how long can i ferment in primary

[traylorbrew]

hello everyone on 6-23-13 I brewed a blonde ale with ginger I normally ferment for four weeks then bottle, do to life happening I have not been able to bottle. it is still in the primary and climate controlled it looks good, and smells good, I'm going to bottle it tomorrow, or should I dump it

 

[duboman]

Bottle it! Unless it got infected there is no reason to dump it and even infected you could just leave it for a year and enjoy a sour

 

[JonM]

It's fine - bottle away and don't dump it!! Lots of us have left beers in the fermenter for much longer than that with no I'll effects. No worries!

 

[ledhead72486]

Bottle it up!

 

[grem135]

Bottle it up. The last batch I bottled sat for 3 months due to that "life" thing. Turned out great, it just got its aging pre bottle.

 

[woozy]

Why dump it now when you can dump it three weeks from now?

Either it's awful (not likely) or it's good. And you can bottle it or you can dump it. That means there are four possible outcomes:

1a) it's good and you bottle it. Result: you have good beer. Huge win.
1b) it's bad and you bottle it. Result: meh....
2a) it's good and you dump it. Result: YOU TOSSED GOOD BEER!!! WHAT ARE YOU A ****IN' MORON? Huge loss.
2b) it's bad and you dump it. Result: meh...

So you've got a choice bottle and it'll be either huge win or meh; or dump and it'll be huge lose or meh.

Kind of a no-brainer to me.

 

[poundtown]

I've bottled a 10 month old batch in a primary bucket still on the cake. As long as the airlock doesn't go dry and your vessel is sealed you should be ok.

 

[FifteenTen]

I concur with all of the above. Life has even dried out my air lock (refilled immediately upon discovery mind you) and the beer was great. I'm not sure about "S" style air locks but a dry three piece still requires Ninja microbes and gale force winds to contaminate. MHO. (In an effort to defeat Murphy's Law I rescind everything I just said.)

 

[kh54s10]

Due to laziness I have fermented in primary for 6 weeks and got a great batch. If I really got lazy and waited 6 months to a year, I would still bottle/keg it and see what I got.