In primary too long?

Quick question:
I put a stout into the primary for fermentation about 2 weeks ago. The airlock stopped action almost a week and a half ago, but I've been really busy and have not been able to bottle yet. I went to do it tonight and realized I didn't have enough caps, so I won't be able to bottle until Saturday. Is 3 weeks too long to leave beer sitting in the primary? It's in a plastic bucket with an airlock, in a dark room. Is this going to do anything negative to my beer?

Nothing will happen to your beer. Its happy just sitting there waiting for you, that a nice thing about beer.

Remember most people would transfer to a secondary and let it sit there a while longer. However, there are those that don't secondary and let it sit in the primary for 6-8 weeks to get a clearer finish product.

If you are bottling from the fermenter, I'd say 3 weeks is the minimum.

I just had a similar situation with a porter, relax, everything is fine. I went a month in the primary and I've received great reviews.

Did you check with a hydrometer to see if it is ready to be bottled? I would think that your are safe but I wouldn't want to bottle to early and risk having bottle bombs.

Seabee John said:

I just had a similar situation with a porter, relax, everything is fine. I went a month in the primary and I've received great reviews.

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Ill second that, if anything it will be a better, clearer beer, bottle that bad boy up!

By the way that porter rocks John, a good cold weather brew!

Cheffreyg said:

Quick question:
I put a stout into the primary for fermentation about 2 weeks ago. The airlock stopped action almost a week and a half ago, but I've been really busy and have not been able to bottle yet. I went to do it tonight and realized I didn't have enough caps, so I won't be able to bottle until Saturday. Is 3 weeks too long to leave beer sitting in the primary? It's in a plastic bucket with an airlock, in a dark room. Is this going to do anything negative to my beer?

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From what I've read, it seems an increasing number of people are leaving their beers in primary for longer than the 7 to 10 days that are often recommended. I've left all mine in primary for two weeks, but I'm going to up that to three weeks for my next batch. I've heard the theory is that giving the yeast longer to tidy up after itself can lead to better beers.

So if that logic holds, your beer will be better after three weeks in primary than if you'd only left it two weeks. Either way, you'll be fine.

Howdy,

I have an AG APA in the primary right now for 5 weeks (Which im bottling tomorrow)... I use to always secodary but I find I get a better/clearer beer by just leaving it in the primary. Also I don't increase the ods of infection by moving it into another carboy. I was one of those 1-2-3 rule guys for years but after listening to a few people over the years I decided to try something different. Now I just let the beer tell me when to bottle.

Cheers
Grimmy