Leaving a beer on the yeast cake; how long is too long?

Alright, so I've been thinking about this and most people (myself included) seem to think that racking to a secondary vessel is not necessary in a majority of instances. Beer in a five gallon carboy can survive and prosper on top of a yeast cake without suffering from autolysis. That said, when bulk aging a beer everyone (or it seems nearly everyone) suggests racking to avoid that risk but what is the time frame for this. A month of aging? Two months? Three months? Six?

I guess, bottom line: what is the absolute longest you'd recommend leaving a beer on the yeast cake for? And at that point, is there any real benefit to racking to a secondary for additional bulk aging versus just bottling and letting it bottle age for an extended period of time?

The longest I've left a beer on the yeast cake is 4 weeks.

People have left their beer in primary for a year with no issues. I've done nearly that. This discussion has been thoroughly covered in this thread, it's become the "uber discussion" on this topic.

To Secondary or Not? John Palmer and Jamil Zainasheff Weigh In .

Revvy posts...Discussion over.

Koduolu said:

Revvy posts...Discussion over.

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That is actually fact by the way if anyone was curious.... I gotta try a beer of his someday.....

Koduolu said:

Revvy posts...Discussion over.

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You felt the need to resurrect a dead thread from a month ago to post this?:fro:

I've left beers on the yeast cake for over 3 months so far without any negative effect/impact. I also don't rack a beer to another vessel EXCEPT for EXTENDED aging on something that works best off the yeast. IMO autolysis is another 'boogie man' leftover from when home brewing was in it's infancy and they were mirroring the methods used by the BIG brewers. You know, those with a few THOUSAND gallons on top of the yeast cake. There's no way we can produce anywhere near the amount of pressure on the yeast at the homebrewer scale. Even with 15 gallon fermenters (conicals and kegs) it's just not an issue. I would even wager that it's not even a consideration until you get into the many barrel fermenter volumes.

I have another pair of fermenting vessels on the way. That will put me to 5 total. So, I'll have enough to leave one for as long as I want. I have a brew that was started almost two months ago. It's still going (low and slow). So, I'll just leave it alone until either it's ready, or I want to move it for aging with some oak. Hell, I might leave it in primary for 6 months (or more).

Damn, didn't see it was from over a month ago... :smack:

Revvy said:

You felt the need to resurrect a dead thread from a month ago to post this?:fro:

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Sorry Rev. I had a new question and your old answer did it!