fermented for five or six weeks too long ?

[hoppapatamus]

So I made a single IPA but got really busy and never had time to,bottle. It's been sitting in the fermenter for six weeks I think at this point. I'm thinkijg about dumping it. Should I still bottle or throw it away ? Will it taste bad from really long primary fermentation ?

 

[jpr0930]

Bottle it up!

 

[John8251]

Definitely DO NOT toss it! Bottle it up and enjoy!

 

[mtyquinn]

Bottle. Taste. Even if it was awful (which it won't be) how else would you learn about what a longer fermented IPA taste like.

 

[roastquake]

If you have extra yeast, use it, your original colony may have gone dormant or started autolysis, which is still not a good reason to dump a batch

 

[hoppapatamus]

I have a vial of white labs I never used which is slightly past expiration. I think march.2013. Should I throw some of that in the bottling bucket ?

 

[jpr0930]

FWIW I let a saison go 2.5 months before I bottled (don't ask) and it tasted fine and carbed up without adding yeast. You probably won't have to add any.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Yeah my chocolate bock was about 6 weeks in Primary and it carbed fine, and wasn't oxidized or autolisized.

 

[John8251]

I wouldnt even bother adding yeast if it's only been 5 or 6 weeks. I've seen plenty of people (with mostly the same circumstance of being too busy to bottle) have no problems whatsoever even after 10 weeks. Just follow your normal bottling routine and let it carb up for a couple weeks. As long as the yeast you used were healthy, they should do the job just fine.

 

[progmac]

I have a vial of white labs I never used which is slightly past expiration. I think march.2013. Should I throw some of that in the bottling bucket ?

no no no. that was weird advice that someone gave about a yeast colony going dormant. what you have is fine. just bottle as normal.

 

[neosapien]

no need to add more yeast. just bottle it up and let it do it's thing. autolysis is also pretty unlikely.

 

[beergolf]

I wouldnt even bother adding yeast if it's only been 5 or 6 weeks. I've seen plenty of people (with mostly the same circumstance of being too busy to bottle) have no problems whatsoever even after 10 weeks. Just follow your normal bottling routine and let it carb up for a couple weeks. As long as the yeast you used were healthy, they should do the job just fine.

Yes, not need to add yeast. I. routinely leave some of my bigger Begians for several months with no problems. I very rarely bottle before 4 weeks with most brews.

Bottle it up and enjoy.

 

[Chadwick]

Just bottle it. There are plenty of yeast in there yet. I promise. I make barleywines and I let these set in the primary for up to 8 weeks. I bottle and I have never had a problem. Not only are there setting for longer than your beer, but they are setting in a ABV environment much higher than yours as well. My last barleywine had a ABV of 12.5%. It sat in the primary for 6 weeks, dry hopped for 1 week in a secondary before I bottled it. It carbed up fine. And this was with US-05 yeast. Again, your beer is fine.

 

[evrose]

If you have extra yeast, use it, your original colony may have gone dormant or started autolysis, which is still not a good reason to dump a batch

The chance of autolysis in a homebrew after only 6 weeks is negligible. 6 weeks for a primary isn't really that long.

Bottle it and enjoy.

 

[hoppapatamus]

Thank you everyone. I'll be bottling today then

 

[jpr0930]

Let us know how it turns out! All this talk made me thirsty!