Left Beer In Keg Too Long?

[warhost]

Hey all,

I'm used to making wine, so on my first batch of beer, I am a little confused about how I should proceed after this:

I left the fermenting beer in the keg much longer than suggested by my beginner's guide. It's been about a month. From what I understand, the beer will age after it's bottled, not in the keg, unlike wine. My guidebook says 6-8 days. So, I'd hate to bottle all of that beer only to find out it's gone septic or something.

Any thoughts?

 

[choosybeggar]

You probably mean you've left the beer in the fermentation bucket or carboy (not the keg) for a month. Small chance of yeast autolysis contributing some off favors but most likely no problem. In fact, one week is probably too short a time as it's after one week that the green beer flavors dissipate. I routinely let fermentations go 3 weeks.

 

[warhost]

Ah, yes. Thank you for your corrections.

 

[stratslinger]

Yeah, you're absolutely fine. In fact, you're probably better off going with a longer primary like that - in the end it'll give you a clearer beer. And at the volumes we deal with in homebrew, it's actually been proven that autolysis is a boogeyman, so no worried on that count.

 

[h22lude]

A month in primary is perfect. When I started off I would leave it in for 3 to 4 weeks. Sometimes even a little longer. What you thought was a mistake actually turned out to be a good thing lol