how long in secondary

[mmm beer]

How long is to long in the secondary? I have no available bottles and Ive been waiting forever for this jacka$$ on ebay to get me my quick disconnects, its my fault I should have read his feedback he is notoriously slow. I have a guinness clone thats been in secondary for two and a half weeks. Should I break down and buy some PET bottles? If the disconnects are not here by Friday it will have to wait another week because Im off deer hunting.

 

[desiderata]

This has been answered here before, but if I remember correctly, it can remain in the secondary for longer than a month and maybe even several months. Most of us here use the secondary for a minimum of two weeks, so I feel safe telling you that 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 weeks in secondary is fine. However, this doesn't cut down on the time it will take to condition in the keg or bottle, so it means you will have to wait longer to drink it.

 

[Cregar]

off subject kinda.

A extract recipe I did said it would be done in 4 weeks, so Im guessing that meant 1 week fermenting and 3 weeks bottle condition before it was ready to drink.

Instead I stuck into a 2nd fermentor and it will be there till this Sunday (2 weeks total) before I bottle it. Does that mean I still should bottle condition for 3 weeks?

 

[mmm beer]

as long as its going to be fine I dont mind waiting. I always leave wine in the secondary way longer than normal and it doesnt bother anything. I just want to make sure its not goinr to ruin my beer. I dont want to put the guinness clone into bottles but I will if I have to.

 

[RichBrewer]

You have nothing to worry about. As desiderata stated, you can go more than a month in the secondary. It will actually aid in the clarity of your beer. The only possible down side might be that if you carbonate with corn sugar it might take a little longer to fully carbonate.

 

[mmm beer]

I want to force carb it. It should be good then for at least a month thats good, well I wont buy from that ebayer anymore, but this way I just might have some stout for Christmas

 

[desiderata]

off subject kinda.

A extract recipe I did said it would be done in 4 weeks, so Im guessing that meant 1 week fermenting and 3 weeks bottle condition before it was ready to drink.

Instead I stuck into a 2nd fermentor and it will be there till this Sunday (2 weeks total) before I bottle it. Does that mean I still should bottle condition for 3 weeks?

Yes, you should still bottle condition for the three weeks minimum. Feel free to sample a beer after week one and week two in the bottle to see if you notice a difference between them. It should get better the longer you let it condition.

With your current schedule, you can do the 1-2-3 rule many of us use here.