Atonal
Member
Should I wait or should I just bottle condition the brew?
The brew has been sitting in the primary for 4 weeks and I haven't bottled it yet. I was just asking if a brew still has that young smell, should I bottle it or should I let it sit in the primary longer? Sorry, I'm a newbie. : )
Can you describe what you are calling a young smell? I keep most brews in the primary for 3-4 weeks to let the Yeastie Beasties clean up and for flavors to blend and mellow. I started doing this because if I bottled sooner I just had to wait for the beer to condition in the bottle! It sounds like you are already doing this so I am wondering what you are detecting. Have you tasted a sample?
That green apple smell is acetaldehyde and is a normal byproduct of fermentation that the yeast would usually clean up in that amount of time. I did a quick search and longer conditioning seems to be only recommended cure, so removing the beer from the yeast now isn't going to help. I would give it a couple more weeks, maybe rouse the yeast with a few gentle swirls. Others have had acetaldehyde problems from saison yeast and time took care of it. Good luck!
Four weeks? Rock on. Bottle away.
Thank you. Any clue too what would cause this?
A fruity off flavor is usually fermenting too hot. Green apple specifically I've never experienced. Or at least I'm able to say specifically green apple rather than fruit in general.
So what should I do?
Didn't think that would be a problem during winter. : /
The brew has been sitting in the primary for 4 weeks and I haven't bottled it yet. I was just asking if a brew still has that young smell, should I bottle it or should I let it sit in the primary longer? Sorry, I'm a newbie. : )
allow me to offer up the other point of view: there is nothing wrong with 4 weeks of primary. 10 days on the primary yeast is the minimum i'd recommend, 2-3 weeks is my standard and 4-5 weeks being quite common for my big beers. there is nothing to fear from a 4 weeks primary if you pitched good, healthy yeast. once upon a time good yeast was hard to come by for homebrewers, and you did indeed want to remove it as soon as possible. nowadays good commercial yeast doesn't caused those problems. in fact, extended contact with the beer helps ensure that the yeast have done as much cleaning as possible.4 weeks is quite long in primary for most ale styles, unless its a high abv brew I remove from primary within 10 days and have a secondary (cube that fits in fridge easily) I use for dry hopping or any further cold conditioning required such as lagering or a big porter or imperial stout that needs a few months in the naughty corner to calm down ;-)
Secondary vessels are not necessary, but a process of personal preference for some like myself who are old dogs when it comes to some things.
Smells like green apples
sweetcell said:allow me to offer up the other point of view: there is nothing wrong with 4 weeks of primary. 10 days on the primary yeast is the minimum i'd recommend, 2-3 weeks is my standard and 4-5 weeks being quite common for my big beers. there is nothing to fear from a 4 weeks primary if you pitched good, healthy yeast. once upon a time good yeast was hard to come by for homebrewers, and you did indeed want to remove it as soon as possible. nowadays good commercial yeast doesn't caused those problems. in fact, extended contact with the beer helps ensure that the yeast have done as much cleaning as possible.
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