Fermentation times

[Beer Please]

Hi all. Newbie so forgive the stupid question…I can feel the eyes rolling already

Immersing myself in brewing and soaking up a huge amount of information from the posts on the forum.
I am currently brewing an APA from a LME kit. Its sat in my home made fermentation cupboard and has been bubbling away well at 19c. The kit instructions say it should be finished after 5 days but I have seen a few posts that say “ignore kit instructions, leave it 2 week”.

So my question is, 5 days or 2 weeks?
Surely I need to leave it until there is no sign of fermentation, the krausen has died back and gravity is same 2 days running?
If not, please educate me as to why I need to leave it longer..
cheers

 

[JockyBrewer]

You’re spot on with your thinking.
The krausen will drop at the end of fermentation, then the airlock bubbling will slow to nothing, and then the gravity should be stable. You might still get the odd airlock bubble from dissolved CO2 escaping the beer.

5 days sounds a reasonable time for fermentation, but I’d be thinking more like 7-10 days to properly finish up.

One thing though - avoid opening the fermenter as much as possible once the fermentation starts to slow. The CO2 in the headspace of your fermenter is protecting your beer and any fresh air let in will begin oxidising it.

That is why it’s better to wait longer, rather than keep checking it.

 

[Beer Please]

Thats great, thanks.
I’ll leave it for a few more days.
So the yeast will just hang around waiting for more sugar to eat?
Is there a limit to how long it can be left like that before it become detrimental to the quality of the final product?
Knowledge is power as they say…

 

[JockyBrewer]

Thats great, thanks.
I’ll leave it for a few more days.
So the yeast will just hang around waiting for more sugar to eat?
Is there a limit to how long it can be left like that before it become detrimental to the quality of the final product?
Knowledge is power as they say…

The yeast go dormant once sugar is all consumed. The beer can stay that way for quite a long time - weeks, months even.

Although I wouldn’t leave it weeks as air will start to get in and oxidise your beer, particularly with plastic buckets as they tend to have a little permeability either via the plastic or not so great seals on the lid.

 

[Donegal john]

Fermentation may well be finished in 5 days but the yeast then go to work “cleaning up “ after them selves ,basically eating any waste products after the initial fermentation so as above 10 days is around the time to check gravity and bottle/keg.

 

[Sandimas]

Sounds like it's finished, but the length of time really depends on the yeast, I've had them still fermenting after 25 days. 2 weeks is the average.

 

[obscure]

Some beers I find you can get away with kegging after a week I find this to be the case with bitters for example. However if you do not have kegs available I would recommend against it, a while back I bottled a beer after seven days seemed to be done, well suffice it to say while perfectly drinkable I was having to either chill the bottles right down (which for bitter has a negative impact on the flavour) or open them over the sink.

The 2-2-2 rule is basically a convenience with a few exceptions (I was making beer with Kweik yeast over the summer and you could basically go grain to glass in three days) most beer will be fully fermented in two weeks, then be fully carbonated in another two and ready to drink in two more. Again some beers take longer some a bit less, but for your typical 4 - 5.5% beer this gives consistent results.

 

[Beer Please]

Thanks for all the replies.
wish I’d joined this group earlier

 

[Beer Please]

Supplementary question.

So, kit says to hop after 5 days.
if I’m now going to leave it for 2 weeks to ”clean up”, should I still hop after the 5 days or wait till the 2 weeks are up?

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Hop after 5 days even if you leave the fermentation for 14.