Long Primary
- Thread starter mdd71699
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
pericles
Well-Known Member
I'm less confident than the other two posters; two months is a long time to leave a light beer like a heffe on primary, particularly because wheat beers are quick fermenters to begin with. I see two issues as possible problems for you:
The first is that the yeast have begun to die and may impart an off-flavor. Two months is sort of the danger zone for that, in a light beer, but depending on the health of your initial pitch and your fermenting conditions, it might be fine. (I say that light beers are different because off-flavors, even slight ones, will be more noticeable in a light beer than in a dark beer, but the same principle applies to hoppy beers, really phenolic belgians, sours, etc.)
Not really much to be done about that, so I vote bottle and report back to us!
The second concern is related to the first: if the yeast have begun to die, then there may not be enough yeast in solution to properly carbonate the bottles. If it were me, I would add a packet of dry-yeast, properly rehydrated, along with the priming sugar. Then you'll be SURE that your bottles will carbonate properly.
The first is that the yeast have begun to die and may impart an off-flavor. Two months is sort of the danger zone for that, in a light beer, but depending on the health of your initial pitch and your fermenting conditions, it might be fine. (I say that light beers are different because off-flavors, even slight ones, will be more noticeable in a light beer than in a dark beer, but the same principle applies to hoppy beers, really phenolic belgians, sours, etc.)
Not really much to be done about that, so I vote bottle and report back to us!
The second concern is related to the first: if the yeast have begun to die, then there may not be enough yeast in solution to properly carbonate the bottles. If it were me, I would add a packet of dry-yeast, properly rehydrated, along with the priming sugar. Then you'll be SURE that your bottles will carbonate properly.
I regularly leave beers 3 to 4 months before bottling. Never an issue. I have just bottled a beer 12 months on the yeast and I have no concerns about it carbing up. It may take a few months, but it will get there. The only beer I have ever re-yeasted was a 13% abv barleywine, because I didn't think the primary yeast was man enough to stand up to the alcohol.
