I was thinking real hard about brewing a stout, but settled for a smoked Scottish ale I will brew tomorrow. Sad thing is it has to ferment for three weeks (primary and secondary).
My main problem over the 20 or so times I have brewed hasn’t been contamination.
It’s been uneven carbonation.
So my inclination is to bottle early.
The very first time I brewed this stout (it’s the Coopers kit, but I never use their yeast) when it slowed down in the bubbling, I figured it was ready to bottle, so I tasted it,
it was the foulest stuff you could think of, so I diluted it a bit and it started fermenting again!
Thirty days after that stuff was in the bottle, it was without doubt, the absolute best beer I ever had!
So far, between the beers and ciders, I managed to contaminate one batch,
Stinkfoot!! Big time!!!
Good luck with yours! I figure about Sunday I will split it off for a secondary, give it about 2 days, then into the bottles. Might be able to have one on my Bday, which this year coincides with mothers day...