Big Hot Beer Extended Primary Negative Effects?

[Bobo1898]

Oh no, not another "can I leave it in Primary?"question. Well, sort of.

Have a big beer right now in primary---10% ABV---using 2nd generation Wyeast 3787.

Don't really want to rack to secondary if I don't have to. My schedule for this is to let it ferment out and then lager it around 50 degrees, for two to three months, before packaging.

With a beer this big, I would have no issue leaving it in Primary that long, but the circumstances are slightly unique:

1. This ferment has gotten hot. Started at 64 and then was brought up to 85/86 over a few days. Let it do its thing before it naturally dropped over another few days. Now it's currently sitting at 66.
2. This was open fermentation (I capped it when the krausen started to drop). I was actively cropping and discarding the yeast at 24 hours and beyond, especially when it got hot, before capping.

This yeast was top cropped from a smaller beer, which also fermented hot over time.

Negative effects of leaving a beer on yeast this hot through the lagering period?

 

[Vale71]

Autolysis and oxidation. I'd say that's about it.

 

[Bobo1898]

Haha, thanks for the response @Vale71

You think a 5 to 6 gallon batch on yeast through 3 months will go through autolysis? Or would the caveats I mentioned speed this up?

 

[Vale71]

The high temperature and certainly the high ABV are stress factors and will accelerate yeast decay. 3 months is really a very long time and would be a problem even in an average ABV beer.

 

[Qhrumphf]

The biggest culprits for autolytic notes I've tasted blind in homebrew comps have been Belgian (Saison hands down #1 but Belgians in general big offenders). As said, hot and strong are two big factors for autolysis happening more quickly.

If it's at FG, I would get it off the yeast.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Plenty of home brewers have come to expect and even enjoy the flavors from oxidation and even autolysis (and some brewers intentionally promote those flavors), so it just depends on your expectations.

If you don't want those flavors, it's best to:

• Pitch a good supply of healthy and active yeast
• Control fermentation temperature
• Avoid oxygen exposure throughout the brewing and fermentation process (with the exception of oxygenation at pitching)
• Package ASAP
• Store cold

Cheers

 

[Yooper]

I don't like the flavors from a long-term yeast contact (even three weeks or so is enough for me to pick up those flavors in some beers), so I'd rack before lagering just like I do with all of the beers I lager.
In a huge beer that got hot, I'd get it off of the yeast ASAP.

 

[Bobo1898]

Thanks for the responses guys. Off the cake it will go this weekend, and into the keg to lager.

Now you have me concerned about the small beer (5-6%) that this yeast was taken from, prior. As stated in the initial post, it also fermented hot, but was taken off the cake after FG was reached (maybe two weeks). When I bottled it, I didn't crash it or remove what was in suspension.