How long can I leave it on the cake?

So I have a red ale in primary now, and I was planning to pitch a stout on it tonight. I didnt find out until yesterday afternoon that I am going to be out of town all weekend. I had thought about brewing the stout last night, but the city put the kibosh on that plan when they turned off my water to fix a fire hydrant.

Now my earliest opportunity to brew the stout will be Sunday night, and realistically it wont get done until after that. Sunday will mark 7 days that the red has been in primary. How long can I leave it there and still be confidant enough to reuse the yeast?

- magno

I left a Hefe Weizen in the primary for 34 days (I had a heart attack) and it won Best of Style and beat out over 100 brews for Best of Show...you tell me if 7 days is too long...

homebrewer_99 said:

I left a Hefe Weizen in the primary for 34 days (I had a heart attack) and it won Best of Style and beat out over 100 brews for Best of Show...you tell me if 7 days is too long...

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The yeast should still be ok to repitch on after that long though, right? Or should I bite the bullet and buy new yeast?

magno said:

The yeast should still be ok to repitch on after that long though, right? Or should I bite the bullet and buy new yeast?

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I do beleive HB was indicating that it would be fine to do what you had planned. 7 days is really not that long. Good Luck

Pitch on the cake, It will work great? I left a yeast cake in a primary for 12 days with just about an inch of fermented wort over the top of the cake and it worked great!!!!!

Yeah, that's the trick...leave a little bit of beer on top of the cake. The alcohol keeps it relatively sterile.

That would have been the trick. I'll let it sit until Monday probably at least.

Thanks all,

- magno