6 pack brewing.

[wortnz]

I see this mentioned every now and then, but it doesn't (least to me) seem to be covered off in much detail.

I am starting small, 1 gallon/1 litre (which ever tickles) sized patches. All grain mash, single pot as so on.

What I am wondering, is the fermentation times. You see the 1 2 3 method mentioned (1, week primary, 2 week secondary, 3 week bottle/keg conditioned), but nothing about the time to it might take to ferment out a gallon of wort.

I have a batch in the cupboard and the bubbling is slowing down a lot, it's only day 2 (and a half).

Thoughts on expectations around fermentation times for 6 pack brewers?

 

[devilishprune]

I would expect it to ferment out in the same amount of time. The gravity may reach your expected FG sooner due to a higher amount of yeast per volume of wort, but those recommended times are more for quality purposes.

Theoretically, you could leave it in the fermenter for 2 days until it finishes, and then rack it to secondary or bottle; however, the purpose of leaving the beer in the primary and secondary for 1 or 2 weeks is to allow those yeast to clean up after themselves. If you followed those recommended times then you would likely get the best beer.

But, it's your beer and you can do whatever you want with it.

 

[wortnz]

Thanks for the comments. I guess its a bit like and expectant father... lol. I am hoping to turn out something drinkable, so I will leave it be for a week before moving it do a secondary.

 

[redalert]

.... I guess its a bit like and expectant father... lol. I am hoping to turn out something drinkable....

I am sure you'll have a lovely and healthy baby...cheers. I myself have 2 babies right now in infancy. 1 & 2 weeks old respectively. I hope they turn out to be full bodied and mature adults

 

[SumnerH]

Thanks for the comments. I guess its a bit like and expectant father... lol. I am hoping to turn out something drinkable, so I will leave it be for a week before moving it do a secondary.

You're better off doing 2 weeks (or better, 3) in primary and skipping secondary. Secondarying was really popular up until a decade ago or so ago, but most people have decided that a longer primary is easier, makes for better beer, and is less likely to accidentally oxygenate your beer or introduce an infection or something--you'll still meet a lot of brewers from the last generations who recommend it, but many of them have moved away from it too.

The main exception is if you're going to add fruit or oak or something, or making a beer that needs to be aged for many months--then a secondary is still pretty popular. But leaving your beer in the primary for up to a couple of months is fine (historically, homebrewers feared autolysis, or off-flavors from dead or dormant yeast, but that turns out to be a nonexistant bogeyman at least with modern yeasts and was probably an overblown concern even at the time).

 

[wortnz]

hmm, OK. I was thinking of dry hopping, could this still be done in the primary a week or so out from when I bottle it?

 

[JuanMoore]

hmm, OK. I was thinking of dry hopping, could this still be done in the primary a week or so out from when I bottle it?

Yep, just stuff the hops in there.