Hot take: most people don't let their krausen drop before bottling their beer

I was at a homebrew meetup in Portland last Saturday and tasted 5 different IPAs from different guys. All of them had that weird green apple taste from acetaldehyde. I asked each one how long they waited after fermentation stopped, and three of them said they bottled within 48 hours. I learned the hard way after rushing a batch of pale ale back in March, now I always give it at least 10-14 days after the krausen falls to let the yeast clean up. Has anyone else noticed this off flavor in their early bottled batches?

2 comments

2 Comments

scott.grace28d ago

48 hours is way too fast, I learned that the hard way too.

lisa82028d ago

Have you ever tested a batch after bottling earlier than 10 days? I rushed a wheat beer last summer and it had that same grassy taste, so now I just wait even if the airlock is dead quiet. Letting the yeast clean up for two weeks made a huge difference in my pale ales.