Holding Times

Hi all,

Brand new brewer here. I just brewed my first batch of beer (Irish Stout)..

I have a questiono about holding times.. What are the lengths of time that the bier will stay good for in

1) The fermenter, after fermenting is complete

2) After adding sugar for carbonating

3) In the bottles

4) In a keg..

Thanks for any ideas..

Thanks
David

I'm not sure I understand your questions, but here goes:

1. In the primary fermentor, you can leave it in there for a while (maybe 3 weeks) if you have to. But you will start to get off flavors from it sitting on dead yeast and trub. In the secondary, you can probably leave it for months before you'd get any bad flavors. I would say that ideally you'd leave it in primary for a week and secondary for 2 weeks.

2. You carbonate when you bottle (or keg) so you don't carbonate it and then let it sit. If you add priming sugar and don't bottle, you're just going to restart fermentation. Then, you'd have to prime again when you bottle after that second fermentation finishes.

3. Depending on temperatures, your beer would be good in bottles for at least 6 months. longer for heavier beers. I've had older homebrew, but maybe that was cellar stored.

4. I have no idea!

Lorena

Typical Rule of Thumb

1 week in Primary.
2 weeks in Secondary.
3 weeks in bottles.

You can't leave it in the primary for too long. Once there is no more sugar for the yeast to consume, they start eating themselves and gives the beer off flavours.

Don't be afraid of leaving the beer in the primary. It needs to be in there for multiple weeks after primary fermentation is complete before autolysis starts. But generally fermentation is complete after a week. Some off mine have taken 10 days. Big beers (OG 1.080+) can take 2 weeks or longer, I've given some three. Lagers can take a while due to the colder temps.

Secondaries can go several weeks. As long as the temperature is OK and there is no oxygen, it could probably go months. I usually go 2 weeks, but have gone as far as 6 (big doppelbock).

Carbonation is usally done after 2 weeks, but sometimes longer. Just be patient. And just because it's carbonated, doesn't mean the beer is really ready. With normal brews, mine are usually good after a month in the bottle.

In the bottle or keg, months. I've got beer older than 6 months that's still good. Store them with proper temps andd they'll last a while. I'm aging my Barleywine for about a year before officially cracking it open.

The short answer to all of this is that you would need way more time than you think to ruin a beer. Most homebrewers err on the other side. Racking before the primary is complete, bottling too soon, drinking green beer etc.

The general rule around here is 1 week in primary, 2 weeks in secondary, 3 weeks in bottle. If you do a big beer, double it all to be safe. Your patience will be rewarded.

That rule of thumb is more about the minimum time needed to make good beer, not an indicator as to how long the beer is good for. I believe the poster was asking aobut the longest time at each stage.

Kegs and bottles are effecitvely the same as far as storage goes. Kegs have 2 mild advantages. A) there is zero light getting to the beer, even in direct sunlight. Brown bottles are good at stopping the harmful rays but not perfect. and b) the larger mass makes the beer less affected by temp swings if your storage location doesn't have stable temps.

Beer can easily be stored for months and some beers actually benefit from a year or more of aging. The key is to store it in a cool, dark place and leave it alone.

Thanks everyone for your replies!! I have 5 gals of Irish Stout brewing right now, and I have materials for another 5 gals of Wheat Bier.

My concern was not drinking the Irish fast enough, and the Wheat just sitting around and going bad.. Of course, I want to brew it all now, as it's quite fun

Nothing says you have to finish one batch before you start on the next! I've had as many as 9 cornies active at once. Bottling, you are only limited by storage. A really rough rule of thumb for shelf life with bottled beer, kept cold, out of the light: 6 months + 1 month for every % ABV.