Type of beer for long time in fermenter?

[Bock]

Hey guys, what type of beer can i let in fermenter for a long time(3-4 month)? Avoiding the too strong in alcohol like barleywine lol.

Weather is getting cold, snow is about to drop and i brew in my garage with open door. I would like to brew 3-4 batch before winter to load my keg and fermenter.
2 keg + 2 fermenter. So while i'll be drinking my 2 keg on tap, the other ones in fermenter should stay there for a couple of month.

Any suggestion?
Thx!

 

[dj zlim]

I've seen long fermentations on ciders and porters. Also sounds like it could be a good opportunity to try lagering!

 

[Golddiggie]

Bigger beers benefit more from longer ferment/aging times. Or more malt forward recipes even. I had my ~8% mocha porter about 6-8 weeks in fermenter before moving it for another 4-6 weeks on oak cubes. Damned good now.

Make a stout, porter, or brown ale and it should be good for 3-4 months before going to glass. I've aged a brown ale (around 6.5% IIRC) for a month on oak, after about a month on the yeast. I might even have just tossed the oak right into the fermenter and let it spend the entire time there. It's long enough ago that I don't recall 100%. I tend to leave things in fermentation vessel and NOT move 'to secondary' unless it's for longer term aging. As in several months, or even years.

 

[tracer bullet]

For drinking first something like an IPA. To sit on a while and drink next a porter. To drink a few months out a heavy duty but not quite Imperial stout.

Note the change from hoppy towards malty beer. One is best soon, the other later.

 

[Bock]

Brew an IPA today, and i'll brew a brown ale tomorrow. I will take a look at the Porter and stout. Never did a stout so i think this will be next.
Is an irish red ale a good idea too?

As for the "secondary" i usualy never do it as i let everything in primary. Should it be OK for a stout to let it go in primary for a few month?

 

[Golddiggie]

Most likely. IMO a larger factor would be what you'll be leaving it in and where. For me, it doesn't matter since I'm using converted commercial kegs to ferment/age in. I can seal them up tight, purge with CO2, and let them sit for months/years without issue. Buckets or carboys are a bit different there. With carboys requiring more care to prevent light penetration. I'm planning to shift an English barleywine brewed in October, 2012 into serving/carbonating kegs this weekend or before next weekend at the latest. We pulled samples a couple of weeks back and it's good. It's been sitting on oak hunks (from a Makers Mark 46 barrel) since early 2013. When I added the oak, I made damned sure to sanitize that as well as purge the headspace with CO2 more than enough to protect it.

 

[tracer bullet]

The time frame to go form primary to secondary is still evolving. Personally I'm good w/ primary up to a month. Longer could be OK. a few months like 2, 3? I'd probably start getting a touch nervous. It'd be a good time to get an extra keg if you think this is something you'll do each season. After a month put it into one. As a bonus, at that point, you don't actually have to wait any longer to drink it, hah.

 

[Golddiggie]

IIRC, the barleywine I mentioned earlier was a few months on the yeast before moving to oak to age. I don't call those vessels "secondary" since zero fermenting is happening. Those are aging vessels/tanks.

You still need to wait for the batch to carbonate. I don't rapid force carbonate my kegs. Two weeks at temp and pressure is what I've always done. I don't have any issue waiting a couple/few more weeks for the brew to be ready for glass.

It probably helps that I don't drink all that much. What we're brewing is more for other people than myself.

 

[Beermeister32]

2 keg + 2 fermenter. So while i'll be drinking my 2 keg on tap, the other ones in fermenter should stay there for a couple of month.

I'd look for 2 more kegs. You should get the beers off the yeast cakes once they have finished fermenting. Then you can store the kegged beer cold for months and months in kegs. Make sure to purge the kegs with CO2.

 

[Bock]

Thx, i think the extra keg would be a good addition to my setup!

 

[gunhaus]

Well, I am sure as this thread rolls along there will be plenty of advice claiming that you just have to get the beer off the yeast cake as soon as it is finished fermenting. Of course this will be justified with a reference to the dreaded and fiercely deadly autolysis. Seldom if ever is this actually backed up with any proof or evidence. STILL, it could be an issue, and off flavors of the most despicable and unmentionable kind could suddenly sprout up in your poor defenseless beer. OR it could just be more of the old "everybody knows" syndrome that dominates so much of what we do!

I myself, have left many many 1.040 -1.060 level beers in a variety of styles on primary for 2-3 months with out ANY SINGLE ISSUE. In one memorable case I put two beers to rest on New Years day, and was not able to package them until May 10th. Life happens. They were A plain red ale, and a 4% simple stout. Both were outstanding once we got a chance to rack and carb them.

Still auotlysis is a long accepted, irrefutable FACT, all the tight books say so. It is, no doubt, an extraordinary and unavoidable phenomenon. It is almost always pointed out by folks that have never left a beer to find out of it is true, and yet are positive it occurs with unwavering regularity. And you can't argue with accepted mythology!!!! (Just like the WELL KNOWN FACT that our flat earth is the center of the universe)

 

[Beermeister32]

I think we are talking best practices here. Anecdotally you may have a point, however different people react to different potential off flavors differently. That means getting it off the yeast and trub is probably the best advice here.

 

[OldDogBrewing]

I leave my saisons that are blond, no dark saisons here, for a month, my tripel for 2 months at least, never experienced meaty off flavours or anything related to autolysis

 

[tracer bullet]

Autolysis would be another "it depends" thing. What yeast, what temperature, what time frame, and so on. Is it a monster that hits in 2 weeks? No. Will it happen at some point? Absolutely. When is that point? Again, it depends / who knows.

Agreed to best practices - keg it when fermentation and any desired dry hopping or aging are done, if you have one available. Besides, you get to drink it sooner as well.

Either way, don't let hoppy beers sit too long, if you like the punch of it.

 

[VikeMan]

Okay, since autolysis has been brought up... It's happening all the time. It's happening before you even pitch your yeast. The more it happens, the greater its impact. At the extreme, that could be the meaty/rubber flavors sometimes cited. But before you get there, there are subtler impacts, such as a rise in beer pH. As beer pH rises, flavors are muted. There is no good reason to leave beer sitting on yeast once the yeast have gone dormant.

 

[Redpappy]

With the extra keg, I would carb naturally, that way you can throw in the keezer and be able to drink in a day.

 

[Golddiggie]

I hold off on transferring batches for a few parameters.
1. More than enough time for it to fully ferment and the yeast to 'cleanup' after themselves.
2. Enough time for them to flocculate into a nice cake on the bottom of the fermenter.
3. When I have the time to transfer to serving keg.

I've had bigger beers site on the yeast cake for months before I shift them either to carbonate/serving keg or aging vessel. I tend to go 3-5 weeks from pitching to transferring to carbonate/serving kegs on my lower ABV ales (sub 7%). A lot of times I transfer one batch on the day we brew another. Means less cleanup sessions over weekends. Since I don't have enough time to do much during the week after work, and I have projects stacked up for several weeks (or months) at any given time that I need to work on over weekends. Then there's times when I get a call from a family member that they need my help with something, which kills that day, or entire weekend, for me.

I've yet to have any indication of negative flavors (autolysis or other) in my brews. I think too many people rush to get the brew off the yeast and actually oxidize the batch in their haste.

 

[VikeMan]

I've yet to have any indication of negative flavors (autolysis or other) in my brews. I think too many people rush to get the brew off the yeast and actually oxidize the batch in their haste.

Please explain how racking sooner rather than later increases oxidation.

 

[Golddiggie]

Please explain how racking sooner rather than later increases oxidation.

If you're using an siphon you're inherently at risk of oxidization. People take steps to reduce it, but that's about all you can do. Plus if they're all twisted around their underwear about "I HAVE to get it OFF THE YEAST!!!" mistakes will be made.

I haven't used a siphon for ages. I also purge my vessels (fermenting or aging) with CO2 before they sit for any length of time. Batches with either oxidization or autolysis: zero.

 

[VikeMan]

If you're using an siphon you're inherently at risk of oxidization. People take steps to reduce it, but that's about all you can do. Plus if they're all twisted around their underwear about "I HAVE to get it OFF THE YEAST!!!" mistakes will be made.

I haven't used a siphon for ages. I also purge my vessels (fermenting or aging) with CO2 before they sit for any length of time. Batches with either oxidization or autolysis: zero.

What does using a siphon or not using a siphon have to do with how long the beer sits on the yeast?

And are you seriously suggesting that someone who wants to get beer off the yeast a day, or a week, or a few weeks sooner than someone else has a greater chance of botching the job? C'mon.

ETA: Every batch you have brewed has autolysis. Everyones' batches do.

 

[tracer bullet]

What does using a siphon or not using a siphon have to do with how long the beer sits on the yeast?

I'm going to take a guess he's talking about having a primary - secondary transfer, versus keeping it in the primary and doing no transfers.

Maybe not, hard to say.

 

[VikeMan]

I'm going to take a guess he's talking about having a primary - secondary transfer, versus keeping it in the primary and doing no transfers.

Maybe not, hard to say.

Hmmm. Maybe. I would agree that 2 (open) transfers vs 1 increases oxidation. For the record, I advocate getting beer off the yeast as soon as attenuation is finished, off flavors have been cleaned up, and clarity is acceptable. I don't generally advocate secondaries.