Beer Emergency--deploying for 7 months in less than 5 days

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SKYY

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2011
Messages
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Location
Okinawa
Well it wouldn't be an emergency, but I have 2 x 5-gallon batches in secondaries right now, and a 5-gal in primary.

My problem is time. I don't have enough time to let these awesome beers sit through the normal fermentation process. The ones I racked to secondaries were near their projected final gravities, but still a bit high. They've been racked for over 7 days, so they'll *almost* be ready for bottling by the time I'm supposed to leave.

So, what's the best thing to do with these beers? Should I try to accelerate the process with artificial heat and bottle them at the last minute, or just relax and let them sit in carboys for the 7 months I'll be away?

I've heard different things about letting beers sit in secondaries for extended times--supposedly, you can let a beer sit indefinitely in a carboy. If that's true, let me know!
 
FWIW these are all ales...

I have my Oktoberfest beers (the standard ofest and a dopplebock) as well as my St. Pats beers (Irish red and stout) that will remain in the primary fermenters for nearly 6 months, on the yeast and everything.

If these are wheat beers or light beers I would wait as long as possible then bottle if it was even a pale ale or heavier/darker beer I would leave it for when you return. Besides it will give you something to think about and look forward to.
 
If you want them to age/mature while you're gone, rack off the yeast into a secondary and let them sit at room temp. There will still be enough yeast to finish up any fermentation and clean up during the next 7 months. If you want them fresh, get them in bottles and refrigerate them the whole time.
 
Thanks for the replies. I'm thinking let them all sit in secondaries for eternity, while I do the Good Lord's Work, and then when I return to civilization, I'll bottle them and age them further.
 
This'll be interesting.....

General consensus says that there will be enough yeast left after many, many months.. enough to get your bottles to carb up.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you next Spring, when they're bottled up and hopefully carbonated

Stay safe
 
SKYY, what beer styles are they? Curious more than anything. Some styles age a lot better than others (dark stuff, high gravity), while some are better as fresh and green as you can get them (hoppy stuff).

Also, I wouldn't worry about having enough yeast to carbonate after you bottle them in 7 months. Unless you're filtering your beer to remove the yeast, there will certainly be enough yeast left in suspension to carb up just fine. If you're really worried about it you could always add a quarter of a package of US-05 at bottling to guarantee that you've got fresh yeast to bottle condition.

The other thing you need to think about is oxygen exposure. If you've got glass carboys, nothing to worry about. If the beers are in ale pales they may pick up oxygen if they're in there for that long. Same thing for Better Bottles, though they claim that they are impervious to oxygen. Lots of different opinions about this, but something for you to think about if you're bulk aging beers.

Thanks for your service. Stay safe.
 
wittmania said:
The other thing you need to think about is oxygen exposure. If you've got glass carboys, nothing to worry about. If the beers are in ale pales they may pick up oxygen if they're in there for that long.

Have you ever experienced this? I've had beer in a bucket for a year and not noticed any sign of oxidation.
 
The other thing you need to think about is oxygen exposure. If you've got glass carboys, nothing to worry about. If the beers are in ale pales they may pick up oxygen if they're in there for that long. Same thing for Better Bottles, though they claim that they are impervious to oxygen. Lots of different opinions about this, but something for you to think about if you're bulk aging beers.

If the buckets remain closed there's not much risk of that. And what evidence do you have to counter BB's claims that they are impervious to oxygen? Statements like that without actual evidence are part of the problem on this forum. It confuses and worries new members needlessly.
 
Not trying to worry anyone, but there are threads and threads and threads out there about this topic and many people believe that plastic in any form will allow oxygen through. I did not say it does or it doesn't. I just said it was something to think about since oxidation is one of the biggest concerns when aging a beer for a longer than normal period of time.
 
wittmania said:
Not trying to worry anyone, but there are threads and threads and threads out there about this topic and many people believe that plastic in any form will allow oxygen through. I did not say it does or it doesn't. I just said it was something to think about since oxidation is one of the biggest concerns when aging a beer for a longer than normal period of time.

There's also thread after thread where people indicate that sparge temps over 170 degrees will cause tannin extraction, but it's simply not true. Over time these myths will die out as homebrewers as a whole become more experienced and less superstitious. I think it's a good rule in general to not repeat something unless you've experienced it directly.
 
SKYY,
There are several of us homebrewers in Oki, if you need somebody to rack your beers or bottle them just let us know. I bet one of us could help a brother out! Stay safe.
 
SKYY, what beer styles are they? Curious more than anything.*snip*

They're all high-grav brews.

One is a brown ale (1.084 OG...measured at 1.020 when I racked). This one has since been bottled. I tasted the drippings from the hyrdometer when I bottled it...and all I could say at the time was, "damn, this is going to be a good beer!"

Another is an IPA kit that I added an additional # of light DME and about 7 oz more hops, 3 of which were used for dry-hopping in the carboy, with a rough FG of 1.089 after brewing (so, it's effectively a DIPA). I racked it at 1.025, it's been sitting in a carboy for over a week, and I have not seen much activity since racking.

I also have another high-grav blonde. I don't have my notes handy, but it started with a high 1.080s OG. I let it sit in the primary for a week or so, and then I racked and dry-hopped it with some williamette hops for more aroma complexity. All observable fermentation activity has stopped in this one, although it continues to clarify with each day.

The last one, the one in the primary, is a standard Brewer's Best Holiday Ale (one of my favorites). Maybe it's their spice pack, but I've brewed this one three times, and I can't get enough of it. I'm seriously considering just bottling this one tomorrow, and dealing with the overcarbonation I'll probably get when I try to drink it in 7 months.
 
Thanks again for all the helpful replies. I decided to bottle the two that were racked, and rack the one that was in the bucket. It turned out to be a good decision, thus far. I'll be sure to update this thread when I get back, so we can learn from my troubles.

You know you made a good beer when you find yourself "tasting" over a cup of the bottling bucket's leftovers. :D Both the IPA and the blonde reached their targeted FG, and I'm really glad I dry-hopped them and added oak chips to the process. I can't wait to see how they've aged when I get home in 7 months!

Chap, thanks for the offer, but I think I'm good for now. Besides, the last time a fellow Okinawan offered to babysit my brews, it was a Gunnery Sergeant from Camp Foster. I'd trust my life to a Gunny in combat, but I know better than to let them watch over my beers! :D
 
It has almost been seven months! I have seriously been waiting to hear how this turns out...
 
Well, after what was supposed to be a 6-monther turned into a 9-monther, I'm back.

The beer in the carboy has developed a film of mold on the surface. Everything was sterlized/sanitized appropriately, and the airlock still had fluid in it. I'll post a picture later, for reference.

Since I have the time and bottles to do so, I'll attempt racking nonetheless. I'll update this thread once the bottling process is complete. I'm pretty sure it'll still be drinkable.

On the bright side, the beers I bottled turned out great. :)
 
Thanks for your service to our country. Glad you're home safe. May God bless you with some great tasting beer!
 
Since you are bottling, you obviously don't have a CO2 tank, but maybe you could get one of those little pistol grip things that use the small CO2 cartridges and try what I do. I don't trust regular air. Not just for the Oxygen, but for the other baddies that are probably floating in it. So, after I clean and sanitize my carboy, I always hit it with some CO2, to try and purge the regular air out of it. Then I rack the beer into it. I did have, one time, what looked like a little mold starting on the beer after a while in secondary. So, since then, I've always hit it with some CO2 to purge the air and have never had a problem since.

Really, I only worry about this for long term storage in secondary though. Usually when all my kegs are full and it's going to be a while before one opens up, or bulk aging and not wanting to take up a keg. It just seems a CO2 environment is probably better at keeping the little bugs at bay then any space with Oxygen in it.

And thank you for serving our country.
 
Skyy

Hey man, just let us know how it works out when you get back. I would be very interested in hearing what a 7 month secondary does for the taste. I'm willing to bet that once you bottle and carb it it will be smooth and tasty. So keep us in the loop and Pop as many Taliban as they give you ammo for. One less to kill later when they come here with their brand of stupid.

Wheelchair Bob, A Vet......
 
Rbeckett said:
Skyy

Hey man, just let us know how it works out when you get back. I would be very interested in hearing what a 7 month secondary does for the taste. I'm willing to bet that once you bottle and carb it it will be smooth and tasty. So keep us in the loop and Pop as many Taliban as they give you ammo for. One less to kill later when they come here with their brand of stupid.

Wheelchair Bob, A Vet......

Hey Bob, he's back now. This thread started 9 months ago. Instant gratification.
 
Well, after what was supposed to be a 6-monther turned into a 9-monther, I'm back.

The beer in the carboy has developed a film of mold on the surface. Everything was sterlized/sanitized appropriately, and the airlock still had fluid in it. I'll post a picture later, for reference.

Since I have the time and bottles to do so, I'll attempt racking nonetheless. I'll update this thread once the bottling process is complete. I'm pretty sure it'll still be drinkable.

On the bright side, the beers I bottled turned out great. :)

Welcome back, glad the bottle beer turned out great
 
...

Chap, thanks for the offer, but I think I'm good for now. Besides, the last time a fellow Okinawan offered to babysit my brews, it was a Gunnery Sergeant from Camp Foster. I'd trust my life to a Gunny in combat, but I know better than to let them watch over my beers! :D

As a former SSgt, this cracked me up.

Wishing you the best,
happy brewing.

Pete
 
Quick update, I bottled today. Surprisingly, the mold(?) did not seem to affect the flavor or aroma of the beer much. I think I sensed an ever-so-slight apple/peary fruity aroma, but it was tough to tell because this beer's brewed with lots of spices like orange zest among others. So there might have been some esterification during its long trip in the secondary, but I don't think it affected the beer much.

The clarity was unreal, though. I've never seen clearer unfiltered beer, even down to the last drop out of the carboy.

Now for the almost final test: to find out of there's still living yeast looking for a quick bite of priming sugar. The final test is going to happen about 2 weeks from now, Insha'Allah.

I always bottle beer into one or two clear PET bottles, just to do the squeeze test for carbonation and to easily see the yeast sediment at the bottom.
 
Quick update, I bottled today. Surprisingly, the mold(?) did not seem to affect the flavor or aroma of the beer much. I think I sensed an ever-so-slight apple/peary fruity aroma, but it was tough to tell because this beer's brewed with lots of spices like orange zest among others. So there might have been some esterification during its long trip in the secondary, but I don't think it affected the beer much.

The clarity was unreal, though. I've never seen clearer unfiltered beer, even down to the last drop out of the carboy.

Now for the almost final test: to find out of there's still living yeast looking for a quick bite of priming sugar. The final test is going to happen about 2 weeks from now, Insha'Allah.

I always bottle beer into one or two clear PET bottles, just to do the squeeze test for carbonation and to easily see the yeast sediment at the bottom.

I won't be surprised if it takes a little longer than that to know for sure. After all, the regularly repeated advice is three weeks @ 70 degrees is the baseline for normal gravity beers to properly carb up. Lower temps and higher gravities can take longer. An extended secondary might make it take a little longer, too.

You might indeed have carbed beer after two weeks, but don't despair if it takes twice that long (or longer).

Also - thanks for your service. My nephew is based in Okinawa, though he's been in the Phillipines for the past few months.
 
Well I'll be damned, that yeast came back to life like you read about! Those little guys were obviously hungry! I could feel the plastic bottles pressurizing within the first 24 hours of bottling, and here's what it looks like after 2 days:

Z8iWtmc.jpg


The two clear plastic bottles I have are already highly pressurized, and exhibit the depicted proof of flocculation. Honestly, I'm thinking that I'll be able to open one in about a week, plus a few days of cold conditioning. It might be undercarbonated or a bit green, but what homebrewer doesn't jump the gun when it comes to tasting the final product? :D

Just to reiterate, this beer sat in a BB carboy for 8 months, and fermentation had stopped long ago. It looked like I had a mold infection on the top of the beer in the carboy, but I bottled nonetheless. This yeast doesn't just live, it dominates!

This strain is your standard Safale US-05, FYI.
 
I'm really amazed. I cold-conditioned and opened that PET bottle just today, and opened it to gauge the bottling fermentation. It's not fully-carbonated, but the ale ended up smelling and tasting delicious!

To conclude this great thread, here's the major lessons learned from my experience with super-long-term secondary storage:

1) It works just fine! Do your standard sanitization ritual and you have nothing to worry about, especially for high-gravity brews.
2) If, after 8 months, you return to find what looks like ugly whitish mold patches growing on the surface, IGNORE IT. It's probably not mold, but just your standard yeast colony after 5 months of dormancy. If you shine a light and see stringy white things beneath the patches, it's yeast, not mold (yeast forms strings).
3) The yeast will STILL be alive to support bottle fermentation. The hibernation will leave them so starving for sugars that the bottle conditioning process will result in drinkable carbonation in less time than you would think. It took 1 day for the plastic bottles to show signs of activity, and just 5 days total to reach some degree of drinkability.
4) Your beer will have awesome clarity, even if you used no coagulants in the brewing process.

FYI, this is the third time I've brewed this ale. It's one of my long-time favorites, and one which I'll be brewing again soon enough. BB Holday Ale, for those of you that are interested: http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/1049_Holiday_Ale.pdf

Cheers!

0yZuHKQ.jpg
 
...and finally, never trust a Gunnery Sergeant in the USMC to tend to your beers...he'll "tend" to them like you read about:

"Oh hey, LT...I'm real sorry, but I had to euthanize your beer. It got contaminated, with some strange strain of fungi that we never knew about, you know...so I had no choice but to get rid of it...you know!? This is such a saddening event that I might burst into tears any minute now...but I'll do my best to hold those tears back! Don't forget that you're a great brewer, OK? I'm sure you'll succeed in the future..." (lolz)
 
Thaks for following up and letting us know!

I had full confidence that the beer would carb. Think about it. Homebrewers harvest yeast from commerical bottles to cultivate and ferment with. The yeast doesn't just vanish, and it certainly isn't THAT easy to kill.

Still, it's nice to see a tale like this, especially when you get those that are certain that their yeast is dead due to three whole weeks in a carboy.
 
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