Leaving beer in fermenter

[irishbrewerdownunder]

My question is how long can u leave your beer for in the fermenter for before you have to transfer to bottles or kegs?
As I have only started home brewing I only have enough bottles to bottle one batch at a time. I am saving for a keg kit so don't really want to buy more bottles.
I really want to start making another beer but don't want to waste it!

 

[frazier]

Hmmm - outside limit? Probably on the order of 6 months to a year. I regularly leave mine 4 weeks, but I bottle when convenient, so the time varies.

Your real problem can be solved in at least two other ways - acquire more bottles (virtually free, if you get creative), or another fermenter (or two). Fermenters can also be very cheap with a little ingenuity, and perhaps a willingness to adapt recipe sizes to the equipment on hand.

Cheers!

 

[Brewnoob1]

^^^^ Completely agree.

 

[csoulies]

Leaving it longer than the recipes recommended timeframe, around 16-19 days for what I've brewed, will cause the wort to take on some unwanted flavors from the settled solids. Get a secondary fermenter to increase the time before bottling and to clarify the wort a bit more. Not necessary for all brews but can't hurt like leaving it in contact with the solids.

 

[csoulies]

Leaving it longer than the recipes recommended timeframe, around 16-19 days for what I've brewed, will cause the wort to take on some unwanted flavors from the settled solids. Get a secondary fermenter to increase the time before bottling and to clarify the wort a bit more. Not necessary for all brews but can't hurt like leaving it in contact with the solids.

Correction: MAY cause unwanted flavors