Beer on the yeast cake indefinitely?

So i went a little crazy and brewed maybe 60 gallons of beer in January and February, now i'm doing a silly detox with my special lady friend and will not be drinking for a few weeks. And it might take a while to get through all of that beer after i start drinking again, especially since its all %6.5+ .


I also have read plenty of threads suggesting not to secondary so i'm trying that whole thing out. My question is this: how long can my beer sit on those yeast cakes??

I've done 6 months with no issues...

I would plan to bottle them before you hit 4-6 months on the cake... If you have bottles/kegs, then when they taste right... Oh, right, how's that going to work??

I don't think the time you have left before you drink again will do any harm to the brew... Once you're able to taste them again, bottle/keg the oldest first... I would try to bottle/keg before you hit ~4-6 months on the yeast cake... Of course, if you have good temperature control, you might be able to go longer. :rockin:

Longest I've left a brew on the yeast, so far, is just shy of 6 weeks. Zero issues on that one.

Ok, i think it wont last 6 months in the Salmon House! And Golddiggie, when you say good temp control, you mean i want to keep it cool or at fermentation temp or just not let it get hot??

I don't bottle. If i keg some up now how long is the shelf life of carbed beer? I've never given my beer longer than a couple of days to carb so i'm interested in maybe trying the set it and forget it technique.

Oh and if i want to age a carboy of my imperial stout for an extended period (months - year) , at what point if any should i secondary?

Thanks so much!

For temp control I'm talking about keeping it at a more stable temperature. Not letting it fluctuate thermally too widely. If it's in an area that goes up/down ~10F every day, that's probably a bad thing. If it's just a few degrees, it might not matter.

From my understanding, if you do the 2 week carbonating on CO2/gas method, once it's carbonated, you can disconnect it from the gas and let it sit for an extended period. Again, you'll probably want it at stable temperatures.

For long term aging, as long as the temperatures are right, you should be able to go years. Revvy has a barleywine that will be aging for ~5 years... Most of the time, people age like that in a wine cellar (or a cool cellar) type environment. Or an artificial one. If you have a place where you can keep it at 50-55F for an extended period, I would go for it. I would also probably toss some oak into the keg you age in. I wouldn't use a carboy for that long. Mostly because I wouldn't want to have to worry about the airlock. Or worry about something knocking it over and spilling it. Or if a glass carboy, something falling onto it and breaking it (or cracking it)... Better to use a corny keg... Once it's all done fermenting, and tastes in line, rack to the corny, toss in the oak, then set it in the aging chamber for the duration...

I'm planning on aging some mead in corny kegs for 4-6 months (maybe longer)... This will be starting pretty soon. Need to get the location where they'll be aging worked out for when I put them into the cornies. Then I'll just label them up and set them aside... Come end of the year, I'll sample and decide if they're ready for bottles yet.