Secondary fermentation questions

I was wondering how long you can let a 5gallon batch sit in the secondary carboy?

long time, months, same is true for primary.

It depends on what type of beer it is, and why it's in a secondary to begin with. If it's an average gravity beer and you racked it to clear it, then a couple weeks is fine. If it's a big beer and you're bulk aging it, then it could be months or years. I have a 17% abv barleywine that spent nearly two years in a secondary and then went into a barrel to age for another year, I'm getting ready to bottle it and leave it for another 2 years....

You also don't need to rack it to a secondary if it's only to let the flavors come together and to clear, many folks skip secondary and opt for an extended month long primary instead. And only use a secondary to add something to the beer, or to clear the beer if something was added to the primary.

If I use a secondary (rare these days) for a beer I tend to rack it after 2 weeks for another 2 weeks, leaving some time on the original yeastcake to allow the yeast to clean up after itself, then rack to let the beer sit on whatever I've added to the secondary.

Thanks for the info! This batch is a wheat beer, my second all grain batch from switching from extracts. I racked it off the primary after two weeks and hitting my gravity but due to work it has been in the secondary for a few months. It seems like the batch is still fine from what you guys are saying. So i think i will bottle this weekend!

how long it can sit in secondary also depends on sanitation conditions. i've lost a batch because i transferred to secondary and left too much head space (air above the beer). some bacteria go in, and with enough time multiplied to the point of infecting the beer.

in the end it's the taste that will tell you if everything is alright. let us know!