I usually leave my beer in the secondary fermenter about two weeks before bottling in order to reduce the amount of sediment. Would I have any problems with the beer if I left it for a month to further reduce the sediment? I have very little after two weeks but I'm anal. What can I say?
You may have a problem with autolysis. This is where the yeast start digesting themselves. It can leave a rubbery flavor in your brew. For most ales, you can primary for a week, secondary for a week and you're through.
Beer here,
Mike
You can safely leave it longer in secondary. Even two months or longer. Autolysis may be a problem only if left in primary more than two weeks, but in secondary, no need to worry. In fact, one nice thing about secondary is the luxury it gives you to put off bottling!
I have left beer in the secondary up to four months with no ill effects that I could discern. Some times finding time to bottle is difficult.
On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 01:27:17 GMT, "Mundy Pond" said in alt.beer.home-brewing:
How long you secondary a beer depends on how heavy it is. Some barleywines aren't fit to drink for many months. However, you can safely bottle most light ales after a week in secondary, so 2 weeks is enough, and 3 or 4 weeks won't hurt. You pretty much bottle as soon after the beer drops clear as you have time for. (Leave a light ale in secondary for a year and you lose just about all the hoppiness. It's still drinkable, but it's all malt.)
So that's why my beer is so sour! I know this subject has probably kind of been expired and expunged, but I was perusing the database for information and happened across this. Besides, maybe I'm not the only one that doesn't ever expire this group.
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