What happens if I stop my brew early?

[GearZ]

It's not something I am planning to do but theoretically if I stopped it early would it still be alcohol, just a lower concentration?

 

[Yellowirenut]

The brewing or the fermentation?

 

[GearZ]

I am not planning on doing it but if you were to stop the fermentation process early, would it still be alcohol? Just in a lower concentration?

 

[wickman6]

Yes

 

[GearZ]

The fermentation process. For example mine has been frementing for a week steadily with plenty of air lock activity. If I stopped it and bottled would it be alcoholic or no?

 

[Pratzie]

During fermentation will be a strong yeast flavor since it hasn't dropped out, with a sweeter flavor with less alcohol.

Also run a very bad risk of bottle bombs since there is still sugar to be fermented and CO2 to be given off.

 

[wailingguitar]

If you bottle it before it is finished fermenting on it's own you are going to have bottle bombs.

 

[GearZ]

Ok so you say if you stop it in the fermentation process it will have a strong taste of yeast? What if you put potassium sorbate in it?

 

[cody6173]

Yes, there will be alcohol. It will be a lower ABV than if you had let fermentation finish in the primary. The issue you're going to run into is if you bottle before the yeast have eaten all they're going to eat and then add priming sugar on top of that you're running the risk of bottle bombs. Once in the bottle the yeast will keep eating what they would've eaten in your primary as well as the added priming sugar except now the co2 doesn't have anywhere to go. The pressure will probably build until you have a big mess on your hands.

 

[Pratzie]

Ok so you say if you stop it in the fermentation process it will have a strong taste of yeast? What if you put potassium sorbate in it?

Thats just going to keep the yeast from reproducing. The ones already in suspension will still be there, and will continue to eat the sugar ie why the worry for bottle bombs.

And keeping with the flavor part, they won't have dropped out of suspensions (cleared) so ur still gonna have the flavoring. Hence why hefe's and wit's are cloudy and are known for that yeasty flavor. Low floccuating yeast strains that will usually keep yeast in suspension instead of falling to the bottom when completed.

Another negative from ending early are the off flavors. Depending on the strains, some yeast give off more off flavors and by products. Its natural and some of the yeast will then "clean up" after themselves. This is why with some strains u warm the beer up towards the end of fermentation in primary. Gets them active enough to clean up after themselves and remove those flavors.

Edit: Clarification

 

[JLem]

How do you plan to stop the fermentation?

 

[woozy]

I'm not sure *how* you intend to stop it. If you intend to bottle it early the bottles will overcarbonate and explode. So you will need to leave it sitting in something. And fermentation would continue. I suppose you could heat it up and kill the yeast or put it in the fridge and let the yeast go dormant. Just can't see *why* you would do that.

Maybe if we understand your question or if you meant something else (such as transferred early or bottled early)we could help you better. But to answer your question literally. Yes, if you could somehow get the yeast to simple stop, then you would have a beer with less alcohol and more sugar.

And, yes, I was about startled and surprised by that nasty "mommy" remark. It really seemed from left field and uncalled for.

 

[woozy]

The thing is you *don't* stop the fermentation by bottling. Hence the bottle bomb danger.

I get that you are asking theoretically "if fermentation just *stopped* what would it be". Well it'd be low alcohol, high sugar and a raw yeasty taste. If you could magically remove the yeast, it'd be high sugar and low alcohol.

It is kind of an interesting question. Also interesting is *could* one stop fermentation? I suppose you could heat it and kill all the yeast. But then you'd never be able to carbonate it (and you don't want to boil off what alcohol there is).

 

[Qhrumphf]

Yes, there would be less alcohol, but that wouldn't be the only thing. Intermediary compounds that normally get cleaned up during the course of fermentation would not be dealt with, and you'll have potentially major off flavors.

As far as how to do it, I think you could chill it way down to make the yeast go dormant, and then add Potassium Sorbate to keep them from getting active again. But it's a bad idea.

But as above, if you mean bottling early, that's also a bad plan. Bottling does not stop fermentation, and bottling a beer that's still fermenting can result in exploding bottles and potential injury.

 

[Cyclman]

The bottom line is that you don't want to shorten fermentation. The beer might be undrinkable, as it could be incredibly sweet. Certainly, it wouldn't tast like the recipe intended.

You can minimize fermentation time with good oxygenation, proper yeast pitch, and optimal fermentation temperatures.

 

[evrose]

How do you plan to stop the fermentation?

I don't know about you, but if I were planning on stopping a fermentation, I would use a herd of magical yeast-killing unicorns.

You can get a six-pack of them from Northern Brewer for about $12.

 

[unionrdr]

Brewing Beer isn't like making wine. Wine makers will stop fermentation when the wine ferments to a certain point regarding sweet or dry,lower alcohol,etc. But wine is bottled flat,or "still". you can't really do that with beer.

 

[woozy]

Just curious; *How* does one stop fermentation of wine?

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

Usually a combination of Sodium bisulfate (campden tablets) and potassium sorbate. A combination of the two will kill off most of the yeast (sodium bisulfate) and leave the rest unable to reproduce (potassium sorbate).

Source: http://www.eckraus.com/wine-making-stop-fermentation/

I would imagine pasteurization is an option too. There's a really informative sticky on the subject in the Cider forum.

To the OP, you could use the method with sodium bisulfate and potassium sorbate, but as mentioned by others stopping fermentation prematurely is ill advised.

Just curious, why would you want to stop it early? There may be alternatives that more experienced people on the board could help you with.

 

[woozy]

And if we perversly chose to do the with beer? (Well, it wouldn't be beer because it wouldn't be carbonatable, but if we perversely chose to do that to fermented hop-infused grain juice?) .... we'd get lowish alcohol, somewhat sweetish uncarbonated hop-infused fermented grain juice?

Mmmm... lowish alcohol, somewhat sweetish uncarbonated hop-infused fermented grain juice....

 

[elleric]

No reason you can't force carb after that yeasticide. Then you have a carbed, low alcohol, sweet grain drink. Sounds alot like something my wife would love

 

[ACbrewer]

Brewing Beer isn't like making wine. Wine makers will stop fermentation when the wine ferments to a certain point regarding sweet or dry,lower alcohol,etc. But wine is bottled flat,or "still". you can't really do that with beer.

Just curious; *How* does one stop fermentation of wine?

Usually a combination of Sodium bisulfate (campden tablets) and potassium sorbate. A combination of the two will kill off most of the yeast (sodium bisulfate) and leave the rest unable to reproduce (potassium sorbate).

Source: http://www.eckraus.com/wine-making-stop-fermentation/

I would imagine pasteurization is an option too. There's a really informative sticky on the subject in the Cider forum.

To the OP, you could use the method with sodium bisulfate and potassium sorbate, but as mentioned by others stopping fermentation prematurely is ill advised.

It is very hard short of heat to STOP wine fermentation 'early'. yes compounds will inhibit yeast, but not kill it. This means that the wine will continue to ferment.

What wine makers do is ferment to dry/completion. Rack off the yeast and then apply chemicals. After that they add back in sugar if needed for a sweeter wine.

As to using heat to 'stop the beer'. There is a thread on pasturizing ciders to have both sweet and sparkling. It basically involves a near boil(190F) like canning food for about 5 or 10 minutes. Doing a pasturization, is committing yourself to doing that after 3 or 4 days. If you don't 'boom'

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

And if we perversly chose to do the with beer? (Well, it wouldn't be beer because it wouldn't be carbonatable, but if we perversely chose to do that to fermented hop-infused grain juice?) .... we'd get lowish alcohol, somewhat sweetish uncarbonated hop-infused fermented grain juice?

Mmmm... lowish alcohol, somewhat sweetish uncarbonated hop-infused fermented grain juice....

I guess it would depend on how long you let it go. If you only ferment it for a day or two, the results would probably be just that. The longer it sets the closer it will get to the target and the "better" it will be, but yeah I can't imagine it turning out any good.

 

[boydster]

OP: You started a hard lemonade around a week ago, yes? This one?: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/my-brew-isnt-showing-activity-416161/#post5270030

Is your post related to that concoction? Are you trying to keep the sweet lemonade flavor instead of letting it ferment dry?

 

[boydster]

If that is in fact your plan, check out the cider forum for the 5-day sweet country cider. I think you'll find it is similar to what you are attempting, they just use apple juice instead of lemonade. Basically it ferments for a few days, then you bottle it in plastic or something so you know when it is carbonated, then you pasteurize the bottles to kill the yeast and prevent further fermentation/carbonation.

If you are doing this with beer... well... I think the rest of the folks here gave you some pretty solid direction.