4 month secondary on a wheat ale?

So I recently learned a coworker of mine brews. We got talking about brewing and he said he just brewed a wheat beer that will be ready in April. Is this odd? I asked him the recipe and it isn't anything crazy. 5.5% hefe with blood oranges added in the secondary. He said he lets all of his beers sit in primary for 1 month and secondary for 3. This just seems unneeded for 5.5% heffe's and light pale ales? Or am I wrong?


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It probably won't hurt it. I've let beers go that long in the primary with no ill effects. He probably wants it to go that long to help settle out. Where it would be detrimental would be in beers where fresh hops aroma and flavors are very important. I wouldn't let an IPA go that long but it won't hurt some beers to have a nice long fermentation. He should consider using lager techniques.

I brewed a raspberry wheat last winter that sat almost a month in the primary and just over 4 months in the secondary (life got busy and I was using my friend's equipment at his house). It turned out pretty awesome. I drank the last one on christmas eve after brewing my first batch with my own equipment.

aiptasia said:

It probably won't hurt it. I've let beers go that long in the primary with no ill effects. He probably wants it to go that long to help settle out. Where it would be detrimental would be in beers where fresh hops aroma and flavors are very important. I wouldn't let an IPA go that long but it won't hurt some beers to have a nice long fermentation. He should consider using lager techniques.

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Ehh, except in this case its a Hefe and waiting that long as you said will clear the beer...aka not a Hefe anymore.

Wheat beers and IPA's are the ones that should be drank almost immediately, a Hefe i had laying around just got worse over time..all the nice clove and banana flavors started to fade and it just tasted like mildly flavored water after 6 months when i found a bottle lol.

Completely unnecessary. I wonder how much money he spends on carboys and buckets.