3.5 months in the primary.. a little nervous

[syd138]

So I brewed up a Belgian Dubbel in early December. Soon after, I started school again. Since then I have been so tied up with school work that I've realized that I can't bottle until the quarter is done in Mid-March.

I know this topic has be discussed to death, but I'm curious to see how it turns out. Some have said that they did months in the primary with no problem, others said that it will impart a bready taste.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/s...mer-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-176837/index4.html

Guess I'll find out for sure in about a month and a half.

 

[Gunfighter04]

Do you Keg or bottle? Might need a little priming yeast to carbonate if you bottle.

 

[dlester]

I've had beer on yeast for 6-months without any off flavors. There are Belgium beers that are bottled with yeast that last a long time. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[kh54s10]

The Belgian beer will most likely benefit from the longer primary. But, my question is - in the next month you will not be able to spare about 1 1/2 hours to bottle the beer?????

I bet you can find time to go out to get beer and pizza with your schoolmates!!!

 

[Calder]

It should be fine. Report back on how it turns out, so we have another data point.

.... Beer and pizza is an immediate reward between exams/studying. Bottling beer is just investment in future rewards. School work comes first; beer is a close second!

 

[syd138]

But, my question is - in the next month you will not be able to spare about 1 1/2 hours to bottle the beer?????

I bet you can find time to go out to get beer and pizza with your schoolmates!!!

I wish I did. I have 2 little kids, work full time, and am going to grad school full time. I barely have time to eat dinner every night.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think I am going to add a bit of yeast in the bottling bucket before bottling.

One more question for everyone though.. I was origninally thinking of keeping this in the primary for a month, then making a simple Wheat beer (~6lbs of Wheat DME + 1oz Halletauer) and putting it on the yeast cake from this Dubbel.

Will the yeast still be viable? Should I even try it?

 

[Calder]

The yeast will be viable, but you would be over-pitching. About a quarter of the cake would make a better beer.

You could bottle the beer and save a pint of the cake in a sanitized container, and keep in the fridge. Use within a couple of weeks; just pour in to the wort. Yes you can wash the yeast, and/or a starter, but it is not necessary.

 

[syd138]

Ok, so I finally got a chance to bottle yesterday.

108 days/3.5 months in the primary.

I can't say that there was any noticable difference in tastes, however with a fresh Dubbel like this, the alcohol taste is still very strong and over powering. I put the cases in my crawl space and probably wont touch them until the fall. Hopefully they mature well.

Btw, I took your recomendation Calder and poured some of the yeast cake into a couple sanitized ball jars. I really don't see any point in washing the yeast except that it will affect the color of my new beer.

 

[IslandLizard]

Ok, so I finally got a chance to bottle yesterday.

108 days/3.5 months in the primary.

I can't say that there was any noticable difference in tastes, however with a fresh Dubbel like this, the alcohol taste is still very strong and over powering. I put the cases in my crawl space and probably wont touch them until the fall. Hopefully they mature well.

Btw, I took your recomendation Calder and poured some of the yeast cake into a couple sanitized ball jars. I really don't see any point in washing the yeast except that it will affect the color of my new beer.

Long term conditioning is beneficial for big beers. Now if you were to leave it on the yeast for a year or so you may get some off-flavors.

Reusing the yeast should affect the beer color only minimally if you pour the dark beer off the yeast cake, leaving just enough to swirl it up and pitch. Or make a starter, and doing the same when that's done.