Fast forward fermentation

[Trickman]

Hellooooo,

I am currently in the process of brewing kit number 4 and have a query about the time taken for inital fermentation.

I currently have a geordie winter warmer bottle conditioning which I am unsure whether it has worked to the fullest. Beginning at an OG of 1041 the fermentation went bananas but by day 3 the Krausen ring had sunk and by day 5 I had a steady gravity reading of 1008. So on day 5 I bottled up and another few days later the beer had cleared with some sediment on the bottom of the bottle.

I currently have a Munton connoisseur IPA on the go which I started Saturday and the Krausen ring has already sunk.

Is this kind of speed of fermentation normal? or is something going awry?

According to most instructions I've read I would be expecting to bottle at day 9 or 10 rather than day 5.

[Klaus]

All perfectly normal - I am seeing same. I tend to bottle earliest after 14 days but that's more to do with my diary commitments. Day 5 is too early in my view, if you leave it til at leats day 10 then the beer will have started clearing already, so less clearing in bottle, less sediment.

[Trickman]

So it is fine to leave the beer even when the gravity has stabilised for a two days in a row?

I worry that if I leave it all the yeast will have kicked the bucket and will result in no secondary fermentation in the bottle

[crafty john]

I have bottled after leaving the beer for 3 weeks after fermentation has finished and still got secondary fermentation.

[Trickman]

Then it that case I shall quit worrying and crack open another fine bottle of the Geordie mild whilst I wait.

[polymoog]

Even if the beer is perfectly clear when you are bottling it they are still 1000's of active yeast cells in the beer that are just invisible to the naked eye.
After fining my beer i bottle it clear and after a few days a thin paint like layer of yeast appears in the bottom of the bottle, also when drinking they is less waste as more of the contents is beer and not yhick yeast sediment
Cheers Polymoog