When homebrewing beer, how long can I leave beer in the secondary fermentor?!
Thanks,
Beginner
Answers: That is, is there a time that is too long. Thereby the yeast has died and I will not be able to carbonate the beer naturally?
Thanks,
Beginner
Short answer, not really...
Most homebrewers follow the 1-2-3 rule, 1 week in primary, 2 weeks in secondary, and 3 weeks in the bottle. This said, if you plan on aging the brew for any period of time before bottling, you just want to make sure the environment is right. You may want to rack to tertiary (after the brew has cleared) for bulk aging, that way you will not run as large a risk of autolysis.
Depending on the style and recipe, you could age it for a couple months or a couple years without problems. If the latter is the case, you may want to pitch again before bottling if you are going to bottle condition. Your other option would be to keg the brew after secondary, and age it in the keg. Then force carb it in the keg, and you won't have to worry about the yeast or bottle conditioning at all.
Feel free to email me anytime if you need help or have any further questions.
Mitchell Winery, as usual, has good ideas. I don't always follow them, though. My usual routine calls for up to 2 weeks in the primary (plastic) and no limit in the secondary (glass). However, I tend to get relatively little yeast transfer when I rack and I usually get around to bottling after a couple of weeks. I wait another couple of weeks before sampling. My records are about a year in the secondary (OK, that was mead, not beer) and a couple of years in the bottle before tapping the first one, for spruce beer, which tastes like Pine-Sol when underaged.