late bottling

I was supposed to bottle my pumpkin pale ale Saturday but got sent to Texas last week and wont be back until this Saturday. Will the extra week in the secondary effect it the taste in a negative way?

Beer won't be negatively affected one iota.

I've never had anything negative happen from giving a batch more time once fermentation is finished.

IF you're following a recipe, especially from a kit, chances are it would have you rush through the process (fermenting time). These instructions are notorious for calling out far too little time (for most people, especially new brewers) from boil to bottle. Unless you have a fermentation chamber, or way to keep the brew fermenting at optimal temperatures for the yeast used, it will benefit from more time. If you have, then the more time won't do anything negative.

BTW, the bare minimum I'll let any ale go in fermenter is two weeks. That's for something with an OG of 1.060 or below. Anything above that will typically go 3 weeks or more before moving. I've had some go about 12 weeks before being shifted either to serving keg, or aging vessel (for wood additions). I have a batch brewed on 10/6 that will be moving to kegs this week (sometime). It was done fermenting in under 5 days, but there's no harm in letting it age a bit more in keg. It won't be going on tap for a bit, since I don't have any open spots (right now).

Something else, I do hope you know to follow Revvy's parameters for bottle carbonating. Otherwise, I suspect you'll be posting about not having good carbonation after too short a time frame. Also use one of the carbonation calculation tools/sites to get the proper amount of sugar to prime with.

Thanks alot for the input. I am using a kit. It had me ferment for 1 week then go to the secondary for 3 weeks and bottle for a week. It came with priming sugar measured out but I will take a look st that guide. Thanks

Tritonal said:

Thanks alot for the input. I am using a kit. It had me ferment for 1 week then go to the secondary for 3 weeks and bottle for a week. It came with priming sugar measured out but I will take a look st that guide. Thanks

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Next time you make an ale, ignore racking to the second vessel (add that time to primary). Also, you need to have the bottles at 70F for at least three weeks in order for them to carbonate. Then the 5-7 days (or more) in the fridge to get the CO2 into the BEER. IME, when bottling, a week is a good starting point in the fridge. Put a bottle (after 3 weeks at 70F), let it chill for another week, then pour and sample. IF it's good, put more in the fridge for the same week span and start enjoying. Just be sure to restock, and keep putting the replacements behind the others.