How long can I leave in secondary/cold crash?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Meatball358

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2009
Messages
114
Reaction score
1
Location
South Jersey
how long can I leave a fermenting batch in the secondary fermenter before I risk off-flavors or some other problem? is it ok to cold crash a brew for a few weeks to delay the bottling process??
 
Lagers are generally cold crashed (aka around 32 degrees) for 4-6 weeks, or longer. If you only cold crash for a few days, you should have no issues with bottling. If you were to cold crash for an extented time (ie several months) you may not have enough yeast to bottle carbonation, but you should be fine with what you want to do
 
You can leave it in secondary for a long time. I've left ales in secondary for well over a month a basement temperature (65-70 degrees) with no problems, either in flavor or bottle carbing. As for cold crashing, as already stated - if it's a lager, by definition it will be at cold temps for 6+ weeks. I've cold crashed an ale for a week and it carbed up fine. Not sure how long an ale yeast will stay happy at the really cold temps.
 
Back
Top