Bad calendar judgement

ok, so I made my first all-grain batch of barley wine last saturday. Problem is, I completely forgot that I would be going on a travel 6 days later. =p

So these are the facts... I have divided this batch in 3 yeasts (S-04, S-05 and T-58) and by today I still have some action in all of them - with my airlocks bubbling every 1 and a half minute or so. 9 hours from now I'll be on a plane far away from here, so I *really* am not sure of what to do, as I will be back only january 4. I can:

1) prime and bottle everything now;
2) trasfer everything to secondary fermentors and leave'em;
3) just leave it on the primaries. Inthis case, beer would be at least 3 and a half weeks on the primary.

Now, I've seen a thread here about people leaving wort on the primary for a month or even more... should I go for that and just leave it? what do you suggest?

(ps: i call this my "sort-of-barley wine"...I had a really awfull efficiency and my OG was only 1072 - for a planned 1100. I'm getting used to making "sort of" beers. I the last few months I also brewed my "sort-of-robust porter" and my "sort-of-strong ale". Maybe i should register "sort-of" as a brand and start making money out of it? lol)

I wouldn't give it a second thought to leave in the primary. In my opinion, it's better to error on the side of a longer primary versus a too short of a primary. I highly doubt you'll be running into any autolysis, especially with your barleywine.

I left my barleywine in the primary for 1 month and though it is still aging, I think it will turn out great.

LuizArgh said:

1) prime and bottle everything now;
2) trasfer everything to secondary fermentors and leave'em;
3) just leave it on the primaries. Inthis case, beer would be at least 3 and a half weeks on the primary.

Click to expand...

1= exploding bottles. It's probably no fun to come home to bug and mold covered broken glass.
2= PITA and may get your yeast falling out earlier than you want (high final gravity).
3= 3 and a half weeks can be a long time for yeast in beer, but in this case (gallons of beer, not barrels) you will be fine.

LuizArgh said:

3) just leave it on the primaries. Inthis case, beer would be at least 3 and a half weeks on the primary.

Click to expand...

With out a doubt what I would do. When I don't secondary, I leave my beer on the yeast for at least 4 weeks.

so, basically, if I bottle my beer now i'll be creating hand grenades? that sounds like a damn good reason not to do it

and thanks everyone for the answers. I'll just leave it has it is - though I forgot to mention something: it's summer here (Brazil, everybody!) and though i'm in a fairly cold place here for summer standards, the temperature in the improvised closet filled with foam I use to keep my primaries is usually 74ºF. Will that make any difference?

One more thing: I just joined this forum (these are my first posts, actually!) and it's quite obvious that everyone here is really receptive. Guess this is my new home then =)

My vote is top your air locks up and level them in the primary.

Shoot, I frequently forget about when I brewed and when I should rack and have left beers in the primary for 6 weeks at a time.... I have yet to have a problem. I vote for leave it, and take care of it when you get back.

74 is high for fermentation temp (really 60's is usually best). You can ferment at 74 ambient but you'll be getting more esters from the yeast (which can be good for some styles) I believe you'll be OK conditioning at 74, not perfect but not bad either. If you were up at 90 or more I'd be worried about leaving it on the yeast that long.

74 is a bit warm. It is really most important to keep the temp cool and steady during the initial fermentation.

It probably won't kill it to get a bit warm now that the activity is slowing down. Might even help to insure you achieve complete attenuation with a barley wine.

One thin you can do to help is place your fermenters in water baths. It won't keep them super cool but it can slow the effect of temperature fluctuations. Just use a big plastic tub or trash can.

Use a blowoff tube in a gallon milk jug of water so it doesn't dry out. You'll be fine. Definitely wait it out though.

Another vote for leave it. 74F isn't a big deal for aging. It's mostly fermented, so that isn't a consideration.