Beer in fermentor for 4 months, Dump?

About 5 months ago, I brewed a pale ale. Things seemed to be going well. Fermentation was ok, not great and was similar to my first brew. So I made my first mistake by putting it in my bottle bucket before I checked the SG. The SG was very low, and when I tasted it I could taste the unfermented sugars. My second mistake was that the original yeast scum from the bottom of the fermentor was already down the drain.

So then I put it back into a prepped glass fermentor and added some dry yeast (mistake 3?). and put it back in the basement were additional fermentation took place.

Mistake 4, it has been there for 4 months now.

Can this be saved? I am worried about bacteria, and getting sick. So, if it doesn't smell bad, would it be safe to bottle?

Thanks,

Mike

You won't get sick. Worst case is it tastes like ass. Give it a try.

TripleZ, bottle it. It will be fine. I have left a beer in my fermentor for 6 months, granted it was an imperial stout. But you should be fine and visible signs of infection? Even then it shouldn't be infected if it has been sealed the whole time and there is still sanitizer in the airlock.

How long had it been in the fermentor when you decided to put it in the bottling bucket and still tasted sugars?

4 months is nothing. It will be OK

+1 it's fine

B

I will pm you my adress it's definatlly bad mail it to me and I'll dump it for you I promise ..... No seriously your fine.

It's probably going to be the best damn beer you've made. Why would you think of dumping something without even tasting it first?

Folks have left their beer for a year in primary, I've done 6 and the beer's were great. I'm about to bottle one tomorrow that I brewed back in May.

You have basically fermented it twice. You say the first time around the SG was very low and you could taste unfermented sugars. That is not consistent, meaning your SG was still high if you could still taste unfermented sugars.

You then transferred to another vessel, added more yeast and continued fermentation. I would agree with Revvy - it will probably be a very outstanding beer at this point, I would certainly bottle and enjoy the hell out of it.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. It was in the fermenter for 3 weeks before I dumped it in the bottling bucket the first time. Also, BemoreBrew, I should have said high SG, not low Sg.

Mike

Had a red ale I brewed sit for 4 months. I got sick and it sat for 4 months, all I could do was keep the airlock filled. Turned out to be the best brew I made. Everyone who tried it was thrilled with it.

Think you will be too.

When you taste this (prior to bottling) let us know how it is. I agree with everyone else, take a reading, taste it, and bottle.