How long in FV

[mancer62]

I am only going to hav e 5 weeks to brew 2 x treacle stouts and an ipa.
One of each in a corny keg and the remaining stout in bottles....what would be the recommended/preferred option regards times in the vessels i.e.
Say 3 weeks FV & 2 weeks in corny/bottles.....or 2 weeks FV & 3 weeks corny/bottles?

 

[LeeH]

2 weeks in the FV should be more than enough.

 

[mancer62]

I know whichever way will probably work but am just interested to know if there would be a difference in quality and taste and just to know which way most homebrewers would go.

 

[LeeH]

Most would go 2 weeks in the FV.

 

[terrym]

Whereas you can have an objective on timing, events may dictate otherwise including yeast used, fermenting temperature, OG, dry hop period if used on the IPA etc etc, So my view is you will just have to do what seems right at the time.

 

[DavidDetroit]

I would go three weeks in the primary.

 

[Hoppyland]

Having only 5 weeks to produce a quality beer is not a situation I'd like to be in! However, I've no doubt what I'd do. After 2 weeks, if conditions were suitable, your beer should be pretty much fermented out, especially the IPA. The stout I would suggest might be more problematic - in my experience heavy, dark malty brews can keep ticking over for a long while.
So, my suggestion: Ferment the beer for the kegs for 2 weeks, and then give it 3 weeks maturation in keg. Be very careful if you move the kegs, though, as there will be a lot of sediment at the bottom (where the delivery tube is) and it won't have had time to consolidate.
For the bottled stout, then I'd definitely leave in primary for 3 weeks and then bottle. Bottles will clear more quickly, as there's less vertical distance involved. Also, if it's a stout then you need not be so particular about haze & maturation as you would be for a very light beer. Watch out for continued, very slow fermentation, though. Maybe put some into screw-top PET bottles, so you can keep an eye on pressure levels.

 

[bobukbrewer]

I bottle in 4 to 7 days, it works for me..........

 

[Dull Boy]

If your stout is Imperial, I'd say ready in 12 weeks minimum.

 

[ExpatBrewer]

I bottle in 4 to 7 days, it works for me..........

There's certainly no good reason to leave the beer sitting around once fermentation is complete and a couple of days allowed for the yeast to "mop up". My brew cycles for 1.040 - 1.050 brews which are in part dictated by life circumstances, are typically 7 days or 10 days from brew day to bottle.

Dr Charles Bamforth, Professor of Brewing Science:

"…for an ale with a healthy yeast you really don't need or indeed want it to linger too long on the yeast cake."

"The length of time we had to leave the beer in contact with the yeast to mop up the last traces of diacetyl and pentanedione was not very long, we're talking a day or two… "

"… and once we were confident that we got those VDK's below our target then our philosophy was for goodness sake get it off the yeast."

 

[LeeH]

Mr Bamforth is a legend, I love and podcast he is on.

Ans what an awesome job title he has, its a shame he is retiring soon. I wonder if he will come back to the UK?