Visual Signs Beer is Ready to be Bottled

The classical response to this question is that you should take two specific gravity readings a couple of days apart and if you obtain the same reading you have reached final gravity and it is OK to bottle then.

You state that this beer has been in the primary for 14 days. In all likelihood you have reached final gravity and you can take the chance and just bottle without taking a gravity reading.

Another aspect to keep in mind besides reaching final gravity is that if you created excess fermentation by-products like diacetyl then giving the yeast 'extra' time to process these by-products is a good idea. Given that you have been in the primary for 14 days this should be done as well.

Cheers!

 

1. perfect if you have a tap/spigot on your fermentor...just loosen airlock temporarily to prevent suck-back and then spray a little sanitizer up spigot when finished. Might have to pour off a little yeast/trub first before taking sample.

2. Jack already answered above

 

Sanitized turkey baster can double as a thief if you have one.

 

No thief?
Straw. Thumb.

Everyone will tell you the same thing because it is true.

Gravity is the only indication of fermentation activity. Get into the habit of using your hydrometer. There are many ways yeast can fool you. The first you will learn is that they do not work for you they work for themselves. They will sometimes quite for one reason or another and often for no reason at all.

So time, bubbles, activity, flocculation ignore it.

Cheers.

 

An unused hydrometer is easy to sanitize... If you are using a bucket for a fermenter, just dunk the hydrometer in whatever sanitizer you're using, let it sit for however long the recommended contact time is, then float it in the bucket. Buy a thief for your next batch, or get a glass measuring cup that you can clean and sanitize and scoop beer out with it. If you're using a carboy, siphon out a few ounces for your gravity reading.

 

It would be highly inadvisable to bottle without taking gravity readings (especially for your first batch). You should take a minimum of two readings and take them two days apart. If the gravity stays the same for the second reading, you're probably good. Some brewers like to get a third consistent reading.

What yeast did you use? If liquid, did you make a starter? You'll probably want to do a diacetyl test as well as the hydrometer readings and make sure it's good to go. For a diacetyl test, put a few ounces into a mason jar, head a water bath to 145 degrees F, put the mason jar in the water bath for 30 minutes, pull it out and stick it in the freezer until it's cold. Open the jar and smell it. If you don't smell butter, you're good to go on the diacetyl.

 

My answer is kind of 'yes' and 'no', as well as 'it depends'. I test a bottle after 10 days to get a progress report, and I am usually rewarded with adequate carbonation at that point, although it continues to increase with each day. And for the 'it depends' part of my answer, high alcohol beers typically take considerably longer than other recipes.

Plus, when 'conditioning' a beer you should also consider the best flavor profile. I have found that IPAs greatly benefit with extra time (3-4 weeks) for the flavors to reach peak condition in the bottle. And big stouts take even longer.

 

FWIW I wait at least 14 days and more often 21 days before I open my first bottle.

Cheers!

 

About that for many styles. Bigger beers, and sours will take longer. But for standard drinkers. It might be fully carbed in 3 days, but your sweet spot is probably 2 to 3 weeks out.

 

To the OP. I am in no way dismissing honkey's advice; his info is some of the best on this forum. I daresay, though, that most homebrewers have never done a diacetyl test. Maybe we all should. However, even when using yeast that is famous (or even infamous) for diacetyl, I have found that letting the beer condition at elevated temperatures (low 70s for ales, mid 60s for lagers) for a week or so results in sufficient reduction of diacetyl. I'm usually not in a hurry, though. His advice for a test is solid if one is interested is quick turnaround. Cheers!

 

At this stage it does not hurt to try to keep yeast in suspension to work efficiently for carbonation. Just be aware that if you open another bottle within a few days it may be a bit cloudy.

 

Count me as one of those homebrewers. I have been homebrewing for over 2 decades and I have batch number 400 in the primary right now. I have never conducted a diacetyl test (even for the 70+ lagers I have brewed) and I will likely never do this in the future.

Yeah, I suppose if we homebrewers were on a production schedule conducting a diacetyl test would make sense?

Cheers!

 

If doing a DRest....probably no need for a DTest as @utahbeerdude said

 

Whew. That's a lot to drop on the kid.

Hydrometer readings are, of course, best. TBH half the time, if I don't feel like digging out my hydrometer, I will bottle if the beer has clarified in the secondary.

About one week in the primary, about one week in the secondary, and two weeks in the bottle.

RDWHAHB

 

The main reason that I suggest doing a diacetyl test is based off of my recent experiences judging homebrewing competitions. I've tasted so many diacetyl bombs from brewers that claim they've never had an issue with it. I started recommending it recently to new brewers because I think a lot of new brewers build up a tolerance to it and don't realize that they have it. It's surprising to me that it is such an issue in the competitions I've judged.

I actually rarely did them at the commercial level until I started dry hopping during fermentation. I used to let the beer condition warm for 5 days (dumping small amounts of yeast that flocculated each day) before dry hopping and then would cold crash after 2 days on the dry hops, so the beer normally had almost a full week of conditioning before cold crashing. Now, I want to get the beer out of contact with the hops after a max of 5 days, so I test for diacetyl after 2 days of dry hopping, and then test every day until I pass. To me, this isn't so much of trying to keep a production schedule as it is trying to prevent too much time on the hops.

The last reason I would suggest certainly has less of an impact, but IMO is important. I've mentioned this on here a few times, but I don't like to let the beer condition warm as long as most homebrewers do. Within just a few days after fermentation is complete, yeast begins to die, not necessarily creating the autolysis flavors as they are described, but rather raising the pH level of the beer. As the pH rises closer to the pH of your saliva, flavors become more muddled. I prefer to get the beer cold crashed as soon as possible after passing a diacetyl test to avoid the pH rise. Most of my beers are about 4.3 pH when kegged or canned. I tested a few homebrews that I thought had suffered from over conditioning after the most recent competition I judged and some were as high as 4.9. I find the difference to be pretty big, but I also realize that I spend a lot more time analyzing beers than most people, so I am probably more sensitive to the pH levels than most homebrewers would care to be. That said, I think if a homebrewer has every other step of their process nailed down, this is something they should try a few times and see if a minor change helps take their beers to the next level.

 

I attended a presentation at the 2015 NC entitled "Sensory and Flavor Training" by Pat Fahey. During that presentation Pat stated that about 20% of the population can not taste diacetyl in beer; they are 'blind' to that flavor. That could be the explanation why some homebrewers do not taste diacetyl in their beers even if it is present.

I am personally 'cursed' in that I can perceive diacetyl at very low levels and generally speaking I am not a fan of tasting diacetyl. At very low levels (e.g., PU imported beer) it does not taste too buttery to me but instead provides what I perceive as a roundness quality in that specific beer.

FWIW I also do not bulk condition very long in my brewing. For a moderate gravity ale I typically reach final gravity at the 3-4 day mark and I just let the beer sit another 3 days or so. This 'works' for me.

For example I will later this week be brewing a Harvest Ale. I brew this beer at around 1.050 using freshly picked wet hops from my hop plant in my backyard (I will pick the hops when the wort is boiling). That beer will be bottled at day 7 (or less).

Cheers!

 

For an experienced brewer who knows his brewhouse, yeast strains, etc., that can work fine. But if anyone is going to run into problems by guessing at when attenuation is finished, it's a new brewer (like the OP).