In the "Secondary"- How Long is Too Long?

[NoneRequired]

How long is "too long" to leave a porter in the "secondary"? I have a porter that's in my plastic conical, it's been there for three weeks. I dropped out the flocculated yeast after two weeks. How long is it "OK" to leave the beer in there? It looks like bottling isn't going to happen again this weekend, and that means it will probably not happen for at least two more weeks, making about 5 total in the "secondary". Is that too long?

 

[homebrewer_99]

I lager up to 3 months...

 

[McKBrew]

You'll be fine.

 

[DeathBrewer]

everything's peachy

 

[TheJadedDog]

I age my scottish upwards of 6 months in secondary. Everything I have in secondary right now is at least a month and a half old.

 

[david_42]

I wouldn't let it go past 6-8 months, unless it's a robust porter.

 

[john from dc]

so what would folks say the upper limit is before you should think about repitching at bottling time?

 

[RoaringBrewer]

You can age in glass for quite a while, as these fellas mentioned (at least I am going to make the assumption their secondaries are glass carboys)...

With your plastic conical, I would assume a shorter time (shorter than 3-9 months) might be optimum since some oxygen might be able to permeate the plastic and thus oxidize/stale the beer. However, with that said, you are at no risk at all right now and I wouldn't even worry too much about 6-8 week secondaries even in a plastic conical. As long as you keep it sealed up the entire time.

If I were going to age a barleywine in secondary or something for 3-12 months, I'd probably rack it out of the plastic conical and into a glass secondary with little headspace and an airlock...

Just my thoughts...

EDIT: The real question is, why aren't you racking that $hit to another vessel so you can brew some more in your conical?! Unless you have more than one conical (droooolz)...

 

[NoneRequired]

EDIT: The real question is, why aren't you racking that $hit to another vessel so you can brew some more in your conical?! Unless you have more than one conical (droooolz)...

Right now, it's all I have.... I thought about that though.. This is my first batch. I'm considering a better bottle, but at this point, I'm trying to make sure everything is perfect. There's lots of time to brew more. I'm just glad that SWMBO likes porters and stouts.....

 

[s3n8]

so what would folks say the upper limit is before you should think about repitching at bottling time?

I am quite interested in this as well. How long to age an ale in secondary before you need to worry about repitching for bottle conditioning?

I have a couple extract kits ready to go and would like to get them made before the extract 'twangs'. Not to mention it would be nice to build some stock. I think it will keep better in a glass carboy right? But I don't want to worry about repitching (its scary because I have never done it).

 

[DeathBrewer]

i've had brews in the secondary for 5 months. no problem as long as you're not opening and closing it all the time.

 

[EricK The Red]

I left an IPA in secondary for 14 months and it carbed without repitching. It had some really nice flavor notes (fruity esters) as well, but lost much of it's hoppieness.


It was a great beer!