Been in the secondary for 2 months - what to do

I've tried searching around here but couldn't find any definitive answers.

I have 3 beers (Chile Chocolate Stout, Stone IPA Clone & Haus Pale - all 5G batches) and 10 G of Apfelwein that have been in the secondary for around 2 months (lazy bottler). I have a few questions:

1.) How long can a beer sit in 2ndary until it develops off flavors.

2.) I'm assuming the lingering yeast is no longer viable enough to carbonate a bottle - should I repitch before bottling? What kind of yeast (champagne?) and how much?

Thanks in advance!

GO TO POST 17 FOR AN UPDATE...and an additional question

1) Most beers won't develop off flavors by bulk aging...some beers need up to a year in secondary.

2)If it's only two months it is doubtful you need to repitch anything..what I would do is when you are racking to your bottling bucket, just rub the bottom of your autosiphon along the bottom once or twice to pull up some extra yeast....I usually do it once, watch some of the cloudy yeast clib up and into my bucket, then lift it off the bottom till it runs clear again, and carefully lower it back down...that way you will make sure to have enough yeast to eat the sugar...

Unless you brewed an extremely high grav brew, the yeast should be healthy enough to carb for you.

Thank you Revvypedia - your insight is much appreciated.

culaslucas said:

Thank you Revvypedia - your insight is much appreciated.

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BWAHAHAH!!!!


No Problem!!! Glad I could help.

Hey what's the story on your Chile Chocolate stout???

I have a small batch Chocolate Mole Porter bottle conditioning right now.

2.5 gallon recipe...

Amount Item Type
4 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain
1 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain
8.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain

Mash Ingredients
Mash In: Add 8.13 qt of water at 170.5 F
45 min - Hold mash at 158.0 F for 45 min
-- Batch Sparge Round 1: Sparge with 0.21 gal of 168.0 F water.
-- Batch Sparge Round 2: Sparge with 1.47 gal of 168.0 F water.
-- Add water to achieve boil volume of 2.93 gal
-- Estimated Pre-boil Gravity is: 1.060 SG with all grains/extracts added

75 min 2.1 oz Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar
60 min 0.50 oz Williamette [4.60 %] (60 min) Hops
30 min 0.25 oz Williamette [4.60 %] (30 min) Hops
5 min 0.50 cup Malto-Dextrine (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
2 min 0.50 oz Williamette [4.60 %] (2 min) Hops

2.5 disks Abuelita Brand Mexican Hot Chocolate + 1 tsp my chili powder in Mash tun. 1/4 disk @ 40 and 1/4 disk + 1 tsp Cayene pepper @ 2 minutes.

I don't think it's going to turn out so well - grain bill was off & might have left it on the chiles for too long.

1st taste out of the primary was horrendous. I'm kind of afraid to taste it again. We'll see though...

I'll have to look up the recipe when I get home.

I accidentally grabbed and chilled one over the weekend at only about 2 weeks in the bottle. I drank it any way..it's not carbed yet and is still green...but the chile burn was quite noticeable on my lips and tongue...and it sorta gave me heartburn..

I have a feeling this one's gonna need some time.

Wanna swap nasty young chile chocolate brews?

It's completely possible that mine has an STD...

culaslucas said:

Wanna swap nasty young chile chocolate brews?

It's completely possible that mine has an STD...

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Not Candida I hope



Uh...maybe we need to wait to see how our respective brews turn out before we inflict them on each other....they may BOTH be declared toxic substances...or bioweapons.

But we'll see..it would be nice to if they turn out.

Side question: what BJCP style would a Chile Choc stout be?

First off, I have a cast iron stomach. I've been to 7 countries and sampled food from at least 2 dozen more. Never have I eaten something that I considered too spicy, and only once have I gotten heart burn (had to run soon after eating a crazy-spicy meal). I volunteer to sample any pepper beer out there, anytime, anywhere.

On a serious note there, Mr. Bender (or should I say "Senor Bender," since Bender is Hecho en Mexico?) it would be a 21A "Spice, herb, or vegetable beer."

Revvy said:

Not Candida I hope

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Really? The Candida comes up again in another thread?

Revvy said:

Uh...maybe we need to wait to see how our respective brews turn out before we inflict them on each other....they may BOTH be declared toxic substances...or bioweapons.

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Sounds good, let's keep eachother posted. I plan on kegging later this week.

llazy_llama said:

21A "Spice, herb, or vegetable beer."

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Thank you Señor Llama. There's a local competition coming up and I may throw this in the mix just for fun - ruin the judges' palates for the day. Maybe I'll put it under SWMBO's name to avoid embarassment...



One other question - will keeping it in the secondary for this long act as a diacetyl rest?

Here you go Revvy:

Okay, so this is the first recipe I made myself...messed up the grain bill.


Chile Chocolate Stout
Recipe Specifics
Batch Size (g): 5.00 Wort Size (G): 5.00
Anticipated OG: 1.054 Plato: 13.35
Anticipated EBC: 59.0
Anticipated IBU: 37.8
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75%
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Pre-Boil Amounts
Evaporation Rate: 15.00 Percent Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size: 5.87G
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.046 SG 11.42 Plato

Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Potential EBC
7.65 lb Pale Ale Malt (2-row)
1.1 lb Amber Malt
.5 lb Chocolate Malt
.5 lb Crystal 55L
0.13 lb Flaked Barley

Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
.44 oz. Goldings Pellet 4.10 3.0 20 min
.66 oz. Goldings Pellet 4.10 6.7 30 min
.88 oz NZ Hersbrucker Whole 7.20 28.1 60 min

Extras
0.05 Oz Irish Moss Fining 20 Min.(boil)

Yeast
DCL Yeast S-04 SafAle English Ale

Mash Schedule
Mash Type: Single Step
154 F

Notes
unsweetened cocoa – 2.2 oz (20 min boil)
chillis, small red - 6 (20 min boil) (same amount also dry hopped)

Other notes: Mash was high - 158-160

culaslucas said:

Here you go Revvy:

Okay, so this is the first recipe I made myself...messed up the grain bill.

<recipe>

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That... actually sounds kinda tasty. I would try it, for sure.

very interested in what these beers taste like when they're ready! i like the idea of chiles with some kind of sweetnes in beer. mole porter-that is crazy! awesome. i've been thinking of chile pasilla(it's smoky and sweet) and honey. yes,sometimes i just think about chiles.

UPDATE: I just kegged 1 of the Apfelweins and the Stone IPA clone. The IPA is fine but the Apfelwein is soooooo bitter, it's undrinkable...I'm considering pouring it out...

I'm going to keg & try the other Apfelwein soon to see if the problem was with that batch or sitting on the yeast for that long. The Apfelweins were never transferred to a 2ndary which may be the issue - sat on dead yeast for too long.

On another note, I just won 1st place in Cider at a local competition for Apfelwein - thanks EdWort!

Still haven't tasted the Chile Choc Stout - I'm kind of afraid....

DOUBLE UPDATE 4/15 So I tried the apfelwein a bit last night - was much less bitter than first taste - what the heck would cause this?