Is two and a half weeks too long in the primary fermenter?

[linusstick]

Monday of this week it was two weeks which is where I usually bottle. I missed my chance that day and now I can’t get to it until Friday. Would that be too long to sit in there? I never do a secondary so I go right from the primary to bottles in two weeks. It’s a small batch of that makes any difference 1.75 gallons). I could push myself to do it tonight but I’d rather wait if the beer would be ok. Thanks

 

[madscientist451]

Set it outside in the cold and let it cold crash. If its cold, you can delay bottling for a long time. If you leave it inside a few weeks or a month it won't matter.

 

[linusstick]

Set it outside in the cold and let it cold crash. If its cold, you can delay bottling for a long time. If you leave it inside a few weeks or a month it won't matter.

So you are saying the fermenter I have sitting there now (and has been for over two weeks) I should put outside now and cold crash? Leave it outside for how long? It’s in the 40s here.

 

[imasickboy]

Leave it inside. You're fine in primary for much, much longer than two and a half weeks.

 

[PADave]

When I bottle I leave all my brews in primary for 3 weeks min. Your fine.

 

[kh54s10]

When I started it seemed that there were 2 camps of primary only brewers one camps said bottle at 10 days to 2 weeks and the other camp said you must leave the beer in primary for 4 weeks or longer. I decided to split the difference and go with 3 weeks. I would sometimes get lazy and go the 4 weeks or longer. The beers were the same. I then ran my pipeline low so I did several batches and packaged at 2 weeks. They were the same.

So my recommendation is to wait a couple of days after final gravity is reached, but if that is not convenient a month or even a little longer will make little to no difference.

 

[applescrap]

3 weeks is fine, this has been pretty well documented at this point. If you want clear beer, put it outside/fridge for at least a full 24 hours then dump in 1/2 tsp gelatin melted in 1/2 c water. No stir, just dump in and let sit 3 days more then rack. 3 weeks, a month inside in primary no big deal. Ps, by melted i mean let jello bloom for 5 minutes or so then microwave to 190ish and immediately cut heat and dump in.

 

[RM-MN]

I chatted with a brewer who left his beer in the fermenter for 6 months. He said that still wasn't too long.

 

[Lefou]

Leave it inside. You're fine in primary for much, much longer than two and a half weeks.

As a seasonal brewer of ales I've left fermenting beer in the primary for up to three weeks during colder months. The ambient temperature for that was between 58F to 65F, no problems.
That particular beer came out just fine. It was a partial mash with a gravity of 1.066 and needed the extra time.

 

[myndflyte]

As others have said, I go at a minimum of 3 weeks in the primary. Just leave it inside and you'll be fine to bottle on Friday.

 

[cubalz]

I typically leave mine in the fermenter within the fermentation chamber for 4 weeks and then let it sit for one week at room temperature to finish out. I have been doing it like this for all of my beers for a long time and my beers taste great.

 

[RM-MN]

I typically leave mine in the fermenter within the fermentation chamber for 4 weeks and then let it sit for one week at room temperature to finish out. I have been doing it like this for all of my beers for a long time and my beers taste great.

You could, especially if you needed the fermentation chamber, leave the beer in the fermenting chamber for 1 week and then room temperature for 4.....or less. With my lighter color beers I've started bottling them on day 10 and that seems to be fine. More alcohol means more time to ferment. Darker beers need time to mature so I leave them in the fermenter longer.