Is A 3 Week Ferment A Problem?

[Daveee]

Hi All,

My latest brew is listed in my signature.
Pretty much I used a bit of malt in it, as well as some strawberries. These are the 2 factors I assume will effect final gravity. The guy at my brew store reckons without the strawberries it should finish aboout 1010sg.

Now it has been in the fermenter for coming up to 3 weeks on Saturday. It is still ever so slowly bubbling. Last Saturday the SG was 1020, now its about 1016. I'm hoping it should drop to about 1014 in the next few days.

Now is it a problem for it to be in the fermenter so long?
It has been fermenting at about 10 degrees, so I realise this will effect how long it takes as well. So do I have any problems?

 

[jayse]

most lager brewers will rack it around three times during the ferment.
then at the stage your at now rack again and increase the temp to 18c this gives the yeast the chance to reduce the diacetyl that was produced during the ferment into higher alcohol.

hows it taste.try racking and giving it the two days at 18c.

 

[krz]

don't worry, I had an ale sitting in the fermenter for 2 months, tasted great

 

[brewgasm]

Shouldn't be a problem, I wouldn't bother racking to another vessel unless it's a keg. I'm doing a lager at the moment.
7 days at 10°
1 day at 10.5°
3 days at 11°
3 days at 12°

Currently at 14 days. Planning on gradually raising temp to 16°-18° over 5 to 7 days the crashing to 0.4° and hold for a few days before transfer to Keg and hold at 0.4 under co2 for a further 7 days then move to Keg fridge at 3° under serving pressure

 

[pnorkle]

Nothing like replying to a 15 year old post...

 

[n87]

Wonder if its been bottled yet?

 

[pnorkle]

Wonder if its been bottled yet?

Hang on a minute - first things first - has it even fermented out yet?

 

[n87]

Hang on a minute - first things first - has it even fermented out yet?

Fair point. need 3 static hydro readings a year apart first

 

[Rocker1986]

Shouldn't be a problem, I wouldn't bother racking to another vessel unless it's a keg. I'm doing a lager at the moment.
7 days at 10°
1 day at 10.5°
3 days at 11°
3 days at 12°

Currently at 14 days. Planning on gradually raising temp to 16°-18° over 5 to 7 days the crashing to 0.4° and hold for a few days before transfer to Keg and hold at 0.4 under co2 for a further 7 days then move to Keg fridge at 3° under serving pressure

Why the long drawn out temp rise? I just set my controller to 18 and let it come up with its own heat generated by the fermentation. Usually takes about a day and a half. Works just fine.

 

[brewgasm]

Nothing like replying to a 15 year old post...

Yes, a 15 year fermentation is a worry. How does an old post get dragged out

 

[Rocker1986]

My phone app keeps getting notifications from really old threads even if nobody's actually posted in them when the notification comes through. Seen a couple from over 10 years ago pop up in my notification bar with no new posts since 2005 or whatever.

 

[brewgasm]

Why the long drawn out temp rise? I just set my controller to 18 and let it come up with its own heat generated by the fermentation. Usually takes about a day and a half. Works just fine.

I worry about off flavours or any negative effects from heat shock to the yeast. Probably worrying about nothing lol especially if you are getting good results [emoji1]

 

[Rocker1986]

Well considering I pitch fridge temp yeast (from a starter, not fresh smack packs or dry yeast) into room temp wort without any off flavors occurring, I don't think letting it rise naturally in the fermenter from 10 (or whatever ferment temp is) to 18 is gonna cause any issues. I've always been led to believe the temperature shock becomes a problem the other way, i.e. warm yeast suddenly coming in contact with cold wort. I don't even bother doing a slow ramp down to cold crash and it doesn't seem to affect anything badly. I figure it's done its job by that stage anyway.

 

[brewgasm]

Well considering I pitch fridge temp yeast (from a starter, not fresh smack packs or dry yeast) into room temp wort without any off flavors occurring, I don't think letting it rise naturally in the fermenter from 10 (or whatever ferment temp is) to 18 is gonna cause any issues. I've always been led to believe the temperature shock becomes a problem the other way, i.e. warm yeast suddenly coming in contact with cold wort. I don't even bother doing a slow ramp down to cold crash and it doesn't seem to affect anything badly. I figure it's done its job by that stage anyway.

It's really hard to sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to lager making. So many conflicting yet relevant opinions. I'm not sure if I am going to crash or ramp down yet but I will probably do a sealed transfer to Keg to get it off the trube in a few days

 

[Rocker1986]

It's really hard to sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to lager making. So many conflicting yet relevant opinions. I'm not sure if I am going to crash or ramp down yet but I will probably do a sealed transfer to Keg to get it off the trube in a few days

I'm gonna try a slower ramp down on my next batch and hold it around 4°C for the conditioning period before it goes into the keg and see if it makes any difference to my current procedure. If it does improve the beer I'll keep doing it, if not I'll just go back to my current one.

 

[brewgasm]

I'm gonna try a slower ramp down on my next batch and hold it around 4°C for the conditioning period before it goes into the keg and see if it makes any difference to my current procedure. If it does improve the beer I'll keep doing it, if not I'll just go back to my current one.

I can get my brew fridge down to 0.4°. My brew will hit 3 weeks in the fermentor on Tuesday so I am contemplating skipping the cold crash and transferring to a keg this week. When fermentation is complete I will start dropping the temp under serving pressure before removing co2 and lagering at 0.4