How long is too long in primary

[JosephN]

Due to the nature of my recipe and additions I will have had to leave my beer in the primary for 21 days before starting to cold crash it. The first 9 days I had it at 68F, then had to pull it out to allow me to cold crash a different beer. As it set out it ended up forming a second krausen, I'm assuming because of the 73F room temp (intended to be a diacetyl rest) that the yeast became super active and created the second krausen. The internal temp got to 75F but the primary fermentation was done. Okay so with all that long winded explanation, is it fine to leave it in the primary tank for 3-4 weeks or would this pros dinky cause addition off flavors? Ps it was only out at room temp for 3 days.

 

[kh54s10]

If you had a "second krausen" it was because fermentation was not finished the first time, or it is just co2 foam... There are many that routinely do 4 weeks in primary. I usually go for three weeks in primary, then keg the beer, but often go longer due to laziness. After the active fermentation phase, temperature is not critical. Many brewers let the temperature rise after a week to ensure that the fermentation has finished.

 

[Sammy86]

You shouldn't have a problem...many here including myself keep our beers in primary for 3-4 weeks minimum.

 

[snow16]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with leaving your beer in primary for that long.

As it set out it ended up forming a second krausen, I'm assuming because of the 73F room temp (intended to be a diacetyl rest) that the yeast became super active and created the second krausen. The internal temp got to 75F but the primary fermentation was done.

This is curious to me. So it was at 68F for 9 days, you took at out to 73F ambient and it formed a second krausen? It sounds like primary wasn't quite finished yet!

 

[JosephN]

When I say the fermentation was done was based on the "expected FG". The reading I had was .001 AWAY FROM THE EXPECTED FG, but I wouldn't think that .001 would have much left to ferment. Now granted I mashed at a higher temp 153-154 and I had 1# of lactose added, the expected FG is/was 1.026. The 1# of lactose added .010 of "unferrmentable" sugars, which would give it a 1.016 FG if the lactose wasn't added and we only considered the worts ability to ferment.

Now back to the original question. Thanks for the replies. I was reading about of flavors and in How to Brew he talks about getting a few different off flavors when you leave the beer on the yeast too long. He didn't really get into how long was too long. I think that's the problem with a lot of books, they give you info but at times not enough.