Over a month in primary! Argh!

[earthwormgaz]

Sorry to start another thread about this, but I'm really worried about all this beer (2 5 gallon batches of IPA).

They've been in there for over a month (15th Jan)! Is this okay!?

The boiler broke part way through the ferment, and I left it for a week before dropping aquarium heaters in there trying to get it going again. Now the boilers been back on for a few days, and there beer is still at 1020.

What can I do? Is it ruined for being in there so long?

 

[Steve]

Don't worry about it being in there for 4 weeks I usually give all my beers 3 weeks in the FV. There is a thread i think in the 'how to' section of the forum on restarting a stuck fermentation have a look at that which gives a few different methods.

How cold did the ambient temp get when the boiler broke? If the brew was already mid ferment it will have been keeping itself a bit warmer but when it got colder the yeast will have slowed.

 

[JKaranka]

If it started at anything like 1070 og you can easily give it 3-4 weeks to ferment through.

 

[earthwormgaz]

It got pretty cold, maybe as low as 10 degrees in here, no heating whatsoever for a good week or two.

They did start fairly high gravity wise I suppose.

The one I didn't dry hop, looks like this, which is new. Has it gone moldy on top or something? That wasn't there a day or two ago. It's like a white bubbly film.

http://imgur.com/uMcvgm9

 

[jonnymorris]

That doesn't look good. Acetobacter?

 

[earthwormgaz]

I thought I could smell vinegar. Bastard. 10 bloody gallons of waste. Stupid sodding boiler.

 

[jonnymorris]

Is the second batch the same?

 

[earthwormgaz]

Is the second batch the same?

It's different stuff, did it the day after, and that one has been dry hopped.