4 weeks in the secondary

[emenzer]

I have been real busy over the last 2 weeks and have not had time to bottle. I have a stout in the secondary which has been in there for 4 weeks now. Is this going to be alright or should I worry about off flavors or contamination??

[fretlessman71]

You ought to be fine. The whole idea of racking to 2ndary is to get the wort off the yeast cake, which WILL give off bad flavors. 2ndary is also for clarifying and aging the beer - more yeast will drop out of suspension and you'll have a clearer brew (or at least you'll have less yeast at the bottom of your bottles - you better not have a see-through stout!), and flavors will mellow out and become a little more "refined". I think I'm right in saying that, as long as your conditions were and are optimum (60-70 deg., low light, no contamination from outside sources) you could leave it in 2ndary longer if need be. If I were you, however, I'd get bottling as fast as I could... sounds tasty!

[S.F.B.]

You'll be fine! More time in the secondary is a good thing. Beers age better in bulk. I try leave all of my beers in the secondary for at least 30 days before kegging or bottling. I think you will notice a considerable difference in you brews if you let them age a bit. The only draw back to this is it will take it a little longer to carbonate due to less yeast in suspension at bottling time. This is a minor thing. Remember, quality cannot be rushed.

[orb]

Hey... let your beer sit 6 weeks in the secondary...you will be amazed at the quality...50-60 degrees/total darkness...Most of us are in too much of a hurry....three weeks in the bottle carbonate 65-70 degrees,cold condition 2 weeks/chill 3 days....whats the rush? Patience pays

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by orb
Hey... let your beer sit 6 weeks in the secondary...you will be amazed at the quality...50-60 degrees/total darkness...Most of us are in too much of a hurry....three weeks in the bottle carbonate 65-70 degrees,cold condition 2 weeks/chill 3 days....whats the rush? Patience pays


I agree here - I can't count the number of times I've made it 75% through a keg and realized that the beer has become about 1000% better than when I first started drinking it(over the course of three weeks or so). Oh well.....what a hard life :(

[Sunriver]

My Downwind Porter stayed in secondary for 4 months. Mmmmmmmmm it was the best I have ever brewed. It was also the first beer I ever kegged. I convinced 3 of my friends to start brewing because of it.

The longest I have ever had a beer in primay was 3 months for a hefeweizen. Nope, never do that again. I swear, I am cured.

[fretlessman71]

Welcome, Sunriver! Good to have you aboard. Sounds like you already have the brewing bug! I have it, but I'm going through a strange physical thing where stuff like sugar and alcohol make me feel really sick and lethargic, so I'm limiting my beer pleasure to just talking about it and reading people's posts. Hope you have a good time here!

(Any of that Downwind Porter left....? ;))

[ray m]

I would like to also wish you welcome, sunriver. And fretless, I do hope that you get over your strange ailment soon.:)

[noby]

I've found myself in the same situation. I racked a bitter to secondary a month ago.
I'm building my own house, and hope to move in in a couple of weeks, so things are kind of mad t the moment. I hope to bottle this weekend, although i said the same thing last weekend.
will there be sufficient yeast in suspension for priming?
I'm guessing there should be, and knowing me, I'll probably disturb the bottom during racking anyway.
Also, i dry-hopped into the secondary. If it's a long secondary, is it ok to leave the hops in?

noby.

[paul84043]

A month in the secondary is no problem at all, you can easily go several months.
I'm not sure about leaving the hops in for several months though, I would probably transfer it into a tertiary just to be safe.

[noby]

thanks for that paul.
I think if i don't get a chance to bottle this weekend, i'll defenitley rack to tertiary.

noby.

[RedVR6]

Good thread. Was going over my extract directions last night and it was not mentioning how long to keep it in the secondary.

Now if it would warm up a little in the house so my yeast packet wakes up after breaking it last night.