I have an Amber Fermenting for about 12 days now. There is very little activity with the airlock so I am guesing it has reached the end of fermentation.
I am planning on cold crashing it on Wed, my Fridge is at 34degrees.
Questions are is this to early (14 Days) and is the fridge cold enough?
Finnaly how long should I leave it in the fridge?
Any help on this would be great…
If there is airlock activity, it is likely still fermenting, but it could be just passing CO2 out of suspension at this point. Take a gravity reading (ideally it would be daily until 3 successive days show no change). If it is at your expected final gravity, you should be able to proceed at that temperature, but realize that you may knock all of your yeast out of suspension if you lager it at that temperature for a long period. Just go for a few days or until the clarity is acceptable, since you will need some yeast to carbonate the brew, assuming you are bottling.
:cheers:
are you bottling it or moving it to secondary? If you are going straight to bottle/keg, I would wait til about 21 days. If you are moving it to secondary, I would just move it at 14 days or so and not cold crash it - just try to leave behind as much sediment/trub as you can when you transfer.
No secondary straight from the cold crash to a Kegg for forced carb,
Personally, I like to leave mine a little longer than 14 days, not because fermentation is not done, but because the yeast continue to clean up other products that are formed. If you need the fermenter or are in a hurry to get it on tap you should be fine. Take a gravity reading when you transfer to the keg - if it is higher than it should be, I would just flush the keg with CO2, transfer, put it on CO2 and vent out any possible O2 and then leave it at room temp for another week or two to finish up fermentation right in the keg (like a secondary fermenter).
I actually often add priming sugar to my kegs and let them carbonate at room temp for a few weeks and then put them on tap - just using the CO2 to push out the already carbonated beer.
I usually leave mine 10 to 14 days, depending on OG of the beer. Most of my beers primary fermentations are done after 4 or 5, then I let it warm up and leave it for a few more days. I will usually do a gravity check after 6 to 7 days then check again at 10 or 14, if it the same and I don’t want to let it sit I will rack to a keg. If the gravity has changed then I leave it another couple days and check again. Very rarely to have a beer (even lagers, but I always let them sit at least 4 weeks on the yeast) that need more 10 to 14 days (with the exception of very high gravity beers).
Oh and 34 degrees is a good temp to cold crash.
Thanks for the help it was my first beer after a four year hiadous, messed a bunch up, liquid yeast exploded, temp was to high stayed at aroud 74 degrees. Forgot to do a OG reading, as well. I got a Hefe going and fixed most mistakes.
I’d leave it 21 days on the yeast, especially with some admitted mistakes like fermenting too high. Give the yeast a chance to clean some of that up.
Especially if you’re kegging I’d save the headache of “secondary” and cold crashing. Just leave the brew on the yeast cake an extra week or 10 days after terminal gravity for off flavor compounds to be absorbed, keg and chill, then taste every 3 or 4 days until the flavor and carbonation are up to snuff. I’ve learned a ton using this method as you get to taste first hand the benefits of “lagering” your beer. The first few pulls might be a little yeasty but I’ve never had a beer not clear in under 2 weeks. In fact, I’ve had issues with cloudy styles like hefs and wits clear even with their heavy doses of wheat malt and low floculating yeast…
Ok put it in the fridg for about two days, Kegged it and carbbed it. Everything is god to go except it has an alcholy flavor. Might this be from the high temp (Ferm at about 74degrees) or did I rush it. It still very tasty just a alchol flavor.
Many off flavors are reduced or eliminated by cold aging. I’ve had many early tastes of batches that I thought were mediocre at best that were awesome a month later. Patience goes a long way in the brewing world. That said, if the room temperature was 74 the beer may well have been in the high 70’s or even low 80’s. This may have developed “fusel” alcohol which is harsh or solvent tasting. It may reduce somewhat over time but is there to stay. What was the OG/FG of your brew? Do you have a plastic strip type thermometer on your fermenter? The yeast don’t care what the room temperature is, they behave based on the beer temp which is warmer due to heat generated by the fermentation. Count on 6 to 8 degrees warmer beer temperature in the first few days of fermentation. Good temperature control is one the key fundamentals to making consistant, tasty brews…
Well I was the only one who thought it was a little off. I took it to a party and everyone there drank it. Gone now so I will never know if it was going to get better. There were 8 people there no one had anything nut what I made so I guess it was just me.
Fix the temp isse on the Heffe by using a shirt and bucket of water, I put two frzen water bottles in in the morning the strip on carboy stays in the 65 region. gonna try the previous recipe again to see if it was just in my head.
