Can I wait to bottle?

[JRChase]

Newbie question

Last week I brewed a NB Pale Ale kit that says two weeks in the primary and two weeks in the bottles.

I should be bottling next weekend (the kraeusen has already dropped) but I will be out of town for work. Does it hurt anything to let it sit in the fermentor an extra week?

 

[Stellarstar]

Not at all the longer it sits on the yeast the better don't rush it.

 

[Special Hops]

I have had my beer sit for 6+ weeks sometimes before bottling with no ill effects. If anything it will age it more and make it better.

 

[bluenadas]

I've had hit and miss on going past 3 weeks on the same recipe. Some no I'll effects other times a slight hit of off flavors.

Technically going any longer than that can impart flavors from the dying yeast, but I don't think the time limit is necessarily exact given the many varieties of yeast out there.

 

[eastoak]

I've had hit and miss on going past 3 weeks on the same recipe. Some no I'll effects other times a slight hit of off flavors.

Technically going any longer than that can impart flavors from the dying yeast, but I don't think the time limit is necessarily exact given the many varieties of yeast out there.

i don't doubt that you've had off flavors in your beer but the "dying yeast" were not the cause of it. there are threads on these boards started by people who forgot about a beer for more than a few months and the beer was fine.

 

[dfc]

Nope, it won't hurt anything. Leave it and bottle when you have time.

 

[JRChase]

Thank you all. To quote the instructor at the NB beginners class "beer is like The Dude, it just abides, so don't stress over it"

Even though I know that, it is still easy to get concerned. I appreciate the help.

 

[bluenadas]

i don't doubt that you've had off flavors in your beer but the "dying yeast" were not the cause of it. there are threads on these boards started by people who forgot about a beer for more than a few months and the beer was fine.

Given all of the variables in home brewing you may be correct in insinuating that my flavors came from somewhere else.

But the cold hard truth is that dying yeast can and will give beers odd flavors. Maybe not unpalatable, but definitely present.

 

[eastoak]

Given all of the variables in home brewing you may be correct in insinuating that my flavors came from somewhere else.

But the cold hard truth is that dying yeast can and will give beers odd flavors. Maybe not unpalatable, but definitely present.

at the homebrew level you have to really try hard to get off flavors from autolysis, like really warm temps over a long period of time. in much of the early homebrewing literature there is lots of warnings about this but that has made it's way out because it has not been shown to be a real concern.

http://brewdaddy.wordpress.com/2011/02/24/whos-afraid-of-autolysis/