Timing on beer

[bbelsey1]

I am fermenting a batch of white Ipa from BSG and am super excited about it. I'm brewing it for my wedding in July. It's been fermenting for a couple of weeks but I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to acquire enough bottles. Would possibly putting it into a secondary fermenter for a week then bottling effect the flavor? It may be done fermenting I just haven't had enough time to handle it. I also suppose my question is that is there a limit on fermenting or will it be ok sitting? Thanks

 

[Hello]

I found that leaving beer in primary for 3+months resulted in what I found to be a weird flavor. It could have been the beer.

If it has been fermenting for a couple of weeks though, take a hydrometer sample and get your gravity. Make sure it is done; it probably is. I would leave it there for the week and go buy bottles if you need them now. I do not think you'll run into any issues. Transferring to secondary could expose it to oxygen. Many people secondary, but you're running out of time and I wouldn't risk it.

So leave it, buy bottles, and bottle it on up for your wedding. Congrats to you.

 

[menotu]

ive had batches in buckets for 2 months with no issues, if your going to get to bottling in the next month or so i would bother racking over to secondary.

 

[m00ps]

definitely do not transfer it to a secondary. This will introduce some (or alot depending on your siphoning skill) of oxygen to the beer which will ruin good IPAs. Keept it sealed in primary until you get enough bottles acquired

 

[GCPHomebrew]

I have kept ipa in the primary for up to 4 weeks with no noticeable off flavors. So Get bottles and dry hop that primary. Good luck

 

[wtaylor3]

Don't know about ipa's but my milk stout was in the fermenter for 5 months and it's a great beer.

I have heard that ibu's fade quickly in the bottle, but I'm not sure if that also pertains to fermenters.

 

[Gameface]

Don't know about ipa's but my milk stout was in the fermenter for 5 months and it's a great beer.

I have heard that ibu's fade quickly in the bottle, but I'm not sure if that also pertains to fermenters.

I don't think IBUs fade all that much, but hop flavor and aroma on the other hand, do.

 

[SevenOaks]

Where are you located? I have more bottles than I know what to do with.

 

[bbelsey1]

All super interesting. Thanks for in knowledge. I'm located in Colorado Springs and that would be awesome

 

[wtaylor3]

I don't think IBUs fade all that much, but hop flavor and aroma on the other hand, do.

This is going to sound snarky but I'm actually quite sincere

Thanks for the correction

 

[SilverZero]

You could consider cold-crashing it.

 

[max384]

I rarely transfer my IPAs to secondary. I usually try to have my IPAs go from grain to glass in about three weeks. Which, for me, means leaving it in primary for about two weeks and then transferring to a keg where it carbs for about a week. I have a quick turnaround on IPAs to keep the hoppiness intact.

Most other beers I do transfer to secondary. To note, though, I use my CO2 from my keg setup to fill my carboy with CO2 prior to transfer. This greatly reduces the chance of oxidation during transfer. Though, to be honest, I've never noticed any difference in taste after beginning this practice. If you're using a racking cane and not splashing your beer, I think the risk of oxidation from transferring from primary to secondary is way overstated here.

 

[kh54s10]

No secondary needed, figure out when you want to bottle, add dry hops 5-7 days in advance and proceed. I have left beers in primary for about 2 months often through laziness, didn't want to package that day which then procrastinated into weeks.

 

[SanPancho]

I'm in agreement on the oxygen issue, it's overblown in my opinion. What I would be worried about is losing ibus. Yeast will lower your ibu levels as they work. White labs did a study showing different yeasts ranging from 10-25% diminuation in ibu levels. (Anti-boilover silicon drops like fermcap fight this affect in primary I was told- don't remember why... ). So maybe just be aware you might wanna up your dry hop additions a little bit to compensate the longer it sits.

Personally I think the lighter the wort, the more important to get off the yeast after 3-4 weeks. But as you can see, it's a debateable subject. If you are good about sanitation I'd vote to rack it off yeast. It's already got alcohol and hops, which both fight bacteria, and you're gonna add more hops anyways. I think infection is low probability. Just do a solid job of cleaning and sanitizing before transferring.

Know anybody with co2 tank? Prefill your sanitized 2dy carboy with co2 if you're really worried about oxidation. Or buy a small box of whip-it's and a cracker at your local headshop and use that to fill your carboy with co2. :fro:

 

[Brulosopher]

I've done an exBEERiment comparing primary-only to secondary on a split batch of the same beer (link below), I'm of the opinion it doesn't matter. If you're careful, racking to secondary won't introduce all that much O2, though it will also be of no benefit. Personally, I'd just leave it primary and bottle when FG is stable.

http://brulosophy.com/2014/08/12/primary-only-vs-transfer-to-secondary-exbeeriment-results/

Cheers,

Marshall

 

[max384]

Or buy a small box of whip-it's and a cracker at your local headshop and use that to fill your carboy with co2. :fro:

Whip-its are nitrous oxide, not carbon dioxide. I don't know what, if any, effect this would have on the beer. But I'd stick to CO2 not N2O.

 

[bbelsey1]

So it sounds like a lot of you guys are against changing carboys for a secondary. That article posted a few back was interesting about this subject. I suppose for this white ipa. I just wonder keeping the beer in there with some ingredients like orange peel and coriander for 3 weeks, would that lead to a too strong orange flavor? Is there a type of beer you only want to keep those ingredients in there for a short time and then siphon the beer out? Or is that a good thing to leave together?