The Difference 3 Days Makes

[stylus1274]

Not sure if this is even quantifiable.

But wondering how much of a difference there really is from pulling your beer out of the fermenter at 11 days as opposed to 14 days.

Fermentation is complete and it is a 'simple' beer. Meaning not high in ABV or having complex flavors.

I need space so am contemplating cold crashing 2 of my batches a few days earlier than I typically would.

My initial thought is a side by side and you wouldn't even notice.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

I'd say no difference. If it's done fermenting it's done fermenting. The yeast can't read a calendar and will finish when they are ready to. That said check with Hydrometer. If it's at FG then it's done and no real reason to wait.

 

[Yooper]

If it's done, and starting to clear, it won't get "doner" in 4 days.

If it's not clear, it will probably get more clear in a day or two depending on yeast strain.

That's about the only difference I can think of.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

So has it come to if the yeast is done its done and cleaning up after themselves is a thing of the past?
That would mean most beers would be keggable in 5 to 7 days?

 

[stylus1274]

So has it come to if the yeast is done its done and cleaning up after themselves is a thing of the past?
That would mean most beers would be keggable in 5 to 7 days?

I've done this and kegged beers in 7 days. Came out well. Not saying this is the way to go but that I have done it before.

 

[Burquebrewer]

I'd say no difference. If it's done fermenting it's done fermenting. The yeast can't read a calendar and will finish when they are ready to. That said check with Hydrometer. If it's at FG then it's done and no real reason to wait.

Now I too am confused about these responses... What ever happened to giving the yeast time to clean up after themselves? Are you saying once FG is hit, the beer is finished and there is no need to leave it on the yeast a little longer, which has been the widespread belief going around this forum since it started?

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

I'm saying once you hit FG it's done fermenting. That being said if it's clear enough for your preference go ahead and keg or bottle. If it's not as clear as you'd prefer let it sit longer. If it's reached FG like yooper said it won't get any more done.

Will it benefit from sitting longer. Probably not as OP stated it's not a high ABV beer or has complex flavors so I'd crash, keg and enjoy.

 

[stylus1274]

Will it benefit from sitting longer. Probably not as OP stated it's not a high ABV beer or has complex flavors so I'd crash, keg and enjoy.

^This.....it's the exact reason I said it in my post. I already do batches where I go 'grain to glass' in 10 days or less.

I more or less knew what the responses would be. In fact I started my cold crash before the first response even came in.

My thought is maybe I will see some info I don't already know. It's always nice to learn things

 

[Dcpcooks]

So has it come to if the yeast is done its done and cleaning up after themselves is a thing of the past?
That would mean most beers would be keggable in 5 to 7 days?

I'd say yeast cleaning up after themselves is part of the process of fermentation that occurs during the stationary phase.

If you look at the phases yeast will go through during the process you'll see a min and a max range of time. In general yeast will go through this process.
Lag phase is 0-15 hours
Growth phase is 4 hours to 4 days also called High krauesen
Stationary phase is 3-10 days where the beer conditions.

So a simple low OG beer mashed for attenuation with a proper pitch of yeast and o2 will reduce the lag phase and shorten the growth phase. That beer could be done in 7 days. I've seen a few beers done in 5 days.

In my opinion there is no set timeline or schedule that's absolute. Its just a guide and it's about monitoring the process, taking measurements and samples.

I own a food service company and I take interns in at times. They always ask how long should I cook something for and I always reply until it's done. So in my opinion the experience gained along the way is what separates a newbie from a pro. After years of cooking and brewing I treat them as very similar things, a combination of time and temperature that produces an end result we want.

We had a dinner party last night and my home oven is a little wonky lately. I was roasting three racks of lamb. The recipe calls for 20-25 min @425. My oven isn't getting as hot as it should even though it's says it's at temp. So in short if I just went by time and not by experience, I would have served my friends raw lamb. But I can touch a piece of meat and tell what stage it's at so I knew by touch something wasn't right so I took a temp to confirm and decided it needed a bit longer to finish.

So I think the beer is done when it's done and the brewers job is to know when that is. It's going to be different for every beer because yeast is a living thing. I think of green beer the same way I think of resting a nice steak. If you cut it too soon it will bleed out, become dry and appear to be over cooked even if it's cooked to the perfect temp.

 

[Yooper]

So has it come to if the yeast is done its done and cleaning up after themselves is a thing of the past?
That would mean most beers would be keggable in 5 to 7 days?

As was mentioned, there are phases if the yeast's lifecycle, but they aren't necessarily consecutively happening. They overlap and some of them are a little "ahead" of the others.

It's generally agreed by yeast biologists that this "clean up phase" where the yeast is still active but digesting things like their own waste products happens within 24 hours (or less) of the beer reaching FG. Some will be finishing before others, so some have finished that phase while others are starting it, or in the middle of it. They should all be done with that process within 24 hours or less of reaching FG, and then the beer will start to clear. Some yeast strains are very flocculant, and will fall out right away and others will take a bit longer to clear. Some are pretty non-flocculant and won't clear out of the beer without filtration, of course. Most are medium flocculant and will clear the beer within a few days or so.

 

[MorBeer83]

Once Bamforth in an interview said that in cold crashing, between 32 and 27 or 25 farenheit degrees there is a lot of difference in time needed to clear up, like two days at 25 is better than seven days at 32 or something like that. I think it was a beersmith podcast.
I tried on my own and it's true. Just don't make my mistake, low alcohol beers can't go easily below 32 degrees or it'll freeze due to lack of alcohol ^^
I felt kinda stupid, because i noticed that only after i started racking into the bottling bucket and when it stopped i was like "What the heck is happening??"

 

[ncbrewer]

Stationary yeast phase aside, it's a good idea to check gravity twice, 2 - 3 days apart, to see if gravity is stable. If it has dropped at the second sample, it's still fermenting. Don't bottle yet. Just being at predicted FG isn't a guaranty that it's finished, because FG isn't a fixed number. All this is really about safety (avoiding bottle bombs), not beer quality.

 

[505-Brewer]

If your rushing beers do yourself a favor and learn how to do a forced diacetyl test. Beer can be done fermenting but still take several days to clean up diacetyl etc. tired of tasting diacetyl at homebrew comps and breweries for that matter.