BeerBorg

I am interested in getting some options on this. Seems their are some varying procedures......

So what is your schedule on how long you ferment, How many weeks do you leave the beer in there before you bottle?

How many weeks do you leave it the bottle before drinking?

that my friend depends on what you are brewing. Myself I use secondarys. The active phase of the fermentation only lasts a couple of days. The clean up phase longer. I keg my beer and prefer to let it fall clear before kegging. This thread is going to be interesting

The norm is 3 weeks in the LBK, 4 weeks in the bottle at room temp, 3 or more days in the frig.

With a hydrometer, some end up less than 3 weeks.

With some beers, like wheat beers, some drink before 4 weeks.

Some beers, like high ABV or beers with a lot of adjuncts, 4 weeks in the bottle is not enough.

I am now racking my beer to a secondary after two weeks. I began getting some off flavors and the only thing I can attribute it to is leaving it on the yeast too long. I leave it in the secondary for a week, most of the time with a dry hop, then bottle.
I have noticed an improvement in the flavor.
I am considering trying a week in primary and a week in secondary before bottling to see if it's any better or any worse!
Scared of bottle bombs though!

I usually start testing my bottles at 7 days. I find some that have slight carbing at that stage and others that are fully carbed, depending on the brew, and they are ready to drink at anywhere from 10 days on, again depending on the style!

For my older MB batches, the 3-2-2 method was good for some, and not for others. I found that most of my MB batches were best after 2-3 weeks in LBK, 10-12 weeks in the bottle at room temp, and a couple of weeks in the fridge.

For my AG batches, I check the gravity at 2 weeks. If it is done, I'll transfer to bottles (now kegs) and forget about it for 3-4 weeks. If not, I'll give it another week in the fermenter. The sweet spot for me seems to be about 8 weeks in the bottle. Of course there is some sampling along the way, quality control you know...

As always with this hobby, YMMV. Find a schedule that works best for your palate and go from there.

For me, most of the beers I brew (Ales) I don't need in the fermenter any longer than 2 weeks. The first several days fermentation is pretty much complete. I pitch at fermentation temp I have in mind and keep it therer during the first 4-5 days. Usually by that point, fermentation has slowed down and I start bumping up the temps a couple degrees. Say I fermented at 66-67 for Ales, I might let it warm up to 70 until I bottle or keg it up. By that time, usually the beer has cleared, it's reached FG and it's tasting like good flat beer. But again it all depends on the beer style, recipe, the yeast choice...fermentation temps. I've made English sytles with S-04 that finish and clear so fast that I could have it kegged and pouring to a glass in 2 weeks. If I dry hop I do that after the first week of fermentation and usually only dry hop 5 days once the beer has cleared up for the most part.

I don't secondary at all and after 2 weeks the beer is racked to a keg and I hook it to gas. Set it and forget it at 12-14 psi and I start drinking on it after a week or so. I rather have my beer get in the fridge to cold condition asap. Usually within 2 weeks of the beer kegged and in the fridge it's good to go. I'm going to try priming my kegs for the next couple Ales I brew and that will change up my method or schedule. To me, there's just something different with a bottle conditioned beer that is better than on tap. So I want to duplicate that out of the keg. It sounds crazy and I know there's separate talk on the forum about there being no difference but to me, therer's a difference for my Ales. Now Lagers I will never naturally prime, to me it leaves that character I don't want in a crisp, clean lager...they taste best on tap force carbonated.

My routine is generally:

Primary for 1 week
Rack to secondary for 2 weeks
Bottle
Carb for 2 weeks at room temp
Try tester
Condition 2-4 more weeks at room temp
Into the pipeline.

This is varied as needed/desrired. Sometimes I don't rack. Sometimes I drink sooner, or later (depending on style, ABV, and how the test bottle tastes). Lagers follow a very different schedule, due to their nature.

I'm sure I could bottle sooner by checking hydrometer readings before the 3-week mark, but in the spirit of K.I.S.S. I just plan on 3 weeks of fermentation. Works well for me.

I go 20-24 days in a primary except when I have tons of dry hopping. Then I use a secondary. Thru the years, I have found no reason to secondary most of my beers. Other than to be a bit clearer, they don't taste any different and I have a few buckets so I don't need to use a secondary.

Unless I am doing a really high gravity beer I never leave in the fermenter longer than 2 weeks. Primary fermentation is done in 3 to 4 days so that leaves around 10 days to clean up. I always drink at least one of my beers 1 week after bottling. They are often just fine at that point and I end up having a couple more.

As to MadBrewer's comments about naturally carbing in the keg. I have noticed a distinct difference between naturally carbing and forced carbing. Not in the taste but in the effervescence, or mouthfeel. It's like force carbing gives me the head, retention, and lacing, but the beer underneath it doesn't have the bubbles. That is pretty much the only way I can describe it. It only takes 2 oz of sugar to prime a 5 gallon keg. Then before tapping it I purge it and I get my carbonation exactly where I want it. As an added benefit, when one keg goes dry, my next one is ready to tap right into with no waiting for carbonation.

Like Bob said, that depends. But I would add that it will depend mostly on your own opinion as you taste them how long to condition your beers.

I would advise you to take extensive notes on all the beers you brew and refer to them often.

As you start using different grains, hops and adjuncts over time your taste buds will tell you how long it takes for you to declare a beer ready.

Most of my beers go 3 weeks in the primary, bottle then 3-4 weeks at room temp to carb/condition then 3 days in the fridge. If I'm dry hopping with alot of hops I will use a secondary but still stick with 3 weeks fermentation. I don't really test the gravity anymore during fermentation, just once before bottling or kegging . I recently started kegging and I did 1 week at room temp after kegging and then into the fridge and on the gas for another week, and the beer was perfect and that was 5 weeks from start to finnish, it usually takes another extra week or two when I bottle to get to that point.

there's no one answer. my wheats and my common are done on a 2wk-2wk. my apa usually takes 3-4. hope to be bottling a strong scotch ale tonight(2 wks and 5 days in the lbk hit my expected fg tuesday am gonna check again tonight to be sure it's done) and got no idea how long it'll take to condition i'm guessin' at least 8 weeks.

jimjohson wrote:there's no one answer. my wheats and my common are done on a 2wk-2wk. my apa usually takes 3-4. hope to be bottling a strong scotch ale tonight(2 wks and 5 days in the lbk hit my expected fg tuesday am gonna check again tonight to be sure it's done) and got no idea how long it'll take to condition i'm guessin' at least 8 weeks.

The Wee Heavy I made tasted good a couple weeks in the bottle but tasted SPECTACULAR after about 6 months. It was the extract kit from Northern Brewer.

Gymrat wrote:As to MadBrewer's comments about naturally carbing in the keg. I have noticed a distinct difference between naturally carbing and forced carbing. Not in the taste but in the effervescence, or mouthfeel. It's like force carbing gives me the head, retention, and lacing, but the beer underneath it doesn't have the bubbles. That is pretty much the only way I can describe it. It only takes 2 oz of sugar to prime a 5 gallon keg. Then before tapping it I purge it and I get my carbonation exactly where I want it. As an added benefit, when one keg goes dry, my next one is ready to tap right into with no waiting for carbonation.

Glad to see others feeling the same way. That's a great way of putting it Gymrat and how I could never describe it to others. I know it might be the same carbonation either way, but it it's defenately different to me. I think I will try what you described above with my next couple kegs of Ales. I like pouring from the kegs and it's obviously easier that bottling so this may be a way to get the best of both worlds.

thanks Gymrat. i tried one at the local brew pub and decided i got to make me one of these.