Forgot to transfer my beer

hi guys,

I have had an ale sitting in my primary fermenter for like 6 months now. What should I do? I was concerned about off flavors from the yeast sitting in there. I thought about transferring to my secondary, and adding a little more malt and some fresh yeast. Thought it might help remove the off flavors the old yeast may have produced? Isn't it something called Diacytel or something? Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

You're probably thinking of "autolysis", not diacetyl. I'd say bottle it and see what happens.

 

First off, what is the beer? 6 months may be a good thing, I don't think there are many beers where that long of a primary is a critical bad thing, not ideal, but not horribly wrong. There is usually a heated debate on how long can you leave your primary but the only way to find out is to.....

Anyways, I say rack it and bottle/keg it and see what you have. Don't mess with the addition of malt and more yeast though.

 

how does it smell?

 

taste it.
you'll know soon enough

 

Everyone is right, you need to smell and taste it...Autolysis has largely been proven to be a myth. And many of us leave our beers in primary for a month...And at least one person has left a beer 6 months with no problems. But it really depends on the beer, and how healthy the yeast was.

You are the only one who will know. If it smells like gorilla poop that has sat in a diaper on a desert highway in the middle of summer...then you know the beer is bad.

 

And if it smells like that bad diaper then bottle it and give it to your in-laws. No in-laws I will give you the address to my father in-law I don't believe in throwing away "bad" beer but finding uses for it that furthers my cause on earth.. i.e. sickening the in-laws (Did you like my beer.. oh sure it was amazing... well when I bottled it I was reminded of a diaper that was left in my jeep at the beach so I hope you enjoyed it).

Take a hydrometer reading also to see how it compares to your original reading; but you should be fine. You might just have some amazing flavor and some really clear brew.

 

More importantly, i want to know how someone can "forget" about having a brew fermenting for 6 months. How does that happen??

 

Yeah I wish I had that many brews going to forget about one.

To the OP...how does it taste/smell?

 

Not everyone is a zealous as the rest of us.

 

Once you get enough going, it can be confusing if you forget to take good records. I just recently started dating bottles and probably need to do the same with carboys.

Also, there's some guy on here (in an autolysis thread) that left a beer in the primary for something crazy like a year and a hlaf with no ill results. I say bottle it.

 

When I get home from work today I'll pull out the airlock and see what's going on.Sounds like I should be ok from what you guys are saying. And you guys have way more brewing experience than me. Thanks for the input. I really appreciate it.

 

I wish i could forget about one of my batches. I find myself so impatient, i drink warm just been bottled beer (and i love it. i like tasting the progression as the beer matures). still, i wish i had more patience.

 

You think you hate him? Just remember, you're plowing his little girl. There's nothing more you can do to him. You win.