Fermentation

okoncentrerad

okoncentrerad

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This is a question that has been asked over and over, I'm aware of that...fermentation time. I have this brown ale in my fermenting bucket and it's been there for 9 days now. I took a gravity reading on saturday and it showed 1.009, and the reading today (monday) still shows 1.009. So, I guess it says fermentation is completed since a couple of days. The three brews I have done before this I have had 17-21 days in fermentor, mainly because I wanted to dry hop them, and wanted to be on the safe side.

But, how long do I have to let this one stay in the fermentor before I can prime and bottle it? (I'm not going to dry hop this one...) I read about "cleaning up phase" of the yeast, some say it's important and some even say it's a "myth". Sure, I can wait 3 weeks for this one too, but if 2 weeks is enough...then 2 weeks it will be.
 
Honestly, I have kegged in under a week. If it's done fermenting and you're not doing anything else with it I'm not sure what the benefit of letting it sit that long is. I just put it in the fridge after a week to cold crash, then gelatin it and keg it a day or two later. I'm usually 10-12 days from brewing to kegging. Or I forget one is in the fridge and it cold crashes for 10 days, which did actually bring the FG down a bit.
 
the cleaning up phase is really dependent on the yeast type, a medium to low flocculation needs to clean up but a high flocculation does not so example US05 is medium and BR-97 is high so the high can be bottled or kegged sooner like 7 to 12 days depending on when it stops, I generally keg at 10 days with a high flocculating yeast
 
That's good to know. I use BRY-97 a lot.
 
I used Danstar/Nottingham for this one and if i understand correctly it's of a high flocculation type?

And btw...the "average attenuation" given for a specific yeast, what's a resonable min/max attenuation for it, is there such a number? Is it in the area +- 2 or 3 percent, or higher/lower? On this brew I suddenly had a significantly better mash effeciency, so my O.G. was much higher than expected, but the F.G. was also a bit lower than expected (than the F.G. calculated with the improved O.G.).

And btw #2...is the better mash effiency due to darker beer? I think I recall reading something at some time that darker grain gives better effiency??
 
To #2 I am not sure if that's a thing. I end up getting weirdly high efficiencies because I use a brew bag instead of a bazooka tube and it basically puts me almost into BIAB efficiencies.
 
Nottingham can be packaged early too and it can ferment more rapidly and finish at a lower fg although i have had odd flavors from it especially if its fermented above 65F, Ive seen it ferment in 3 days complete but thats bad you need to keep it cool and ferment slower and no less than 7 if possible to prevent off flavors
 
okoncentrerad said:
This is a question that has been asked over and over, I'm aware of that...fermentation time. I have this brown ale in my fermenting bucket and it's been there for 9 days now. I took a gravity reading on saturday and it showed 1.009, and the reading today (monday) still shows 1.009. So, I guess it says fermentation is completed since a couple of days. The three brews I have done before this I have had 17-21 days in fermentor, mainly because I wanted to dry hop them, and wanted to be on the safe side.

But, how long do I have to let this one stay in the fermentor before I can prime and bottle it? (I'm not going to dry hop this one...) I read about "cleaning up phase" of the yeast, some say it's important and some even say it's a "myth". Sure, I can wait 3 weeks for this one too, but if 2 weeks is enough...then 2 weeks it will be.
Click to expand...
General comment: Hurrying generally does not improve your beer! The "how long" question is one with no simple answer so I'll go from my experience. The first thing you want, you have covered. You want the beer to be completely fermented. The second thing you want is for all the yeast to have dropped out (in most cases - weizens being one notable exception). The third thing is for the beer to clean itself up so that there are no "green" flavors left unless, of course, you like green beer. The final thing is more along the lines of lagering: You want it to sit long enough that the chill haze drops out. Short answer, it's done when it's done and you determine when it's done.
 
Another Q related to this...sort of, and I suppose it's also one that been asked over and over.

Amount of yeast to use when pitching. Too little has it drawbacks and possible problems, too much has other possible problems. But what is too little or too much? If I use the "Yeast Pitch Rate and Starter Calculator" and it suggests me to use half of a packet (I use dry yeast), is this then given with enough margin and I could safely use this recommendation? Or should I add more to be on safe side? Would pitching with all of the packet be considered as "too much"?
 
Personally I don't worry that much about it. I just pitch a packet in and call it done. So far it's worked for me, if I was doing a 10% ABV beer or 10 gallons I might do more but otherwise I don't worry.

I do make starters these days but that's so I can keep using the same yeast without having to buy more. I make around 1L of starter and use about 750ml in the beer with the other 250ml going into a mason jar for the next batch.

I've successfully just tossed one of those jars into a batch too without issue.
 
its not going to hurt to use a whole packet as a mater of fact it should start faster just give it plenty of oxygen
 
I'm honestly at the point where I'm baffled when someone makes a truly unpleasant batch of beer because I can't figure out how they did it.

I use tap water with no modifications (admittedly our city water here is good for beer)
I am fine with pitching a packet of yeast in and walking away
I tend to eyeball volumes to be "close enough" and get close to my volumes
I just water blast and starsan the crap out of things but don't do crazy soaks some people talk about

So far I've brewed like 150 gallons of beer in 2017 and it all turned out. I'm either lucky or people are doing something truly wrong, at the local brewers guild someone had one that tasted and smelled like nail polish that all 3 of us trying quietly poured out. I'm baffled how that happened.
 
yes the worst way to mess up a beer is not the recipe, equipment or the grain its actually a bad fermentation and crazy off flavors
so, I would defiantly get that process under control
 
Like I said, I don't understand how they do it because I've never made a batch I would consider bad.
 
My rule of thumb for fermenting...

Sterile equipment. Fresh yeast. Patience, 7 days + 1 for luck. Good temp. control.

I've had very few problems with fermenting and only had one beer that was undrinkable. My first brew was a disaster, every stage went wrong,
 
One nice thing for me with starting with kits was it let me focus on cleaning without worrying about the actual wort. It just took one additional stress off my mind, then when I got to all grain I had that part down and it wasn't something I had to worry about.

If I had known someone who did all grain right off the bat it might have been different but it was a reduced stressload for me while I tried to figure out what wort, trub, flocculation, etc.. meant.
 
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