over fermenting???

[cwag001]

Is there such a thing as over fermented, I have a Russian stout that has been fermenting for about a month, I haven't gotten any bottles and not 100% sure where to get more

 

[emmdubb23]

Generally a heavy RIS will take that long at least, it can't really over-ferment, the yeast will consume sugars until there are no more left. Generally your LHBS will have bottles and caps, or order caps and start drinking beer with reusable bottles(what I did), your beer will be fine for now anyways...

 

[CDGoin]

Before starting my first brew, I simply started making sure I bought beer in reusable bottles.

So basically they didn't cost me anything. Now you have to be sure they are NOT twist-off bottles.

 

[grem135]

You can buy pry off top bottles at most stores that sell beer and wine. The best part is that they come with free beer in them that you can drink.

 

[Revvy]

There is no such thing as "over fermentation." Fermentation occurs until all the consumable sugars have been eaten OR in the case of high gravity beers, until the yeast consumes all the fermentable sugars that it can , then once it has eaten it's fill, it dies or just exhausts itself.

Fermentation generally, in most average beers, takes only about a week to 10 days (higher grav beers often take longer and winds down slower), anything after that, where the beer is in contact with the yeast is not fermentation time (because fermentation is done) but should be thought of as conditioning/cleanup time.

If you leave your beer in a fermenter for a month, like many folks do, your beer is NOT fermenting that long, most of that time it is conditioning. Many of us do that with ALL our beers rather than racking to a secondary, it doesn't harm your beer, rather many of us think it IMPROVES our beer.

The only time one could consider such a thing as "over fermenting" is if there's an infection... wild yeasts and bacteria breaks down NON FERMENTABLE sugars not normally eaten by the yeast. But in normal brewing situation, or even in terms of carbonation, there's a set limit (called attenuation) based on for lack of a better term, how hungry the yeast is, AND the amount of sugar present.