Fermenting too long??

[Matty1222]

HOw long is too long for fermenting. I have been Brewing a german altbier in a plastic 5 gallon plastic tub for 8 weeks.

Please advise,
Mat

 

[TrainSafe]

You aren't even close. I've left some sit in the primary all summer. Others have left them for many months.

 

[Bigelow92]

I wouldn't worry. You shouldn't leave a beer in primary for years, but the only thing that your really gonna wanna think about is oxidation, which isn't too much of a danger because primary creates a little blanket of CO2 over the beer. The bucket lets a little Oxygen through but so slowly and so little there's not much use worrying about it.

 

[jro238]

Probably don't want to leave it in there for *too* much longer, but 8 weeks is fine for most styles (anything with a lot of hops will generally benefit from less aging).

 

[pluchar]

You are ok. 8 weeks is nothing. Just don't let it get buried and forgotten!

 

[Homercidal]

Well, 8 weeks is *probably* not going to hurt it, but there is always a chance. I'd get it bottled as soon as possible in order to minimize the risk.

I've gone much longer with a batch with no problems and many people use extended primaries, but IMO it's not good practice. At some point the small advantages disappear and there is nothing left but potential for disaster.

 

[Pie_Man]

At eight weeks, the beer should be fine, but there's really no advantage at this stage to keeping the beer on the yeast as they likely went dormant weeks ago.