Recipes for extended fermenter time

[Riverevir]

I've got my second all grain on deck. I went pretty simple and did the Oktoberfast from Biermuncher and I'm about to kick off the Row 2 Hill 56 clone that, for all intents and purposes, comes off as a smash beer with a little grain variance. I've been pretty exclusively using dry yeast.

I'm sitting here realizing that kid#2 will be born in Early November... that will give me a 2 year old and an infant. Since my 2 year old sleeps well enough, I'm thinking I should get some stuff brewed in the next two months that I can possibly leave in fermenters for a good bit while I go through other batches.

Any help planning out 3 or 4 brews that I can stage in fermenters? Give me some of your favorite recipes that have withheld 3+ months in a fermenter without a problem. Or better yet, give me reasons why this is NOT what I want to do. No style requirements - I'm not a huge fan of sours but I'll listen to anything you guys have got.

 

[kh54s10]

Why do you want to leave beers in the fermenter? I do my big, complex beers and bulk age them a little longer. 3 weeks to 1 month rather that 2 to 3 weeks. I then age these beers in the bottle or keg.

Also why Early November for kid #2? If that was brewed today it should be ready to drink in 5 weeks. (sooner with kegging) 2 weeks primary and 3 weeks bottle conditining. So at the end of September not early November.

 

[Riverevir]

Well idk how to explain that my kid is being born in early November if you don't already know how that works 🤔...

All jokes aside, I'm thinking it will be a lot harder to brew when my second kid is very young - I'm expecting to be sleep deprived as is... so if I can get some stuff in fermenters that I can bottle when I have time, the bottling process will likely only take an hour and I can do it as I run out instead of needing to make time to do a full brew.

 

[mongoose33]

The limiting factor here would appear to be bottles. I agree w/ KH above, why not just get 'em done? I presume that's because you don't have enough bottles.

It's pretty well established now that you can leave beer in the primary for a month w/ no negative effects, but if you go months, then it's possible you may not like the result.

There's always some yeast in suspension when you bottle and use priming sugar to give them something to eat, but what happens to those yeast if they sit in primary for, say, 3 or 4 months? Do they settle out? Go dormant? Die? I don't really know, but I'd wonder if there'd be enough yeast in suspension after months in primary to bottle condition and carb. I keg so my experience w/ bottle conditioning/carbing is limited to just a few batches.

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I'm sure you have lots of extra money floating around w/ a second child on the way, but any chance you can get 2 or 3 kegs and store your beer in that, i.e., rack off the primary into the kegs? You could condition/carb in them, and they'd sit there, just fine, waiting for you do do something with them. Just like a big ol' can of beer.....

Or maybe you know someone who kegs who could lend you some kegs for an extended trial....

 

[Riverevir]

The number of bottles is certainly limiting but racking out of the primary (extra risks and all that) into a secondary would be a little less difficult if I had to do that- I get that I can complete them but would likely be able to brew into mid/late October but may not be able to get that stuff bottled. My goal is to plan a bit and get some recipes that might do ok with an unexpected delay in, say, December rather than argue about the merits of having a beer in bottles or kegs within 3 weeks. I get what you're both arguing but it's not really where I was hoping to have the help.

 

[Riverevir]

I've been keeping an eye out for kegs and looking into keg conditioning for that very reason. Craigslist and posted here, hoping to get some better deals. Worst case I would give it a go at my LHBS or online but that still doesn't help me solve what type of beer to put in them.

 

[kh54s10]

Oh it makes sense now. I read it as you calling the Oktoberfast as kid #1 and the 2 Row Hill 56 clone as kid #2. And that the clone wouldn't be ready until November.

Still I would age in the bottles rather than the fermenter. Though aging in the fermenter is OK. A darker high gravity beer will do better for long bulk aging. Maybe a Russian Imperial stout. But be careful of those or you will sleep well - too well with kids around.

 

[mongoose33]

I've been keeping an eye out for kegs and looking into keg conditioning for that very reason. Craigslist and posted here, hoping to get some better deals. Worst case I would give it a go at my LHBS or online but that still doesn't help me solve what type of beer to put in them.

If you can store that beer in kegs, what recipe you use won't matter. I just killed a porter I brewed in February--that's six months in the keg. Still tasted fine. If you condition/carb in the keg, what you end up with will be no different than if you'd bottled. It's just a larger vessel.

 

[Riverevir]

I realized it and got a good chuckle- my wife would probably argue I worry/talk about them enough that I treat them like a kid but I haven't taken to formally naming them yet. I would very much appreciate the tax deduction for every batch I brewed.