Unable to bottle

Hi,

I have a rye ale fermenting in my basement, which is about 62 degrees. OG about 1.048. I was able to brew it right before I was sent out of town for work. Made it home after two weeks and was able to get it into the secondary, but then I was sent back out of town with an indefinite return date. I am not sure how long it can stay in the secondary and just a little worried that it will go bad before I can get home to bottle it.

It will be fine. I'd just bottle it when you get back. the only thing I'd worry about would be the airlock drying out. Since it's in secondary you'll probably be OK for a while.

I let stuff sit in primary for at least a month, and then if I secondary it might sit for another month. I've never had any problems.

That's a tough one. Maybe you can come back on a weekend to bottle it up?

What does indefinite mean? Like it might be a week, but possibly 10 days? Or you have to complete an on-site project which could take 3-12 months?

If the former, no big deal. I wouldn't let it sit for months (but it probably could). If its a couple weeks to a month it will probably be fine.

How warm is it? Especially if it is in a cool place (<60*), I think it would benefit.

Edit: How hoppy is it? The hops can fade quickly, so if this relies on hops for flavor, you will likely lose some. However, you would have lost about the same amount from bottles anyway, I think...

An average ABV ale in secondary at room temp will continue to condition and improve for a good 3-4 months before it peaks and starts to turn the corner, and even then, it is going to be another several months before it "goes bad." At 62F, those guidelines will be about 10-20% longer. If you had a keg and could purge the oxygen, it would last even longer. So, I guess the real question is, how long will you realisticly be gone? If it's under a couple months, I wouldn't worry about the beer at all. If you're talking about more like a year, you might have some issues, but it's a $30-40 batch, so no big whoop, let it ride anyway.

Instead of keeping an airlock on it for that long-term aging, I'd go get a closed bung and completely close the carboy (or something to plug the grommet if you use a bucket).

people leave beers in secondaries for months, you shouldn't have any problems. I have a beer right now that has been sitting on oak cubes in a carboy since early February. Relax, it'll be there ready to bottle when you get back.

Just a thought, when I run out of keg space and don't feel like bottling, I'll go get some 2 liter bottles ($0.60 for the generic cola at Wal-Mart), dump the cola, clean and sanatize the bottles, fill them with uncarbed beer, squeeze out all of the oxygen and cap the beer with no O2 in the bottle.

Then, I have one of the stainless steel carbonator caps, so I'll carb a single 2 liter at a time for the weekend:



Since you bottle, you can just rack from the 2 liter bottles to beer bottles when you are ready, but the big advantage is this way you can purge all of the oxygen and throw them in the fridge at 32-34F and slow down conditioning immensely to where the beer will be fine no longer how long you are gone.

You should be fine with it sitting in secondary for a while. It is just bulk conditioning rather than bottle conditioning. Think of how long some of your beers have been in bottles. Just have the person who feeds your animals/waters your plants check on the airlock and keep it topped off or if you have someone to do it have them bottle for you. Maybe it will lose a little bit by the time you get home, but it will still be beer and should be fine.

Cheers!

I've done primary for a month followed by secondary for four months, beer was great.

I've seen secondaries for 6-8 months and longer. You'll be fine, OP.

secondary is where alot of beers hit their sweet spot and magical and mysterious things happens... flavors enhance, harsh flavors mellow, velvet robes part, Nicki Minaj looses her voice, etc etc etc.... Like b-boy said above, i think ur only main concern would be that ur airlock would dry out if its very very long. Maybe have someone check it if they are stopping by to check up on ur place.

Thanks for everyone's input. I was just worrying a little bit. I will definitly have someone check on the airlock for me and hopefully I will be home by May and everything will be fine.

Thanks again everybody.

You could look into one of those silicone airlocks. They don't require any fluid. I've never used one, but sounds like this would be a good time to try one out.

http://rebelbrewer.com/shop/carboys-accessories/silicone-waterless-airlock/