I am in the navy and made a nut brown ale before i got underway for a week. how ever the week has turned in to hurricane relief off the coast of texas. It has been 2 weeks already and I estimate another two to three weeks.
What do you think?


Tags: how long can my beer stay in primary?, how long before I transfer my beer to the secondary fermenter?

The longest I've ever kept one in the primary was 4 weeks. No problems. I've read that much longer than that and the yeast cake will start to autolyze which is a very bad thing (I guess...I don't really know what that means.)

You should be alright for up to five weeks before the yeast start to autolyze. I wouldn't sweat it too much though. I left a mead on its yeast cake for three YEARS, and it didn't ruin it. A few extra weeks probably won't mess your beer up noticeably.

Cheers
Dave

The longest I have let one go (by mistake mind you) was 6 weeks. It actually turned out to be a big hit and had a lot of great flavor to it. Now during the 6 weeks my wife thought I was doing this on purpose and kept rotating my ice bottles to keep the temps right. I knew I married hr for a reason

I left a scotch ale in for 2 months i think when i hurt my arm. I only do a primary & i do 4 weeks all the time. I wouldnt worry about it.

I'm surprised!! The longest I've left it in was for 12 days, and now I transfer it almost as soon as the krausen drops, which is usually 4-5 days. Is this too soon, maybe I'm altering its flavour by doing it like this?

I doubt that you're changing the flavor any...but you sure are overworking yourself!

I leave my beer up to 4 weeks in primary. For most of my beers, thats all I need. If I need a secondary, I rack to secondary for up to a month.

Racking immediately after krausen has little (no?) benefit, in my mind. You're not separating beer from yeast (which at this stage, you wouldn't really want to do anyway). You're not preventing autolysis......I dunno. Why do you do it...maybe you know something I dont!


Cheers
Dave

Yhanks for the responces i feel better and I should return to port next week.
i think i will put in the second stage for a day or two jut to settle out any remaining trash.
sleep safe the navys making beer to

I agree with the more work theory. I am lazy so i go straight to keg from primary & force carbonate it. We usually have one before its chilled even.

I've read that letting your beer sit on top of all of the sediment in your primary will affect the flavor. Isn't that the reason guys started doing a secondary? Less sediment and clearer brew?