are brewing it, and what yeast you are using, among other variables.
You’d need to ask the yeasts that question. They work on their own schedule. Fermentation time depends on several factors including yeast strain, overall health, pitching rate, available oxygen and nutrients, fermentation temperature as well as wort composition and fermentability. Fermenter geometry and pressure can also influence fermentation times.
Some beers benefit from bulk aging prior to bottling and some are best when drunk young, so need to be bottles as soon as you verify that fermentation is complete. Any numbers you get will be subject to some, or all, of the above factors as well as the brewer’s process and preferences.
^^^^this^^^^
Conditions
- 4.5g in Speidel 5.3g fermenter
- Nottingham yeast
- Fermented @ 55 degrees
- ABV 5%
- Amber Ale
- No hydrometer used
Q = How many days after pitching yeast would you bottle ?
I’d wait until it dropped clear.
This is kinda a “how long is a piece of string” type question. It just depends! You could have a hefeweizen in the bottle in as little as 7-10 days, a barley wine maybe 6 weeks. There is no definitive answer.
Measure your gravity, then wait a few days after fermentation is complete. You will know when fermentation is complete when your gravity reading remains unchanged for 3-4 days. Then, I like to wait a few days for the beer to clear. Then, I rack to my bottling bucket and add dry hops if I choose, or simply bottle.
The time from pitching yeast to bottle can very dramatically depending on a multitude of conditions. So, to answer your question specifically, I will say: 10 days to…
I know you want a number but it really doesn’t work that way. 10 days may work for me while someone else find that 14 - 21 days is their magic number. There are so many variables there is no single number or right answer. You have to take gravity readings to know for sure when fermentation is complete.
I hate to keep saying this, but it’s like asking “how long is a piece of string?”. It really depends on so many things it’s hard to generalize.
You beat me!
“A piece of string is twice as long as half its length”
As others have said, after it has really hit it’s F.G. Once I’m at FG I dose with gelatin and cold crash in a 28-30* fridge for 3 or more days, then bottle. I’ve had enough batches that either completely failed to carb up or just barely carbed - say less the one volume of CO2, that always add some yeast to my prime, whether it’s spiese or corn sugar water, and then wait until I know for certain that it’s fermenting before pitching it to the green beer.
Knowing that yeast, and if you don’t have a hydrometer, 3 weeks is plenty. It should have dropped clear by then. I have a Triple that is 16 days in and still has 6-8pts to go. The beer and yeast make a difference. Does the type of string matter?
Agree. I recently made a Tripel that took about 2.5 weeks to reach terminal gravity. Other beers can bee done in about 4-5 days. Measure, measure, measure and the beer will tell you when it is done.
The best answer is that you need to wait several days after fermentation ends to let the yeast wrap up their work and start to drop bright. Obviously you may need additional time if you intend to lager/age/add adjuncts/etc.
Practically I only have time to deal with brewing tasks on the weekends and for clean beers in the 4-6% ABV range when I used to bottle I would plan on checking on the beer after two weeks and if it wasn’t ready test again in three weeks. Sometimes I plan to test after seven days. There’s a lot of “it depends” to when the right time is to bottle.
If you are a new-ish brewer you should absolutely confirm stable final gravity before bottling. It is really easy to bottle too soon and create bombs (or just over carbonated beer) or let it go longer than necessary and spend days looking longingly at your fermentation vessel. Once you confirm a stable final gravity a few days apart give your beer a few more days and then bottle.
All good points - unless you have a stalled fermentation. Having an accurate hydrometer is not only necessary, it’s an inexpensive tool that allows us to look at the progress so we can make educated decisions. I would never consider brewing without one.