How long do the yeast live?

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Pschof

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How long can you leave your beer sit until you'll need to add yeast for carbonation? I know people who leave barleywines sit for 6 months need to add yeast. I have a couple of beers that I left in the primary for 4 weeks, and secondary for 4 more weeks. Is that pushing it? What would be pushing it?
 
It is recommend for conditioning and clearing that you leave your beer in the primary for an extended time. I left my RIS in the primary for 5 months and in the secondary for 3. I tried a bottle 3 weeks ago and it was fantastic.
 
I pitched a 13 month old refrigerated slurry of yeast into a fresh batch of wort and it had the whole batch fermented in 36 hours. Yeast doesn't die too easily, it just goes dormant until there's more food.
 
It is recommend for conditioning and clearing that you leave your beer in the primary for an extended time. I left my RIS in the primary for 5 months and in the secondary for 3. I tried a bottle 3 weeks ago and it was fantastic.

I find it funny that no matter how long I leave my beer to sit, it doesn't seem long enough. My first kit from my LHBS basically said 3-7 days in the primary, and then a week in the bottle. I was proud of myself for giving it a week in the secondary too. Then I learned the 1-2-3 rule (1 week primary, 2 weeks secondary, 3 weeks bottle). This drastically improved my beer. Then I learn you are better off letting the beer sit even longer. So I have been giving it 3-4 week primary, 4 weeks secondary, and 4 weeks in the bottle before I open the first one. Now I am getting people telling me about their beers going for 9 months? You people are killing me!
 
Now I am getting people telling me about their beers going for 9 months? You people are killing me!

I plan to age my Russian Imperial Stout for 12 months, sir :D. It depends on the brew. I would age a RIS, Scotch Ale, Tripel, Barelywine, etc for over 6 months. Then again, the latest beer i brewed was Ed's Bavarian Hefe. It fermented for 1.5 week, bottled and conditioned for 1.5 weeks and i'm drinking it now! Very young. You could do the same for an English Mild.

The only reason i would let a low to mid ABV brew sit in the primary for a long time (3-4 weeks) would be for clarity reasons.
 
Yeah, I need to start making some stuff that doesn't need to sit in order to tide me over. I did a Midas Touch Clone that I started in July and just bottled. I have a brown ale that is 8.5% abv. It is 4 weeks old and just went into the secondary. Also have a 6% IPA in the secondary. Maybe a mild English Pale Ale would be good. . .
 
Yeah, I need to start making some stuff that doesn't need to sit in order to tide me over. I did a Midas Touch Clone that I started in July and just bottled. I have a brown ale that is 8.5% abv. It is 4 weeks old and just went into the secondary. Also have a 6% IPA in the secondary. Maybe a mild English Pale Ale would be good. . .

Wow! It looks like you're set for winter with all those big brews. Wheats, milds, and blondes have a great turn around. I might actually go the other way and make the Yakima Blonde in my sig, a session ale, into an IPA! One of the many joys of homebrewing is taking any brew and turning it into a session beer. :rockin:
 
how long is too long in a secondary before yeast should be re-introduced for carbonation?

As mentioned before, I left my RIS in the secondary for 3 months, added NO yeast at bottling and it has good carbonation now. Maybe some of the guys that routinely brew the 8.8.8, 9.9.9, 10.10.10 beers will add some info abuot LONGER storage.
 
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