How long to long in Primary is a problem?

[DeanRIowa]

This coming weekend I would like to brew a Kolsch and Guinness Clone using Omega Kolsch II & Irish Ale yeasts. However I will be taking a 2+ week vacation about 1 1/2 weeks after brewing. During vacation time my home basement temps will drop from 64 to 50.

Is this going to be a problem leaving them for approximately one month in primary at the above parameters?

I plan on doing a closed transfer to kegs once I return home.

thank you,
Dean

 

[shoengine]

As long as it can fully ferment, leaving it in 50 is not going to be a problem.

 

[worlddivides]

You can leave beers in primary for months on end without any issues. I'd say it would typically take more than 6 months before autolysis begins at the scale used by homebrewers. The only potential issue would be if you put the fermenter at 50F before fermentation fully completed, since the yeast would just go dormant without having finished fermentation. But as long as the fermentation has fully ended before it drops to such cold temperatures, it should be perfectly fine.

 

[JoeMama]

Back in the day, I used to leave my batches for at least a month. As long as you leave it undisturbed and it didn't get an infection along the way you should be golden.

 

[brechbräu]

As long as it can fully ferment, leaving it in 50 is not going to be a problem.

Agreed. At that temp, you might even find that the kölsch ends pretty clear…

 

[Bobby_M]

It's likely too late now, but the main problem with a post ferment, unsupervised temp drop like that is that your fermenters will suck room air, sanitizer, or both back into the fermenter. If the temp drop happens too close to the active fermentation process, you'll crash the yeast out and it can cause acetaldehyde and diacetyl to remain in the beer.