Longest time left in primary with good results

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sweaterman

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I have a Maple Amber Ale in primary right now (bucket). It's been in for three weeks. The wort's OG was 1064. I think this beer could benefit from a longer time sitting, but am wondering if I should move it to secondary or if people think it will be ok in the bucket a bit longer. And just generally, what is the longest time you have left a beer in primary with good results?

I am kegging it so I could just as well move it to the keg and let it condition in there, but I just wanted to discuss this for future reference and if I lose my time on Monday that I have planned to move this beer.
 
How is attenuating? The main issue with moving to secondary too soon is you will transfer to much yeast across... The main reason for racking is to get the beer off the yeast cake to avoid yeast necrosis..
 
I've seen 6 weeks with good results. You'll probably find some have left their beer in primary even longer with good results as well. If its done fermentation and you just want to bulk age for anything longer than 4-6 weeks than I would rack to secondary.
 
Either way works just fine. No problem leaving the beer on the yeast for extra time. I keg and I like to get my beer off the yeast quickly as I have found that is what gives me the flavors I like. I will purge with CO2 at kegging time and hit it with some gas to ensure a good seal, but then will generally let it sit for 1-2 more weeks before starting to carbonate.
 
I had a Flanders Red in the primary for 16 months. Got an honorable mention in the last comp I entered it in. So there's that.
 
Honestly, if it were me, I'd check the gravity and if it's near terminal, then I'd rack to secondary for clearing. Nothing wrong with leaving it on the yeast for a few weeks, but it won't hurt to rack to a clearing vessel either.

With a gravity that low I can't see why you'd want to let it sit too long before packaging anyway.
 
I may be the odd man out here, but I find that anything (sours etc. not withstanding) that i leave on the primary yeast for more than 3-4 weeks starts to pick up some meaty aromas and generally have a deteriorated flavor. that being said, if you can cold store in your primary vessel I bet you could stretch that time out a bit.
 

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