Long primary

[PedalPirate]

I've got a 5gal extract batch of a Baltic porter kit I picked up from my LHBS. now I don't have any way to keep it at lagering temps, so I pitched it with WY1056 in a brew bucket and tried to keep the room around 60°-65° (F). Got great airlock activity and after 2 weeks was still burping about every 5 seconds. I had to leave for work for 3 weeks the next day so I decided to leave it alone instead of racking to secondary. I plan to rack to a keg when I get home and cold crash for a couple days in a keggle packed with snow. Then rack to another keg, carb, and drink. After reading several posts about primary times I'm wondering what I'm going to be coming home to in a week and a half after its sat in the primary for 5 weeks. Took an OG of 1.097 before pitching the yeast and haven't cracked the lid to take another sample since.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

It'll be fine. 1056 is a clean yeast IMO so if you kept the temps as you said I wouldn't expect off flavors from the trub.

I have left lighter beers in a primary for much longer and they have been great. And the secondary is controversial anyway if you don't need it.

 

[RedlegEd]

It'll be fine. 1056 is a clean yeast IMO so if you kept the temps as you said I wouldn't expect off flavors from the trub.

I have left lighter beers in a primary for much longer and they have been great. And the secondary is controversial anyway if you don't need it.

^^^True this! "controversial" is an understatement...primary vs secondary is probably the most beaten dead horse around. Brulospher's Exbeeriment on primary vs secondary should give you a little more comfort as it's based more on a "scientific" process.

 

[Jwin]

I just did something that I feel worth trying
I have a huge mash tun (Coleman xl eXtreme)
I can fit 2 buckets in it easy, probably 3 big mouths. I put my fermenters in and filled with water. It's in my basement, which is getting a tad chilly this time of year at night, but I did add one vent from the hvac trunk, so no freezing.
I know this is common, but my thinking is that the added insulation of the cooler and the high water level (4/5 up the fermenters) has kept the temps much more stable.
Also, I can raise the temperature here and there with my hot rod heat stick.
Now, buckets have a pretty solid insulation factor themselves, so swinging the temp of the water up from 62 to 75 should only change the internal temperature of the fermenter a few degrees leveling off as the water chills again.
doing a d-rest now.
Well, I thaught I was, but the friggin Bry97 started back up.

sorry, this might be a but off topic, but if I were leaving it unattended for 5 weeks, I would do this again to help keep it stable if the environment you were leaving it I had any temperature fluxuations like my basement.
Also, added a bit of bleach to the water to keep nasties at bay.

 

[PedalPirate]

Right on. What's d-rest? Still trying to get smart on the lingo.

 

[Jwin]

Though I'm not lagering...

The process is simply to raise the fermentation temperature from lager temperatures (50-55F) to 65-68F for a two day period near the close of the fermentation. Usually the diacetyl rest is begun when the beer is 2 to 5 specific gravity points away from the target terminal gravity.

 

[PedalPirate]

Got it.

 

[PedalPirate]

I've also got 10gal of an extract doppelbock pitched with the WY1056 split between two carboys that I started the day before I left. Forgot to mention that I turned the heat down in the room to 55. So the doppelbock will have been 3 weeks in the primary when I get home. I plan on kegging half of this along with the Porter and trying to pull an eisbock off the other half. Would it be beneficial to clarify any of these with gelatin, or just rack them off the yeast cake into kegs and cold crash for a couple of days?

Also, for the eisbock I was thinking about just racking to a bucket with a lid and setting it outside. We've been getting temps from 5° - 25°(F) lately. How long should I leave it before drawing it out of the ice? And what effect will colder temps (<0° F) have on it?