Is it ok to leave beer in the fermenter extra long before bottling?

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FiddleTilDeath

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Me and my roommate have an overhopped Belgian Triple (Belgian Pale?) fermenting in our primary fermenter, it's been about 2 weeks. I'm about to leave the area for a while and don't necessarily want to make my friend do the bottling by himself (obviously more fun to do together while drinking homebrew). Most of the krausen is still up top, and since this is a pretty big beer, would it actually help to give it extra time before bottling? We have no intentions of using a secondary as we're gunna be getting an imperial stout going tomorrow. Is there any reason that leaving it be for a while would be a bad idea?
 
If your not doing a secondary, and doing a Belgium (lazy yeast) I would leave it in primary for one and half months to let the yeast do their thing. Any more and you want to go to secondary if your worried about auto-blahhh-blah. (Really does not kick in for another month or so).
If your leaving for 2 months or more, then you want to move to secondary but do not bottle, otherwise just leave it alone.
 
It's a good idea to leave it longer. I usually leave it 3 - 4 weeks whether I'm using a secondary or not. Leaving it longer allows the yeast to clean up the beer both in flavor and in clarity. Once you see how good it comes out after a few weeks, you'll be leaving all your beers to improve in the primary.
 
Leave it in there, it will be fine. Unless you're leaving the area for several months, you've nothing to worry about. Many prominent brewers feel leaving it on the yeast cake is beneficial. Actually, you shouldn't be thinking about bottling or even racking to secondary if there is still krausen.

My normal operating procedure is 3-5 weeks in primary, and right to the keg for long-term aging. I've gone over two months in primary with no problems.
 
whoops, I'll just be gone a week and a half.
Thanks guys, we'll leave it in the primary for longer and it'll be delicious!
 
First, i dont mean to jack ya thread bro. Secondly, I am not going to contradict these veterans, so I will ask. Isnt it true that leaving the beer on the yeast cake and trub for too long will cause off flavors. Won't the yeast start to die and breakdown if there for an extended period (after 2 months and more)? Temp would have to be pretty low if leaving for 2 and 3 months huh???? Peace
 
Not a hijack, a related question, no problem!

I am interested to hear the answer, although there is no way I would end up leaving a beer that long in a primary.
 
cool ! and yeah, i had been doing some reading a while back and read that even after 3 weeks to a month, yeast and trub can start to break down and cause rubbery off flavors. no personal experience, but i read it. i think it was Ole' J Palmer HOW TO BREW! i am just guessing though, if you are to leave it for too long watch your temperature! good luck chief! -Lee
 
cool ! and yeah, i had been doing some reading a while back and read that even after 3 weeks to a month, yeast and trub can start to break down and cause rubbery off flavors. no personal experience, but i read it. i think it was Ole' J Palmer HOW TO BREW! i am just guessing though, if you are to leave it for too long watch your temperature! good luck chief! -Lee

Not really. Many big name homebrewers (including palmer if i'm not mistaken) are advocating leaving beer on the yeast cake longer. Many have dropped doing a secondary altogether.

Personally, I don't like to leave a beer on the original cake more than 2 months, but even at 2 months, I have never had an autolysis- caused off flavor.
 
Ah, autolysis...one of many bogeymen of brewing. Often discussed, but seldom (if ever!) actually observed. Here's how John Palmer wraps up his section on the subject.

As a final note on this subject, I should mention that by brewing with healthy yeast in a well-prepared wort, many experienced brewers, myself included, have been able to leave a beer in the primary fermenter for several months without any evidence of autolysis. Autolysis is not inevitable, but it is lurking.
 
From everything I've read (and I've read a lot), you can leave your brew in the primary for quite a while before anything nasty starts to happen. Generally, I hear folks saying leave it in there for 3-6 weeks, then take it out. Almost universally, this will improve the beer and guarantee the yeast are finished doing what they need to do. Some guys have left them in there for months at a time due to circumstances or laziness, and still didn't have a problem. Not recommended, but proves the standard 3-6 weeks is nothing to worry about.
 
ok Cool ! thanks, like i said i never really had any experience with off flavors. but i found and read this: JOHN PALMER : HOW TO BREW

Under some conditions, the yeast will also consume some of the compounds in the trub. The "fermentation" of these compounds can produce several off-flavors. In addition, the dormant yeast on the bottom of the fermentor begin excreting more amino and fatty acids. Leaving the post-primary beer on the trub and yeast cake for too long (more than about three weeks) will tend to result in soapy flavors becoming evident. Further, after very long times the yeast begin to die and break down - autolysis, which produces yeasty or rubbery/fatty/meaty flavors and aromas. For these reasons, it can be important to get the beer off of the trub and dormant yeast during the conditioning phase.
 
Ha! Finding contradictory information on the internet. Who'd of thunk it? :D
I am one of those folks the Pelikan mentioned above.

Three months in primary is the longest I've ever done but the beer came out great. I don't really recomend it but sometimes life happens.

I think one of the keys to long primary time is temperature control. My 3 month primary was in my basement that stays a pretty stable temperature. I don't doubt that if your temps are out of control you could do considerable yeast damage that could cause off flavors. However, that would be the case with any amount of time in primary.
 
Some of our key homebrewing books were written a few years back, and at the time conventional homebrewing advice advocated leaving the beer in primary for shorter periods of time. Homebrewing was still a relatively young and unstudied hobby in the early to mid 1990's. As time has progressed some of the boogeymen of homebrewing like Autolysis and Hot side aeration have been somewhat disproven.

I've seen a big shift in the way we do things even in the two years I've been on Homebrewtalk. When I first got here, quite a few senior members advocated the 1-2-3 method (one week primary, 2 weeks secondary, 3 weeks bottled). Now a lot of these same homebrewers have moved away from secondaries and leave their beers in primary longer (myself included).

Listen to the advice given and pick a time period that works for you.
 
ok Cool ! thanks, like i said i never really had any experience with off flavors. but i found and read this: JOHN PALMER : HOW TO BREW

Not so long ago, I brought up that very article. I got a flood of responses saying, in short, that three weeks in the primary is nothing. Like a few of the guys say, brewing methodology has changed since that article was written. I'm fairly certain Palmer wanted to be on the absolute safe side of things when giving recommendations.

By all contemporary accounts, 3-6 weeks in the primary is more than fine: it's recommended.
 
Nurmey- i wasn't contradicting you. i was just showing you bro ! you know far more than i do i promise. i was just trying to show u what ole J palmer said. and yeah i was guessing just cause logic would tell us that in order to keep the breakdown of the yeast cake as minimal as possible, you would have to keep a close eye on your temp. thats what i was saying before.

and pelikan - thanks for the Sum Up! i kinda figured that, but like i was saying i never had any experience with it. i usually leave in primary for 2 weeks then secondary. but anywho! thanks everyone and i hope this helped out the original gentleman who posted.- "Fiddle" -Peace
 
WheaYaAt, I wasn't implying you were contradicting me. It was more a slam at the overwhelming amount of info between the "experts".

One says the Bogey man will get you if you leave beer on the yeast for more than a week. The next guy will tell you the opposite. I used to get a little freaked out by long primary but in almost 4 years of brewing I've never had a problem leaving it several weeks to several months. I don't really believe in the Bogey man anymore.
 
Quick related question... does the type of primary matter? Ideally, if you are going to leave it in the primary for a long period of time, don't you want it to be in a 6.5 gallon glass carboy or better bottle. I've read that leaving it for a long time in a plastic bucket could leave to problems. Thoughts?
 
Quick related question... does the type of primary matter? Ideally, if you are going to leave it in the primary for a long period of time, don't you want it to be in a 6.5 gallon glass carboy or better bottle. I've read that leaving it for a long time in a plastic bucket could leave to problems. Thoughts?

This is a good question. I personally use buckets, and am not seeing a problem with 3-4 weeks in the primary, but my experience is mostly second hand (reading, etc). I'd love for the more experienced members to comment on this one.
 
My first batch was going extremely slow with no head on the primary fermenting bucket - but the hydrometer showed it was slowly fermenting. After 2 weeks I went to secondary but it then took 2 months to clear, although my secondary is a pressure barrel designed to condition and carbonate at the same time.

This time, I have rehydrated the yeast and used gentle heating under the bucket and it is fermenting a lot more vigorously - I am expecting to leave in primary for 2 weeks again as I'm not in such a rush and then see what happens when it goes to secondary.
 
While not an expert I will say that I've personally had beers that were extendedly fermenting, both in glass carboy's and Plastic Buckets and both turned out equally well. I do agree however 3-6 weeks is about right, then either rack to a secondary or directly to kegs.
 
Personally, I wouldn't leave a beer in a plastic bucket for an extended period of time. It'd probably be just fine, but I'd rather not take the chance.
 
Quick related question... does the type of primary matter? Ideally, if you are going to leave it in the primary for a long period of time, don't you want it to be in a 6.5 gallon glass carboy or better bottle. I've read that leaving it for a long time in a plastic bucket could leave to problems. Thoughts?

I primary nearly all my beers for 3-4 weeks. I only secondary if they are really big and need additional time aging. It seems you can leave it in the primary longer but I don't recommend going too much longer than a month, especially with a low gravity beer.

Buckets do allow some O2 to move through the plastic. This can cause oxidation if left too long in the bucket. I havn't seen it with my 4 week primaries but again I don't plan to chance it with a long time in the bucket. A glass fermenter is impermeable to O2 and Better Bottles are nearly so. Either would be a better choice for long term aging.

Craig
 
How long did you let this ferment for? Mine has been in the primary (i still need a secondary) for about 8 days now... I think I can bottle, SG reads 1.010 from my OG 1.040.

last night, my SG read 1.011...so i dont know if i should wait and check again tomorrow....
 
This thread's been dead for going on 2 years.

You want to have identical SG readings 3 days in a row before bottling, but it's worth leaving it in primary for a week after the gravity stabilizes.
 
Let the threats begin... I kept a demi-john (46L, or about 12 USG) of mix beer on the trub for 6 months. No off flavours (other than the ones that usually come with this type of beer, not my favourite, but that's another story).
 
How long did you let this ferment for? Mine has been in the primary (i still need a secondary) for about 8 days now... I think I can bottle, SG reads 1.010 from my OG 1.040.

last night, my SG read 1.011...so i dont know if i should wait and check again tomorrow....

8 days, and 22 more days - let it sit a month. You "CAN" bottle, but you will not be getting your best result. Bottle after one month, then let it sit in the bottle another 3 weeks. Your patience will be rewarded - really!

read around here more - you will get confirmation on this from others, other threads,...

good luck! and congrats on the zombie (reviving a dead thread!)
 
Wow I haven't checked in for a while. I have been highly unmotivated lately and was on vacation for a week in July. At least I had an excuse for not bottling that week. I have a brown ale that's been in my primary for nearly 8 weeks now. We'll see how it turns out but it looks and smells fine. Prior to this, the longest I've ever let a beer sit in my primary was 6 weeks. Turned out fine.

(The truth is that I have come to despise bottling, but can't spring for a keg and spare fridge right now, which I honestly would have preferred to a vacation but SWMBO saw things differently.)
 
Wow I haven't checked in for a while. I have been highly unmotivated lately and was on vacation for a week in July. At least I had an excuse for not bottling that week. I have a brown ale that's been in my primary for nearly 8 weeks now. We'll see how it turns out but it looks and smells fine. Prior to this, the longest I've ever let a beer sit in my primary was 6 weeks. Turned out fine.

(The truth is that I have come to despise bottling, but can't spring for a keg and spare fridge right now, which I honestly would have preferred to a vacation but SWMBO saw things differently.)

bottle and enjoy just give some extra time to carb, let those yeasties wake up!


will be an awesome clean beer! they did their job fully!
 
(The truth is that I have come to despise bottling, but can't spring for a keg and spare fridge right now, which I honestly would have preferred to a vacation but SWMBO saw things differently.)

Keeping SWMBO happy is the best investment. Women see vacations differently than men do, I can't explain quite how it is, but I know it has to do with excitement, anticipation, escape and a bit of hanky-panky. It's like with shoes -- they just love a vacation.

If you and SWMBO don't see eye-to-eye on brewing, then tell her every week -- as often as you can really -- all of the reasons why you love, respect, admire and desire her... you and she will both be happier.

Then she'll let you get the keg. ;)
 
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