How Long Can I Leave In Carboy

While this is probably posted around, I have only found "It's OK to leave it in the carboy for a month..."

Well here's my question:

I have 2 kegs, 1 tapped and 1 carbonating (naturally), and I have a 3rd brew in the carboy. This Friday will be the start of week 5. My question is, how long can I leave it in the carboy before I will need to keg it (if one is free) or bottle it. The thought of bottling makes me want to cry, but I'll do anything to save the batch.

Thanks!

Lots of us leave beer in carboys for months without problems.

If it's an ale and done fermenting you may want to move it to a cooler place where the yeast will go dormant.

Other people, myself included, will lager for 3-4 months.

homebrewer_99 said:

Lots of us leave beer in carboys for months without problems.

If it's an ale and done fermenting you may want to move it to a cooler place where the yeast will go dormant.

Other people, myself included, will lager for 3-4 months.

Click to expand...

Don't you usually rack to a secondary before "lagering"?

Cool. It was originally a steam beer, but the temperatures became far to low for that. For the first week or so it was hovering around the low 60's, and then we had a cold spell which caused it to sit around 48 for a few weeks, and this last week it has been about 60 again. So I'll just let it be then and start drinking some beer to open up a keg.

Similar question - so don't want to start another thread. I did my first solo (previously brewed w/an experienced friend on his system, who took care of all post-pitch decisions, and is now on a long vacation) all grain brew (an Alt) in a gravity keggle system. Due to first brew brain fart, and uncalibrated thermometer, about 50 minutes of my 60 minute mash was at ~158F. Error in estimating efficiency lead to an OG of about 1.068. My 10 gallons was split into 6 on WY1007 German Ale, and 4 on a WY2308 Munich Lager, both pitched at about 60F, and the temps brought to and kept at 56-58 for the ale, and brought to (over about 5 days) and kept at 48-52 for the lager. The ale went through a mildly active phase (just blew a little foam through the airlock), while the lager maxed out at about a bubble every 2 or 3 seconds. Both are now ~ 2 & 1/2 weeks in the primary, and ticking away at about 5 to 6 bubbles a minute. Finally, my questions:
1) Should I expect to leave them longer in primary, at very slow fermentation rates, due to the larger, harder to ferment sugars I got at the too hot mash temp?
2) Should I count on bubble rate to figre out when to transfer to secondary (which I plan for both, and plan to bring lager secondary temps down to low 40's)?
3) Ultimately, how long should I leave them in primary and secondary?

Also, one different question (sorry to hijack here): I calculated my pre-boil efficiency to be 92%. Is that possible? I stopped sparing at a (cooled) gravity of 1.014 - was that too soon?

So I effectively killed that thread! But just thought I'd do a post-mortem post, now that I'm so experienced with two more brews under the belt.

I racked the ale to a secondary at 4 weeks and a gravity of 1.025, and wrapped it in a blanket near my water heater, which kept it at ~65F. After 2 & 1/2 weeks in the secondary, it got to 1.021. I shook it to resuspend some yeast, but 4 days later it still read 1.021, so I kegged it (~ 7.5% ABV). The flavors are great, but it's obviously got some malty sweetness. Tastes like some dopplebocks I've had.

At four weeks and temps down to 48, the lager read a 1.032. At 5 & 1/2 weeks I racked it to a secondary (at 1.025), pitched about a cup and a half of yeast I got from my hometown brewery's pilsner, and let it begin to warm to about 55. A week into secondary it read 1.023; at 2 and 1/2 weeks it was a 1.021, I got impatient and kegged it (also ~ 7.5%). It tasted similar to the ale, just a little less fruity.

Now 2 1/2 months later, the lager is really good. It's obviously fermented more in the keg. No where near as malty sweet as the ale, which remains unchanged, but not undrunk.

I watch bubbles now only to gauge an individual fermentation over time, not batch to batch.

My original efficieny calculation was off due to an error in what I had for munich malt potential. Actual efficiency into the kettle was 81.5% - and I'm glad to say I've been within 1% of this with my subsequent two brews.