Dry hopping: How long is too long?

I've been drying hopping in my primary for a week now and today was supposed to be bottling day... unfortunately, I just realized that I have no where near enough caps. To make matters worse, I live in rural Japan so it's going to be 5 days before my delivery of supplies arrives. That means it'll be about 13 days of drying hopping in the primary.

Should I transfer my beer into a secondary for the next 5 days or just leave it in the primary? I dry hopped with 45g (1.5oz) of Cascade and beer temps have been around 17-18C (62F-64F). I should also mention that the style was a very hoppy IPA. I was around 100 IBUs at the time of brewing.

As usual, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

If it were me, I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you have a sensitive palate, some people will say that you might pick up grassy or vegetal notes from the hops. I have never experienced this.

That being said, I've never gone past 16 or 17 days. I would rack and bottle the day you get the caps.

Thanks IC. I wonder if dropping the temp down would also be a benefit at this point?

Cold crashing (dropping the temp down) probably wouldn't do anything to stop the hops from adding the aroma since they will still be in the beer, but that is just my assumption. However if you have the ability to drop the temperature down it will benefit the beer by making it more clear because whatever hops and other floaties you have in there will drop to the bottom and avoid being racked into your bottling bucket.

I wonder if dropping the temp down would also be a benefit at this point?

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Not sure about that one. I have a communal fermenter, too many long aging sours in there, so I rarely cold crash. But I have read the yeast gets coated in hop oils, or some such thing. It's possible that a cold crash will maybe change your hop profile a little.

I would wait for a more knowledgeable member to chime in on that one though.

I regularly leave hops in for 14 days. Don't worry about it.

I once left dry hops in for 5 months ....... other things got in the way. Ended up being a great beer.

Just leave it, bottle when you can, and when you drink it, make your own judgement, and use that knowledge for future brews.

Just leave it, bottle when you can, and when you drink it, make your own judgement, and use that knowledge for future brews

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Now there's a good answer.

Thanks guys. As I suspected, just leave it. Hopefully it turns out as good as I imagine it will

Two weeks isn't too long. You'll be fine.

Cool it down if you can. It will help clear the beer and keep everything "fresh". I keg hop with several ounces and have never noticed any negative effects with hops contacting the beer for months at 40 degrees.

I left four oz of pellet hops in a five gallon batch for 15 days. Ended up being my most aromatic batch so far!

Had pretty much the same problem about six months ago. Couldn't bottle for a while. Dry hop duration increased from a planned one week to an actual three weeks. Turned out wonderful, one of my best brews ever.