Two years in a secondary fermenter

[max384]

Hey guys, I've got a bit of an odd question here. I haven't done any homebrewing in about two years now. Life (well, mainly school) got too busy and making beer got pushed to the side. I was cleaning out my basement today and came across my secondary fermenter full of beer! It's a dunkelweisen extract brew that I put in the secondary fermenter at the end of the summer of 2010. I completely forgot about it. It has been kept at a pretty constant 65-75 degrees and mostly shielded from light.

My first thought was to dump it down the drain... But then I got to wondering if it might still be okay. Maybe it might even taste good?? So what do you guys say? Have any of you ever let beer go this long before bottling it? Should I just forget about it and dump it? Should I give it a go?

Here's a picture of it:

 

[bombcar]

Bottle it.

Worst case you're out some sanitizer for the bottles. Best case, you have the best story.

 

[ILoveBeer2]

Give it a smell test. If Ok, proceed to tasting. This could be awesome or terrible.

 

[Dawgs47]

Not a good style to age. If you were clean in your sanitation it should be okay, but most wheat beers start to decline in a couple months. All of the yeast will have died and given off bad flavors, and you will be missing the taste they normally add to a weiss beer. I would dump it since it was a Dunkelweiss. However, I would not blame you if curiosity got the best of you.

 

[RainyDay]

Go for it. As long as its been sealed it should be fine.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

It probably wont taste anything like it would originally, but i doubt its bad...chill a bit of it and if it tastes drinkable, bottle it.

 

[ksievert]

The airlock is dry, but what the heck smell it, drink it.

 

[InLimbo]

It has been kept at a pretty constant

65-75 degrees

No such thing. Pick one.

But with that said, bottle it up.

 

[barrooze]

...and mostly shielded from light.

If the light is sunlight, this is what I'd be afraid of... Two years of getting some sunlight will definitely skunk the hops in the beer. By all means, try it out, I would. Hopefully it's better than expected!!

 

[pabloj13]

No such thing. Pick one.

But with that said, bottle it up.

A 10 degree range over the course of two years IS pretty constant.

 

[Calder]

Taste it. That is the only way to tell. There is nothing in beer that will kill you (might make you gag, but you will live).

My suspicion, if it is not vinegar, it will be fine. Maybe not the beer you originally brewed.

........ But think of the tales you can tell on HBT about the beer you left for 2 years and ...... only you can write the next chapter in this story.

 

[chuckstout]

Id pull a little sample and see if its decent(drinkable) if it is im sure youll need some xtra yeast for bottling

 

[ksievert]

How do you forget about something so glorious as this?

 

[max384]

Thanks guys! I've got my final exam this week then drills... So I'll give it a taste Monday after next. If it doesn't make me gag, I'll bottle it.

No such thing. Pick one.

But with that said, bottle it up.

Are you seriously confused about what I mean when I give a temperature range? The minimum temperature it has seen is 65 degrees F. The maximum temperature it has seen is 75 degrees F. The temperature range is 10 degrees F.

If the light is sunlight, this is what I'd be afraid of... Two years of getting some sunlight will definitely skunk the hops in the beer. By all means, try it out, I would. Hopefully it's better than expected!!

Any light it has gotten in the last two years was fluorescent. I kept it wrapped in a foil wrap, so very little light did actually get in though.

Id pull a little sample and see if its decent(drinkable) if it is im sure youll need some xtra yeast for bottling

I would have never even thought of adding extra yeast and would have been left with some fiercely flat beer! Thanks.

 

[TheZer]

Take a gravity reading...only way to be sure that its done fermenting.

 

[45_70sharps]

Thanks guys! I've got my final exam this week then drills... So I'll give it a taste Monday after next. If it doesn't make me gag, I'll bottle it.

Taste it Monday after next? That sounds like a recipe for another two years to me!

Like everyone else said, smell it, give it a small taste, then a little bigger taste. Go from there.

Don't let it sit another two years!!! Give it a sniff and taste asap! Move it somewhere you will have to trip over it so that it doesn't sit so long.

Take a gravity reading...only way to be sure that its done fermenting.

Now that's good stuff!

 

[Clayton]

yeah wtf!! why would you find it and then rather than pull it out, take off the air lock and give it a wiff / taste you come here to the internet to ask.... do you look on your computer vs window to see if its sunny out side? how - why would you wate untill monday to check it??? if the air lock is dry it is vinegar period. now get your ass in there and check it will take 10 second... here i will even give you the steps. 1. get glass 2. remove air lock and pour in to glass 3. replace air lock 4. smell - taste 5. magicly know in 10seconds what we cant know, is it still good?

 

[mitchar19]

It's not going to kill you but it's probably not going to taste good either. It's probably highly oxidized at this point. It's worth pulling a sample out though.

 

[Clayton]

It's not going to kill you but it's probably not going to taste good either. It's probably highly oxidized at this point. It's worth pulling a sample out though.

no, if it has oxygen it will be vinagar , thats how its made
wet perishables exsposed to atmospheric oxygen dont oxidize ( its not iron!) they decompose, becase its a food item we would call it spoilage, if you have a supply of oxygen to any damp food source the consequence is an unavoidable infection , if it is fermented beer you will likely get acetobacter going in there, it will turn all your alcohol to acetic acid, at this point it will stay is vinagar for years before decomposeing to the next step , all so you could have Lactobacillus and Pediococcus in there. they will all so make the beer sour. I really think that is all you have to worry about sour or not

 

[Clayton]

I had a imp stout go bad on me years ago, whent on vacation and when i got back the cat or something knocked off the air lock, it was in secondry when i left. i was gone over 3 weeks , when i got back it was Crazy sour. i put it in a keg and forgot about it for about 2 years. then i pulled it back out and gave it a taste,, it was amazingly good malt vinagar. i made some fish in chips that day just it give it the final test. it was a hit. I put it all in old wine bottles and could hardly keep any for my self once the word got out.

 

[mitchar19]

His airlock is dry so it has been exposed to oxygen. I guess what I'm trying to say is it's probably going to have flavor characteristics similar to an old oxidized beer to the extreme. I've had something similar happen to me (let a beer sit in a secondary for a year) needless to say, it sucked. It tasted like water mixed with cardboard.

 

[luke_d]

Take a gravity reading...only way to be sure that its done fermenting.

Hahahaha that had me laughing!!

 

[ryno1ryno]

Take a gravity reading...only way to be sure that its done fermenting.

Funniest reply all day!

 

[45_70sharps]

His airlock is dry so it has been exposed to oxygen. I guess what I'm trying to say is it's probably going to have flavor characteristics similar to an old oxidized beer

I agree that it's probably ruined.
I think oxidized beer might be good compared to whatever this is.

I would still smell it and taste it instead of posting and asking what it's going to be like.

 

[pabloj13]

no, if it has oxygen it will be vinagar , thats how its made
wet perishables exsposed to atmospheric oxygen dont oxidize ( its not iron!) they decompose, becase its a food item we would call it spoilage, if you have a supply of oxygen to any damp food source the consequence is an unavoidable infection , if it is fermented beer you will likely get acetobacter going in there, it will turn all your alcohol to acetic acid, at this point it will stay is vinagar for years before decomposeing to the next step , all so you could have Lactobacillus and Pediococcus in there. they will all so make the beer sour. I really think that is all you have to worry about sour or not

Not sure where you got that idea from. Compounds in beer most certainly can be oxidized.

 

[ArkansasRazorbacks]

Take a gravity reading...only way to be sure that its done fermenting.

I literally laughed out loud when I read this... Classic!

 

[jiggs_casey]

I have five gallons of an American light lager that has been in my 'lagering' fridge for well over a year, at about 40'. I wasn't happy with the final results and just kinda put it on 'ignore'. Anyway, I don't really use the fridge for anything else and eventually 'ignore' turned to 'forget'. I remembered it the other day and decided to give it a whiff. Pretty good! I'll probably bottle it up this afternoon...

 

[whitehause]

Fire that baby up and let us know how it tastes.

 

[Clayton]

Not sure where you got that idea from. Compounds in beer most certainly can be oxidized.

sure they can. but the only why thats going to happon is if sterile beer is exsposed to sterile oxygen, and that my friend does not happon in the wild. all the beer we make is infected! there is no way small abounts of microbs dont land in the beer when you are putting it in the fermenter and then again when in the bottle but the number are so low that you drink it before it matters in most cases.

My point is that of you have a supply of oxygen ( ie empty air lock) you will have decomp destroy you beer quickly though the bioglogical processes of Metabolism 1000 times faster than what oxygen will do on its own.
Metabolism has the power of enzyme catalyzed reactions that will make all kinds of nasty stuff oxygen alone would never make.

 

[pabloj13]

sure they can. but the only why thats going to happon is if sterile beer is exsposed to sterile oxygen, and that my friend does not happon in the wild. all the beer we make is infected! there is no way small abounts of microbs dont land in the beer when you are putting it in the fermenter and then again when in the bottle but the number are so low that you drink it before it matters in most cases.

My point is that of you have a supply of oxygen ( ie empty air lock) you will have decomp destroy you beer quickly though the bioglogical processes of Metabolism 1000 times faster than what oxygen will do on its own.
Metabolism has the power of enzyme catalyzed reactions that will make all kinds of nasty stuff oxygen alone would never make.

There is no metabolism going on if there is nothing for the microbes to metabolize. Oxidation, on the other hand, is a chemical reaction that doesn't need "food" the way enzyme-catalyzed reactions do.