Good recipe for 6-week primary?

[zonkman]

I'm going to be out of the country for 6 weeks and would like for beer production to continue in my absence. I will be bottling a nut brown right before I go. I'd also like to put one in the primary a day or two before.

Any recipes that benefit from (or are not adversely affected by) a nice 6-week primary, to be followed by bottle conditioning?

All styles are good.

 

[bleme]

That's a tricky question. My first thought was "anything 10% ABV", but those are also the most likely to stall on you and need some intervention. I'd probably go with whichever non-hoppy beer was my favorite/most dependable. Probably something dark, like a porter or stout.

 

[jekeane]

Any non hoppy beer would be fine. If you have temperature control do a lager or a kolsch.

 

[zonkman]

Thanks guys!

I'm thinking I might well go with Yooper's Oatmeal Stout, with 1318....

 

[jekeane]

Thanks guys!

I'm thinking I might well go with Yooper's Oatmeal Stout, with 1318....

that would be a good choice

 

[Kent88]

Can you maintain lager fermentation temps? A Doppelbock with an OG on the low end of the doppelbock spectrum. Just make sure that you start it like 5 days before you leave. Aerate at pitching and again at about 12-18 hours post yeast pitching. When krausen is falling turn the temperature up, top off the airlock, and have a nice trip.

 

[Kent88]

Or maybe a saison with an OG on the strong end of the saison-OG spectrum. Wyeast 3724, put it in a warm place in your residence. That strain sometimes noticeably slows down as it gets closer to FG (or even stalls somewhere around 1.035, but I've never seen that the 3 times I've used it), so allowing it to have plenty of time to finish isn't a bad idea.

Maybe have someone go check on it to keep the airlock topped off every couple weeks.

 

[zonkman]

Great ideas. I don't have a formal temp control, but a basement with a little window that can be widened to set ambient temp pretty precisely. Hands on though. Also, I thought lagering required a few temp changes over the weeks (low, then up, and down again)?

Coincidentally I'm kind of 3724'ed out. Made a few saisons with it already (one of which needed 6 weeks). Will rock more saisons in the summer.

Thanks for the suggestions! Always looking for new, interesting recipes.

 

[Kent88]

I don't have a formal temp control, but a basement with a little window that can be widened to set ambient temp pretty precisely. Hands on though. Also, I thought lagering required a few temp changes over the weeks (low, then up, and down again)?

Window adjustments sound like something that isn't a "set and forget" kind of solution.

As far as lagering requiring a gradual temp increase, that is an option. There is a thread you should check out, the Warm Fermented Lager Thread. I've read a Brulosophy experiment (not exbeeriment, because I find that annoying) where a 16 degree fahrenheit (give or take) temperature difference had little or no impact perceivable impact on the resulting "lager" beer. I remember seeing a BrewingTV episode on YouTube where they tested Wyeast 2124 in the low 60F range and it turned out to be a decent lager.

I have a fridge that I've used to lager, it can handle two 1-gallon jugs, and I can control it with an arduino, ds18b20 temp sensor, and a relay. I've been making 3-gallon batches lately that wont fit in my fridge so I've tweaked my lagering procedure I keep the fermenter in a cool area, then I try to keep it in the traditional temperature range through krausen by surrounding with ice and using the swamp cooler method. Then after krausen I allow it to come to ambient room temperature (and it is a cool room, preferably low ale temps).

I hope one day to get a larger lager fridge, but for now this is what I'm doing.

 

[cegan09]

Something with Brett. It typically takes longer anyway, and it's less temperature picky.

I made a Brett IPA that sat in primary for 4 weeks before I rushed it into a keg. In retrospect it should have sat another week at least as I moved a LOT of yeast over still suspended in the beer. Something like that would work. Brew, leave for your 6 weeks, throw a big dry hop addition in when you return, then keg/bottle a couple days later.

 

[schematix]

How soon are you leaving? If you've got a week or so before you leave the better idea might be to make an ale of your choosing, get it in a keg (day 2-4), carbonate it naturally (day 4-6), and get it to cold condition for the remaining 5 weeks.

Most ales, if properly pitched, are actually done with primary fermentation in about 3 days. Give or take a bit for the gravity, strain and temperature.

 

[zonkman]

Definitely open to a few brett recipe suggestion.

 

[cegan09]

This is the recipe I followed. It came out awesome. next time around I might play with a few things. Maybe different base grain, maybe different hop combo. I still have a couple bottles sitting that i filled from the keg because I was curious what it would do down the road (about 9 months on now), it's not hoppy anymore, but it's not bad either.

https://latchkeybrewing.com/2017/02/20/sippin-on-funk-juice/