Bottling too early or too late - consequences?

[oldskooladdict]

Right, according to the 10 days rule of thumb my beer should have completed fermenting and be ready to bottle yesterday, alas according to helpful posts on this forum I didn't think it was - SG of 1015.

So, I've took another reading today (just now) and it still looks to be at 1015 or there abouts.

I didn't measure the starting gravity, and I don't know what the final gravity should be - but according to replies to my threads here it should be around 1010 or less really before I should bottle.

So - if I bottle tonight, when it's still at 1015 and may not have finished fermenting (it doesn't look very busy) what will the impact of that be?

Also, if I botle on Wednesday could it be too late and cause other problems?

I didn't have a hydrometer last time so I just relied on the more than 1 min between bubbles thing and bottled, I think it tasted ok (was a different brew) but I don't know what it would have been like had I left it longer!

[Jerry Cornelius]

Many kits stop at around 1.015. If it's at a constant warm temperature and the hydrometer is reading the same (as it is), I would say it's okay to bottle.

As to leaving it a few more days, I don't really see a problem. I always leave mine 14 days and have even gone to 21 without problems.

[oldskooladdict]

Ah, ok then I'll leave it till Wednesday as it sounds like it won't do much harm - give me time to drink some more soda water and get some more bottles lol. I can also check the gravity again and see if it's it same, as I hope it will be.

I've got a couple more kits on the way, so I'll be sure to measure the starting and final gravity this time (I didn't have a hydrometer when I started this brew).

It's at the ideal temperature too - 20degrees c according to both the stick on thing on the front and a decent thermometer

[6470zzy]

Simply put, if you bottle too early you are at the best going to have gushing beer and at the worst, bottle bombs. You must wait until primary fermentation is complete before bottling. I have left beer in the primary carboy for up to a month with no adverse effect. The problem with leaving the beer sitting on the yeast cake too long is that you run the risk of off flavours from yeast autolysis.

Cheers

[oldskooladdict]

Ahh, I see too early = yeast still active + priming sugar = no space for air to escape = BOOM!

[b.all]

i've left a couple of batches for a full month and they were fine, if anything they were helped by the extra time.