Yeast Cleanup Time

[Big Tex]

Guys - I've always wait for a week after I reach my FG to allow the yeast to close up shop and head south. I suspect this is a little to conservative... What's everyone else doing?

[ApresSkiBrewer]

Depends on the style... Sometimes I wait more than a week, sometimes I only give it a day or two. If the beer style shouldn't have any diacytal, and the yeast tends to throw some, I might bump up the temp, and give it at least a week.

As a general rule though, 4-7 days after hitting your FG is fine. If you want to help the yeast flocculate, cool the carboy down as much as you can (I move it to a place where it's about 45 degrees, and the beer clears up nicely in a few days... not as good as cold crashing to 32-35, but its all I got.)

Mind you a lot of pro breweries Ale primary fermentation schedule is as short as 4 days... once the beer is done (at FG), they start moving it through the pipeline for clarification and/or filtering and packaging.

[beggarstown brewer]

I'm doing pretty much the same thing, after its hit FG I usually move it to a cooler environment and let it sit for about a week (give or take).

I know lots of folks will also rack into secondary and give it time to clear in a less yeasty environment, but since I switched to my current method, (both out of laziness and taking the pope's advice), the beers seem to be clearing up nicely and tasting great. I also think the method is beneficial in that it avoids extra o2 uptake and give the yeast a little extra time to clean any undesired compounds out of the beer before I keg.

Or... you could always filter or fine it.

Prost!

[Bugeater]

I also recommend at least a week after reaching final gravity for yeast cleanup. I really don't know how long after reaching FG I let mine sit. Since I am basically pretty lazy and normally have enough beer around that I am in no rush to get my beer kegged, I just let the beer sit in the fermenter for 3 or 4 weeks depending on the style.

Wayne

[ApresSkiBrewer]

Bug's got it right... just have enough beer around that you don't have to worry about it!