Fermentation complete in 4 days?

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darkisland

Fermentation complete in 4 days?

Post by darkisland » Fri May 27, 2016 9:32 am

I haven't brewed in ages but decided to dust off the kit and give it another go. So last Monday was brewday, mashed, boiled, and racked into fermenter without too much issue. Added the yeast (White labs dry English ale WLP007) as a 1 litre starter and fermentation took off...now Friday morning so really only 3 full days and a couple of nights, the gravity is down to 1.010, doubt it will go any lower.

Is this normal? Something to be concerned about? Ok to bottle?

Any thoughts?

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simple one
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Re: Fermentation complete in 4 days?

Post by simple one » Fri May 27, 2016 9:42 am

Nothing to worry about time wise. Starters usually give the yeast a running start at a beer, so limited lag time. Also 007 is one of the more aggressive yeasts.

However if the beer tastes bad.....

BrannigansLove
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Re: Fermentation complete in 4 days?

Post by BrannigansLove » Fri May 27, 2016 9:53 am

Give the yeast time to tidy itself up after it's completed fermenting.

darkisland

Re: Fermentation complete in 4 days?

Post by darkisland » Fri May 27, 2016 10:05 am

simple one wrote:However if the beer tastes bad.....
Nope, I drank this morning's sample and it was damned good if I do say so myself.

BrannigansLove wrote:Give the yeast time to tidy itself up after it's completed fermenting.
Fair do's, there's a nice thick cake forming on the bottom and quite a bit still floating around. Looks like this weekend's task is bottling :)

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Re: Fermentation complete in 4 days?

Post by BrannigansLove » Fri May 27, 2016 10:49 am

I tend to give me beers 3 weeks in primary before bottling. I learnt the hard way that bottling early leaves you at the risk of exploding bottles, but it has had the welcome side effect of my beers clearing the green stage a lot quicker (in overall duration) once bottled.

MTW
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Re: Fermentation complete in 4 days?

Post by MTW » Fri May 27, 2016 11:14 am

007 is fast, clean (if kept at the low end), drops and sticks really well. Check the gravity is stable for 48hrs, then chill it down if you can, for at least a couple of days before bottling. If you can't chill it, then leave it a bit longer in my view; it drops well, but I like fairly little sediment in bottles. I guess you're not dry hopping, from what you say.
Busy in the Summer House Brewery

darkisland

Re: Fermentation complete in 4 days?

Post by darkisland » Fri May 27, 2016 11:41 am

Aye, I should leave it a bit yet, just in case...although I'll be amazed if the gravity drops further. I'm not dry hopping (not had much success in the past), does it make a difference?

Chilling it down isn't really an option short of leaving it outside, feels like bloody February at the moment.

I suppose I'm concerned that leaving it without any "action" for want of a better expression would leave the beer more prone to infection.

Mr. Dripping

Re: Fermentation complete in 4 days?

Post by Mr. Dripping » Fri May 27, 2016 11:50 am

As said, 007 is a fast fermenter......though I am interested in a couple of points.
What was your OG and fermentation temperature??
A higher temperature will speed up fermentation, but it is not unusual for a healthy pitch to ferment out a batch of low to moderate gravity in 3-4 days.

I use 007 a lot....very reliable yeast.
After fermentation is complete, I usually hold the beer at the same temperature for another 3-4 days so it has chance to clean up and floc.

Fil
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Re: Fermentation complete in 4 days?

Post by Fil » Fri May 27, 2016 11:52 am

fwiw in the brewfridge I find S-04 will regularly finish a circa 1050 OG in 4-5 days at a constant 18-19c..
and its ideal brewing weather atm not too warm n not too cool...
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate :(

darkisland

Re: Fermentation complete in 4 days?

Post by darkisland » Fri May 27, 2016 12:03 pm

OG was 0.016, fermentation temp was 19, the ambient sometimes rose to 20 during the day but that's it. So around 6.7% ABV. A little stronger than I had anticipated, I think my mash efficiency was better than usual for some reason. the volumes were pretty accurate. I'm not actually a very scientific brewer, even when following a recipe I'll sometimes change things a wee bit as I go along...sacrilege I know [-o<

I don't have a fermentation fridge...that's the next project :D

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Re: Fermentation complete in 4 days?

Post by Matt in Birdham » Fri May 27, 2016 3:17 pm

BrannigansLove wrote:Give the yeast time to tidy itself up after it's completed fermenting.
Absolutely - I definitely wouldn't bottle it this weekend, even though it is almost certainly done primary fermentation (some of the English strains are incredibly fast). Beer needs time on the yeast to clean up and will be vastly better with at least 7-10 days or so (or more) at ferment temps, before crashing and bottling.

darkisland

Re: Fermentation complete in 4 days?

Post by darkisland » Fri May 27, 2016 7:01 pm

I'll take that advice, Next week it is.

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