What "problems" can I have if I bottle just one week fermented beer?

Question

last Saturday (11/09/2010) I brewed a Blonde Ale and pitched US-05 yeast. Today there are only few bubles in airlock, so I think since Blonde Ale is a simple style I could bottle in next Sunday (19/09/2010).

In all beers I've made I always rack to secondary and keep for 4 to 6 weeks before bottling, this time I don't have a secondary bucket to use e don't want to wait too many time in the primary, so my question is: what kind of "problems" can I have with this 1 week primary then bottling?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You want to make sure that fermentation is actually complete before bottling or else you may end up with dangerously overcarbonated bottles that have the potential to explode. Airlock bubbling is not a reliable way to measure this. Take a hydrometer reading on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and if they are steady (and in your expected range for final gravity) then you can bottle without worrying that fermentation is not complete.

That being said, your beer will probably benefit from more time in the fermenter, allowing the yeast to condition the beer. Taste-wise, you may experience diacetyl, higher alcohols, and general "green" beer flavors because the yeast have not had time to clean up these compounds. This could be mitigated by bottle conditioning, however.

If your concern is leaving the beer in the primary too long, don't worry about that. Beer can sit in primary for quite a long time (even a few months) with no detectable off flavors (given proper sanitation and absence of oxygen, of course).

Answer 2

I use pet bottles - having made this mistake before, I found that the bottles delaminated (you get blisters between the layers) the bottles look a bit cloudy, but still function just fine(!). I have used them many times since.

When this happened, I spent a couple of weeks, each day, slackening the caps, letting the gas out then tightening them up again quickly (before the foam got out!).

The main problem with the final product was not the foam (you can let that settle), but they had a lot of sediment and when opened the beer foamed this got very mixed in with the beer...

I have been much more careful since!!