Fermentation - how long is too long?

Just curious what people's experience has been. I started oxygenating my wort before adding the yeast because prior to that, my fermentation was pretty inconsistent and short (1-4 days). Now that I'm oxygenating, my wort is fermentating 6-10 days. Talking to the guy at Harpoon Brewery, he mentioned 5 days is optimal. Should I be worried about the excessive fermentation?

 

A beer ferments as long as it NEEDS to. You shouldn't worry about how long it takes. It's a natural process and it takes as long as it take.

 

thanks. I haven't noticed any difference in taste when I bottled yesterday, so I think you're right.

 

i've left beer in a carboy for over a month with no ill effects, so "too long" is longer than that.

you have to be careful about taking a professional's advice word-for-word. 5 days is ideal on his huge system, the situation is entirely different when using a carboy or bucket.

he is also under pressure to get the beer out as quickly as possible, so for him "ideal" might mean "the least amount of time i can get away with while still making good beer". he can run lab tests to confirm that the beer is ready. on a homebrew scale, we're better off waiting a few extra days to make sure everything is completed and the beer is in it's best possible state.

 

I never bottle before 2 weeks. There are all kinds of fermentation by-products that the yeast will clean up after active fermentation is over. I routinely go 3- 6 weeks and have even let one go 8. Only once have I felt a beer went too long. It was a wit that had gone 6 weeks.

 

I agree with the dog, beer can go quite a while in primary without any adverse effect.
So long as it is actually air tight....
If it's in a bucket get it outta there as quick as you can.
Ain't no reason to even use an airlock on a paint bucket, they breath on their own.

 

By fermentation, I'm assuming you are talking about the actual time it is taking the yeasts to consume all of the sugar, and not necessarily how long is sits in the vessel after fermentation is complete (the conditioning phase). If the beers are now taking longer to ferment with adding O2, then I wonder that if you are sure you are adding enough O2, then something is different in your brewing process. 5 days is perfectly reasonable time frame for a 5-6% ABV beer to finish active fermentation. Then there is conditioning.......

I think the time it takes to ferment can affect the flavor. Temperature certainly does, and pitching rate can as well, and these certainly can be manipulated to achieved desired flavors, or if mismanaged resulting in flavors YOU might not want. Has there been any change to either of these?