How long can you leave in the fermenter?

[Stouter]

We have no idea what sort of attitude this guy has to brewing.

Kind of my point. Who knows what made him walk away from an active brew for that long. Dog died, relationship fell apart, lost his job? Could've been anything.
My first uninformed assumption though is that he just didn't really give a #*£!
You're right though, there should be more support and proactive suggestions so we can help this from never happening again.

 

[abyss]

Run it though a still to save the alcohol and use the rest as weed spray.

 

[Grott]

Thanks, guys. Had a good laugh at some of the VB comments and have noted the others to pass on.

It is difficult sometimes to deal with a third party in attempting to provide advice and help. Is your brother in law able to join here so we could assist?

 

[homebrewnewb]

Not even going to bother with most of the blather in your reply but after 7 months, odds of being "sterile" =0.
Would there be autolysis after 7 months - yes - guaranteed
Mark

Yes you can drink metho - it tastes like ****. someone pointed out that under Australian law tax evasion isn't/shouldn't be a capital offence so they no longer ad methanol nor other Toxic flavours.
M

but how do you know hes not doing a lambic in flat copper barrel in nelson new zealand where the ambient temp wasnt over 25 that summer, yes it's proabaly cactus but let's find out.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Hangovers!
That is the basic question of getting bad alcohol in your brewing.
If you brew well then you shall not get headache.

 

[homebrewnewb]

Hangovers!
That is the basic question of getting bad alcohol in your brewing.
If you brew well then you shall not get headache.

there is no bad alcohol just bad processes, unless that's what you wanted... you get my point.

 

[manticle]

but how do you know hes not doing a lambic in flat copper barrel in nelson new zealand where the ambient temp wasnt over 25 that summer, yes it's proabaly cactus but let's find out.

So he's making a sterile lambic?

 

[homebrewnewb]

bloke purges the fv with iso propl lets it evaporate and dumps the wort in, wort's innoculated by wild yeast. who knows?

 

[manticle]

Presumably neither of us but refreshing your understanding of sterility in this context wouldn't hurt.

 

[Rocker1986]

He's got a way to go to beat my dad who left a batch of ginger beer in a fermenter for about 7 years. Needless to say it was tipped out. Didn't even bother tasting it either. I think the fermenter was chucked as well.

I would suggest tasting this brew but I think it is destined for the drain myself. Not sure of the circumstances as to why it was left in there for so long but generally you'd be wanting to get it out of the primary fermenter in 2-3 weeks tops.

 

[Rocker1986]

Hangovers!
That is the basic question of getting bad alcohol in your brewing.
If you brew well then you shall not get headache.

Hangovers and headaches are mainly due to de-hydration by the alcohol... whether it's good, bad or indifferent doesn't matter. For every ounce of alcohol you consume you lose about 10 in fluids. That's why you're always pissing during a session. If you drink a fcukton of water after a reasonable session before sleeping then it reduces the effects quite a bit, at least for me. If I forget the water I always wake up with a splitting headache whether I've been drinking home brew or commercial beer or JD or whatever.

 

[MHB]

I think its pretty safe to say that the brother-in-law (see OP) doesn't know a whole lot about brewing, if he knew what a Lambic or a flattened copper pot was he wouldn't be asking advice from a fairly evident noob.
We can dream up as many fantasy scenarios where the beer might be OK as we like - truth is if you know anything about brewing you know its stuffed.
Throw it out, its probably a good idea to toss the equipment to (plastic, nearly impossible to get sterilised), the best you could do is give the brother-in-law some tips on how to brew and to make a fresh start.
Mark

 

[Grott]

It is difficult sometimes to deal with a third party in attempting to provide advice and help. Is your brother in law able to join here so we could assist?

You can only try

 

[TheWiggman]

At the end of the day if we're brewing beer we're brewing something to consume and enjoy. Why he's asking others whether or not it should be bottled baffles me a bit. Taste it and if it tastes good, bottle*. There's a pretty sure-fire certainty it won't but judging by the comments in this thread most of us would be tipping out Australia's 4th-highest selling beer. We don't need other people to tell us what we do or don't like, making your own beer is no different.
The best advice OP's brother in law could receive is why leaving beer in the fermenter for a long time is bad and what best practice is. I'd also suggest the he has a taste to understand what an autolysed beer tastes like because understanding faults is an excellent way to determine how to prevent them occurring again.

*No.42-jsb - like MHB said look up autolysis, it's discussed a lot on this forum but that's what will have occurred in this beer.
If he's fermented in an HDPE container it's probably also started to oxidise. HDPE is not completely impenetrable to oxygen so oxygen will makes it's way into the beer especially over a few months.
As for infections - no home brew beer is completely sterile. The longer it's left, the greater the chances that some sort of infection has developed and at 7 months I'd agree with MHB and say it's a certainty. There doesn't need to be an ugly film on top for it to be infected, your taste will be the guide.

 

[No.42-jsb]

Hey guys!

Thanks for the advice. While I've been home brewing for about 5 years the first 3 years I only brewed 2 different beers and it wasn't until I joined here in 2014 that I started to branch out into dry hopping, bulk priming etc. Only just added some steeped grains to a brew for the first time, pretty chuffed with myself actually. This question was something I hadn't come up against or read about so I wasn't sure what to suggest to my BIL. I knew you could lager for months but beyond that I had very little idea.

I did look up autolysis after MHB's post. You learn something new every day.

In regards to my BIL joining AHB I did suggest it when he started home brewing as I've always found it an excellent source of info. It's given me a lot of ideas and processes to improve my beer over the last few years.
No idea why he hasn't joined yet.

As to why he left it I have a feeling it was just a bit of laziness on his part. He's out in his shed enough fixing/installing stuff on his 4WD that he would have seen it sitting there every week and would have had time to bottle it. As I stated in my first post I did have a go at him about keeping better track of his brewing. I gave him a copy of my beer tracker spreadsheet when he started so he could track ingredients, costs, SG, ABV, SDs and a section for notes on each brew but he doesn't use it.

As for drinking VB after drinking home brew I have no explanation. lol. Each to their own I suppose.

On the bright side there's at least two people that understand what happens a bit better.

Suggested to him to taste it to understand what flavours come from leaving it for so long uncontrolled. Most likely he will tip it.

 

[Droopy Brew]

Hey guys!



As for drinking VB after drinking home brew I have no explanation. lol. Each to their own I suppose.

If this current batch is indicative of his brewing then I have half an idea. Probably makes the VB very palatable indeed.

 

[manticle]

Hangovers and headaches are mainly due to de-hydration by the alcohol... whether it's good, bad or indifferent doesn't matter.

Methanol/fusels and acetaldehyde are major contributors. Acetaldehyde is a pathway either to or from ethanol (can move both directions), methanol/fusels are alcohol types so in a way, there are good and bad alcohols (and byproducts and chemical pathways) and the bad can and will contribute.

My understanding is that some beverages will have a tendency to contain more or less of various types which is why some people will struggle after too many brandies or whiskies but be fine guzzling Vodka or gin. Badly made beer or poorly distilled spirits can both carry higher levels of fusel.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Methanol/fusels and acetaldehyde are major contributors. Acetaldehyde is a pathway either to or from ethanol (can move both directions), methanol/fusels are alcohol types so in a way, there are good and bad alcohols (and byproducts and chemical pathways) and the bad can and will contribute.

My understanding is that some beverages will have a tendency to contain more or less of various types which is why some people will struggle after too many brandies or whiskies but be fine guzzling Vodka or gin. Badly made beer or poorly distilled spirits can both carry higher levels of fusel.

That's what I was thinking when I gave my vague post. Only because its on my mind with my latest beer on tap at the moment.
I got those hot alcohol flavors this time when I never usually do. Recycled US-05 yeast. I didn't start it up, just used bottled slurry. This beer gives me an unusual hangover character even without drinking to an excess. I'm tipping that i will give in and tip this beer on the lawn.

Back to the topic : A reference from how to brew: http://howtobrew.com/book/section-4/is-my-beer-ruined/common-off-flavors

A sharp flavor that can be mild and pleasant or hot and bothersome. When an alcohol taste detracts from a beer's flavor it can usually be traced to one of two causes. The first problem is often too high a fermentation temperature. At temperatures above 80°F, yeast can produce too much of the higher weight fusel alcohols which have lower taste thresholds than ethanol. These alcohols taste harsh to the tongue, not as bad as cheap tequila, but bad nonetheless.

Fusel alcohols can be produced by excessive amounts of yeast, or when the yeast sits too long on the trub. This is one reason to move the beer off of the hot and cold break when the beer is going to be spending a lot of time in the fermentor.

 

[Chorba]

Bear with me here lads ... a newbie to home brewing. I have a batch of Morgans Canadian Light in the fermenter that's been there for 16 days, but I can't bottle for another 5 days or so.
Long story short, I don't have access to enough clean water to sterilise the bottles as the tanks have run dry and been filled with clear but sus creek water, which will be sterilised in a few days time. Hence it will be in the fermenter for about 3 weeks or so. From the above comments am I correct to assume this should not be a problem?

 

[n87]

3 weeks is unlikely to be a problem