I was wondering if a brew would be OK if it sits in the FV for 3 or 4 weeks past fermentation. I'm running low on storage vessels so it got me thinking what would be the maximum period a brew can sit in the FV?
Max period in the fermentation vessel
- Thread starter Portreath
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For sure, so long as the lid remains firmly shut! Mine routinely do 3 weeks in the FV and I'd have no qualms about leaving them considerably longer if needs be. See it as a maturation and clarifying stage which leads to better beer.
I have left one in for 5 weeks before with no issues. I have one in the FV that I brewed last Tuesday and I'm off to Florida for 3 weeks this Friday so It will be 5 weeks in by the time I get round to bottling.
I left a beer in the fermentor for 3 months at the end of last year. It was sat on 150g of dry hops for all but one week of that time. I had it sat at 5°C so it was almost an extended lagering period (although it was meant to be a session IPA). It wasn't the greatest beer ever and the hop aroma had faded but it survived fine.
I got a kit Belgian that's coming up to 4 weeks in the fv.. won't do it any harm..
On another note, the brews I have in the FVs are in the garage but the temp of the brews is slowing getting up to and beyond 28 c, time to invest in to cooling systems. Still not complaining about the lovely summer sunshine.
![BREWING THERMOMETER STICKERS ACCURATELY MONITOR FERMENTING BEER & WINE LIQUID TEMPERATURES 5PCS HOME BREW SPIRITS WINE LCD ADHESIVE [US]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/311DDjo2X3L._SL500_.jpg)
If your FV doesn't have a tap on it, you could try putting it inside a builders trub then fill the trub with cooler water. You can always add a couple of ice packs to the tub if needed. It's 29 here today but my fermenter is holding steady at 22 in the garage with water only in bucket, haven't needed ice packs yet.
ExpatBrewer
Junior Member
Yeast autolysis is a possible concern and one possible reason why you shouldn't leave the beer on the yeast cake too long.
"...for an ale with a healthy yeast you really don't need or indeed want it to linger too long on the yeast cake.
The length of time we had to leave the beer in contact with the yeast to mop up the last traces of diacetyl and pentanedione was not very long, we're talking a day or two...
... and once we were confident that we got those VDK's below our target then our philosophy was for goodness sake get it off the yeast." - Dr Charles Bamforth, Professor of Brewing Science
"...for an ale with a healthy yeast you really don't need or indeed want it to linger too long on the yeast cake.
The length of time we had to leave the beer in contact with the yeast to mop up the last traces of diacetyl and pentanedione was not very long, we're talking a day or two...
... and once we were confident that we got those VDK's below our target then our philosophy was for goodness sake get it off the yeast." - Dr Charles Bamforth, Professor of Brewing Science
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