How long does it Really take?

[BeerRust]

In the LBK?

It becomes a little confusing .......I have done, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and 4 weeks all with success.

I have read some of the more experienced brewers say that there are done in 2 weeks and ready to bottle.

[John Sand]

I am not an experienced brewer. But I just waited for it to clear. I'm doing the same with my BrewDemon conical.

[RickBeer]

It takes as long as it takes. It depends on the fermentables, it depends on the yeast, it depends on the temperature. The right way to know if it's done is to take two hydrometer readings, 2 days apart, and have them match. Then, you CAN bottle. Some wait until the yeast is done cleaning up, so they just wait 3 weeks.

Going from 3 to 4 weeks is unlikely to yield any difference.

To not be confusing, wait 21 days every time. Makes it easy, mindless, and on a schedule.

[Brewbirds]

I am not an experienced brewer. But I just waited for it to clear. I'm doing the same with my BrewDemon conical.

I've taken to waiting until the activity has stopped before testing. We use a refractometer instead of a hydrometer so we only need a couple of drops of wort but if you wait until the surface activity clears it will save you taking to many hydro samples.

Three weeks is mentioned often because it is a safe bet for new brewers who don't have a hydrometer.

RickBeer is right about it being done when it is done and some yeast may go through one wort in a few days and another wort might take weeks, no two beers are alike and that is why testing is the best way to know.

We once had three batches in a row stick with three different yeast strains, your hydrometer is your friend.

[jhough]

Both are right. I go three weeks but take hydro reading first to make sure it is very close to FG. That way I'm sure it is done . But I also rack to secondary to get primary fermenter back in action !

[Foothiller]

The advice about checking hydrometer readings is good, but not the whole story. As noted by others, a refractometer needs only a small sample, so you can take multiple readings without using up your beer. Using my refractometer, I have watched brews reach their target FG in 2-3 days, but tasting the sample showed off-flavors that needed to condition during the rest of the 3 week fermentation. Without continued contact with the yeast cake, that wouldn't happen. With some strong beers, I have still tasted diacetyl (buttery) after 3 weeks, which conditioned out with a 4th week in the fermenter. The same thing can happen with acetaldehyde (cidery).

[BeerRust]

It's just a guessing game witthout taking measurements.

[DirtRacer]

From my little experience, the standard refills usually only take 2-3 weeks but the more you have in it, the more it can vary. I've done a couple basic ones that were fine after 2 weeks but I did a recipe once that I think had additions of 1 cup honey, 1 can cherries and some cinnamon. I let it go for 3 weeks then bottled but it really seemed like it may have needed another week. Best bet is to have a hydrometer or refractometer so you can know for sure when it has finished.

[Brewbirds]

It's just a guessing game witthout taking measurements.

Wings should be on this thread with his patience grasshopper wisdom, he does it quite well.

As a new brewer you may consider/call it a guessing game but remember that beer has been brewed long before there were hydrometers and refractometers.

One thing you might like to do as an experiment with a few batches, to add to your notes, is try taking a small tasting sample, I'm talking like when tasting a dish while it cooks to see if you need to add more spices sized sample, and examine color, clarity, aroma and flavor. This would take the hydrometer size sample out of the picture for a moment and let your sensory mode tell you how each batch progresses through the fermentation. When it tastes like flat beer, not cidery or other odd flavors, take your hydro reading and see if it concurs.

A note on the cleaning up part, since Screwy isn't here, is that he says towards the end of fermentation he lets the fermenter warm up a few degrees because the yeast need to be at the same temp that they created a by product in order to clean it up. (If you haven't been to Screwy Brewers website try to get there it is awesome)

[BeerRust]

It's not so much the patients that is a problem as much as trying to get the process down and more effiecent. I like to build up the pipeline and also try some different recipes too. But I don't rush the process either.

I am not a big IPA guy, but like occasionly and would like have some in the pipeline too. I read that these tend to be ready quickly and taste better "young". So it got me wondering about the timing for different styles/recipes.

[Brewbirds]

Okay well that is a different topic from how long in the fermenter. Now you are talking about how long to condition.

My understanding is that as a rule of thumb the higher the gravity the longer you condition, if it has more extract a/o adjunct the longer it conditions, the more complex the grain bill the longer it conditions, and then there are Barleywines and Sours etc. but that is a topic for the pros.

This is why you see the Borg say to put one in the fridge for a few days and see if you like it then wait a week or so and put another in the fridge for a few days... at that point it isn't about being a guessing game it is about your own taste buds telling you something.

This still has to do with learning patience because you may decide that a batch is drinkable but if you hold out a while longer it could go from okay to great/awesome/totally cool this is the best beer I've ever had.

Bottom line is that we all go through this part of brewing and waiting and eventually recognize,after brewing several batches, that some beers are better if left on the shelf a while longer and that is why we pursue a big pipeline.

[BeerRust]

True on the conditioning. I have saved at least one bottle from each batch that I have brewed. One the pipeline is built up I plan on have some of those, to see which I would like to repeat.

[FedoraDave]

There are no hard and fast rules, because, as already noted, each batch is different, even when you make the same recipe.

Some if it depends on the brewer, as well. I've got 3 batches fermenting, so I let them go 3 weeks, because then I'm bottling a batch every weekend, then turning around and brewing a new batch that same weekend, so the rotation keeps ticking along. Even if the primary fermentation is done in 9 days, the extra time isn't going to hurt anything, and the yeast does do more work cleaning things up during that time, even if they're not making more alcohol.

So, for me, 3 weeks is for convenience, as well as because it's pretty much a lock that it's going to be done by then.

As for conditioning, that's going to vary, as well. But once the pipeline is healthy, the four weeks in the bottle is easy, and I've even gone months before drinking the last of a batch.

[radonc73]

I go 3 weeks and have a healthy enough pipeline where I rarely need to worry about a short conditioning. I have some beers over 6 months in the bottle and they taste great, some adjuncts took longer to take the cidery taste out.

[Gymrat]

I do 2 weeks on pretty much every batch I brew. Just after I started brewing 4 years ago there was an article in BYO where they did a reader participation experiment. They split a batch of beer between two fermenters. One fermenter they bottled after 2 weeks, the other went 3 weeks. The majority of participants said they could detect a slight off flavor from the beers that sat on the trub for 3 weeks when tasted side by side. Whether that was real or imagined on their part I don't know. But for me it is a stigma that has stuck in my head ever since.