Will Delay In Bottling Hurt Brew?

I have an IPA that is in the secondary fermentation stage that I was due to bottle on 08/03/3012 (two weeks in the secondary fermentation carboy). I have not been able to bottle it and I may not have time until Friday 08/10/2012. My wife looked at it and said that the air lock is still bubbling steadily. My question is will the extra time hurt the beer? Thanks for your help.

No problem let it sit and bottle when you can.

I often go. a long time before I bottle.

the hop flavor could fade a little, depending on how long you wait, and if you dry hopped and leave it for too long you could develop grassy flavors. Still, that's only a week so you'll be fine.

If its still bubbling steadily then its still fermenting steadily which means you shouldn't be bottling it yet anyways unless you potentially want bottle bombs.

Unless he added sugar to the secondary, there's no way its still fermenting (2 weeks in the secondary already). It's likely a dry hopped beer, and the hops settling are pushing bubbles of oxygen out of the beer, making the airlock bubble. I've had beers bubble as I walk by, just because that vibration caused a little disruption.

The airlock isnt a good way to tell if it's done; take a gravity reading, and another one 3 days later. If they're the same then you're good to go.

03ltrain said:

My question is will the extra time hurt the beer?

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Nope.

I did dry hop the beer when I transferred it into the secondary (on 07/20/2012) and I used a hop sock. I did not add any additional sugar. It has a 3 piece air lock and it bubbles 2 times a minute.
I will try to get a gravity reading.

Very well could be the hops settling in it. It has a way of causing degassing and release of the CO2, hopefully not oxygen, in the beer. It is perfectly normal. But do make sure you take gravity readings a couple days apart before you bottle to make sure.