how long is it safe to leave beer in the primary?

I was wondering how long it was ok to leave beer in the primary?? the reason i ask is my beer had a metallic taste in it. very strong metallic taste. it has now been in the primary about 4 weeks. Im waiting on some EDTA to come in the mail, bc ive heard that adding a small amount of that to the beer will remove the metallic taste. Basically im wonderng if the beer still will be ok at 5 weeks to attemt to salvage.

 

As long as it is at room temp or lower, it will be "safe" for months.

 

There's people who say after 45 days on the lees it start to produce off flavors. I haven't experienced it, but I also rack to secondary or keg before 45 days.

 

thanks guys. so i should be good then. as long as this edta trick works haha

 

That's what I heard too. It's ok for months without producing any off flavor.
Good luck!

 

It depends how deep the yeast bed is and how strong the beer is.

In conical fermenters the yeast bed depth gets quite large and the yeast start producing heat while the yeast are also insulating each other and temperature can rise to levels that cause rapid cell autolysis; autolysis will occur faster when the ABV is higher.

I had a 10.5% imperial stout left in my 7 gallon conical for 30 days in primary and I had enough autolysis to have some STRONG off flavors and I had to dump the batch.

Carboys and fermentation buckets have flat bottoms to the yeast bed depth is less and you get less heat and therefore autolysis takes longer but again ABV is a factor in how long it will take. I remember reading the ale and lager strains generally start autolysis at different times, too. (Possibly in New Brewing Lager...)


So autolyis probably occurs LESS fast than many mega lager breweries would lead you to believe (because home brew scales are much smaller and generally use flat bottomed fermenters) but probably faster than most homebrewers on the internet would lead you to believe. ("Months" at room temperature.... not a good idea.)

You want to leave the beer on the yeast long enough for diacetyl / vdk reduction and then transfer off. For ales, I'd make a month my cutoff point a week after FG stops falling; lagers they can deal with longer especially if you're using that super slow ass Weihenstephaner strain.


Adam

 

Well, the primary vs. secondary debate continues.
I have left beers in primary for months with no ill effects. I have also added fruit, hops, spices, and oak chips to primary with no problems.
I suppose your mileage may vary, but many on here have done the same as me without any issues. If you want to secondary, do it.

 

what is edta? (nm I used the interwebz).

I would work on diagnosing the cause of the metallic flavor, before doing the next batch.

 

The amount of time you can leave beer in the primary safely has too many variables. Health of yeast, temperature, other ingredients, etc.

If your brewing process is sound, you should be able to leave the beer on the yeast for many weeks, but IMO it's better to move it off as soon as the beer is ready. I've left an American Stout on the yeast for a couple of months, but there just isn't any benefit after a certain point, while the risk of off flavors continues to grow.