Essentially, GW states that most homebrewers prime and/ or use finings simply to save time - a well-brewed beer should clear and condition given time.
I'm just not sure how to work out if I haven't left it long enough or if the beer doesn't contain enough fermentable material to do the job without a helping hand.
I totally agree with GW when he states that a well-brewed beer should clear and condition given time; but I equally think that he is considerably out of date with today's home brewing practices.
I for one
never use finings in a beer.
Also, because the fermentation process is so well controlled and so long, by the time I bottle my beer the gravity is so low that further fermentation would be insufficient to carbonate a beer; no matter how long it was left in the bottle.
As a result,
secondary fermentation (so named because the primary fermentation is completed before bottling) requires further fermentable sugars.
Back in "the good old days" home brew fermentation relied solely on ambient (and therefore uncontrolled) fermenting temperatures, hydrometers were used by very few home brewers and almost all beer was classed as "ready for bottling" when the air-lock stopped bubbling for more than a few minutes.
Ever ridden with a kid in a car and heard the chant of "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"
If so, you are listening to what a lot of home brew enthusiasts asked in the 1960's and 70's before they whacked their cloudy, still fermenting beer into a bottle with the intention of drinking it within a week or ten days.
And guess what? It had a "home brew twang" and in protest at its mistreatment it occasionally blew up the bottle into which it had been forced! :whistle:
I think
that was the audience that GW was probably writing for! :thumb:
Happy Days! :thumb: :thumb:
