8 months later...

I had a batch of American Wheat that was brewed almost 8 months ago... Never even put it in a secondary. Bought a house, started renovating, and before I knew it, the beer was still sitting in the closet at my parents house.

Last night, I finally got over there to keg it... and I must say, it tasted great. No distinct off taste from the trub that I could pick up. Its in the fridge carbonating now, so I'll know if a few days for sure just how good it is.

So glad to be back to brewing. The house projects are finally winding down enough to make room for more beer production.

Good news! As much concern as autolysis causes, it seems if the brew is left on the cake, no problem. I think someone on the board had a stout in his basement for over a year.

yeah, as much as people talk about autolysis, the only time I've seen anyone actually talk about experiencing it firsthand is Palmer in HtB...and from what he says, I don't ever want to experience it.

I don't think that I'd ever be able to leave a brew in primary that long even if I had to, but it's good to know that if it does happen it will still be ok.

I'll be sure to report back when its fully carbed. I'm having a party at my house in 9 days. A pig roast to be exact.

I kegged two batches last night, one was the 8 monther.. the other was probably 7 months old. Just got so wrapped up in new house projects, I never had a chance to tend to them. Now, I've got 10 gallons set for the party. :rockin:

Evan! said:

yeah, as much as people talk about autolysis, the only time I've seen anyone actually talk about experiencing it firsthand is Palmer in HtB...and from what he says, I don't ever want to experience it.

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I've had it happen to me when i was just starting out, i had a lager kit that i mistakenly thought had stuck after about a month, on the basis of some poorly understood info garnered from the internet i shook the living daylights out of it for about 5-10 minutes.
Returned to it about a week later to be greeted by the overpowering stench of burnt rubber, needless to say it went down the sink and that particular fermenter was consigned to houshold duties.
I think only if you do something truely idiotic like i did are you going to see any autolysis.

I've always wondered why the books say beers left on yeast cakes too long will go through autolysis but the yeast at the bottom of your bottles will not.

Makes no sense to me.

Regards,
Al

GIusedtoBe said:

I've always wondered why the books say beers left on yeast cakes too long will go through autolysis but the yeast at the bottom of your bottles will not.

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Great logic! By that same token, I have always wondered why it was necessary to go to a great deal of effort to culture and maintain a yeast strain when a bottle filler and a cap appears to accomplish the same purpose AND the decantant is a pleasure to consume.