How long can I keep my Belgian Dubbel in Secondary?

[syd138]

I've had it in the secondary for a week. Would it hurt if I kept in in there for a couple months?

 

[Parker36]

Nope, you should be fine. Dubbels do well with more time as long as your sanitation process was good and you keep that airlock full.

 

[ThatGuyRyan]

I don't see why not. I made two Dbl Belgians the first was my first beer and I only left it in primary for 7 days and 10 days in secondary per the LHBS instructions. It was ok but way too sweet. I just bottled my second batch that I left in the primary for a month and another month in secondary. Even flat it was way better than the first. Very mellow and less sweet. I would have left it for another week or two but I needed the carboy. I am very new to this but the longer time helped mine out.

 

[syd138]

Update: So my beer has been in the secondary for a month now.

So I looked at my beer yesterday and I noticed that there are a few little white spots in it. I smelled it and it doesn't smell too bad, but Im guessing it is definitely bacteria.

I don't know how it got in there. Maybe I have too much air space having less than 5 gallons in a 6 gallon carboy?

But I havent touched anything in the past month.. why would it be happening now?

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

I see stuff in my carboys that looks strange/funky all the time but it's never been an infection...so imo don't be too quick to assume infection.

I seem to remember Deathbrewer (IIRC) saying he lost a batch to infection (I think it was a Dubbel too) because he left it with too much headspace...but I think it was longer than a month.

I do know that when the beer has pretty much stopped fermenting completely that small temerature changes can cause the carboy to 'breathe'...probably more than you might think. The more headspace the more breathing because it's mainly the gas above the liquid that is changing it's density with temperature. This can cause suck-back of liquid in the airlock.

I have a Dubbel in a secondary right now that I brewed mid-February and racked in early March...but I use corny kegs as secondaries so I can purge out the air and keep it totally sealed with CO2. I plan to tap it mid-July.

 

[syd138]

The more headspace the more breathing because it's mainly the gas above the liquid that is changing it's density with temperature. This can cause suck-back of liquid in the airlock.

You are right on.. I have had some pretty big swings in temperature in my apartment lately.. It was about 60 in there yesterday.. and a lot of the vodka was sucking back into the carboy.

I think that in the future just to be on the safe side, when I do a Belgian again, Im going to buy a 5 gallon carboy.

For now I'll wait and see if this stuff spreads.. if I get a white layer all the way across I'll know its and infection.. if not, I'll bottle it in a couple weeks.

 

[Lou]

post a picture.

 

[syd138]

Im at work now.. I'll post a pic later.. although it might be hard to see

 

[MacBruver]

how big are the spots? shirt button sized, quarter sized, etc?

I have a belgian pale ale in secondary now that I just racked off the dry hops, so that I can leave it for a bit longer. With all this racking, I've gotten rid of a lot of the yeast, and so I don't know how much is still in the beer. Am I going to have to use some yeast for bottling?

 

[syd138]

The spots are smaller than that.. maybe an 1/8 of an inch, but they weren't there before. I didn't dry hop it.. actually I've never heard of dry hopping a Dubbel or Tripel

 

[carnevoodoo]

The spots are smaller than that.. maybe an 1/8 of an inch, but they weren't there before. I didn't dry hop it.. actually I've never heard of dry hopping a Dubbel or Tripel

Dry hopping takes better to a tripel better than it does to a dubbel, but these days just about anything goes.