Is 3 weeks ok in primary?

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mancer62

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Made a Coopers IPA and added citra & cascade.
I meant to keg or bottle on Monday (which would have been 2 weeks). For various reasons I havent. Therefore is leaving it in primary in my FV for 3 weeks ok? I dont bother doing secondary .
 
I didnt dry hop I boiled hops for 5 mins...will this make difference
 
It'll be fine; I've had beers for 12 weeks in primary before. You'll probably find it will be better for the extra time!
 
Consider that we bottle beer with yeast and sediment in it which then settles to the bottom of the bottle, just like the yeast & sediment in your primary. Your bottled beer will keep fine for up to a year...
 
Consider that we bottle beer with yeast and sediment in it which then settles to the bottom of the bottle, just like the yeast & sediment in your primary. Your bottled beer will keep fine for up to a year...

Theres a lot less yeast in a bottle of beer, so if you leave the beer on the yeast cake too long you can get a meaty off flavour from autolosis from all the dead cells.
Also if the OP is using a plastic FV, oxygen can eventually pass through the plastic leading to oxidation of the beer.

But as others have said 3 weeks is fine
 
3 weeks ain't just ok... it's essential. Well maybe not but I'm going to have to bottle some ale today that's been in primary for only 17 days. Bit early for my liking but I won't get the chance again for ages.
 
Theres a lot less yeast in a bottle of beer, so if you leave the beer on the yeast cake too long you can get a meaty off flavour from autolosis from all the dead cells.
Also if the OP is using a plastic FV, oxygen can eventually pass through the plastic leading to oxidation of the beer.

But as others have said 3 weeks is fine

A-Ha!!!! Light bulb moment! Twice I've had a slight 'greasy' aftertaste to a kit beer (but I suppose meaty could describe it) and I wondered what it was - I will have to watch out for it next time and check how long I left the brew before bottling. Thanks for this info.

I never add tasting notes to my brewing notes but, if I did, I would be able to refer back straight away to see if there is a correlation :ugeek:
 
When I was hospitalised for the best part of two months, many years ago, I had some ale in the FV which I was certain must have gone bad in that time. I was under strict orders not to touch alcohol at that time (what had put me in hospital in the first place) so down the sink it went. Smelled bloody gorgeous and I could have cried as it swirled around the sink and disappeared down the plughole. Sob!
 
Made a Coopers IPA and added citra & cascade.
I meant to keg or bottle on Monday (which would have been 2 weeks). For various reasons I havent. Therefore is leaving it in primary in my FV for 3 weeks ok? I dont bother doing secondary .

3 weeks will do it more good than harm . 3 weeks should be your norm , it ensures its started to clear and the yeast has cleaned up all the smells and off tastes , 3 weeks should be your FV norm if you dont use a secondary
 
3 weeks will do it more good than harm . 3 weeks should be your norm , it ensures its started to clear and the yeast has cleaned up all the smells and off tastes , 3 weeks should be your FV norm if you dont use a secondary

Sense spoken here! Just don't mess around with it/lift the lid once the initial activity has subsided. In fact don't even look at it; a wrong glance might make it turn.
 

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