One year in secondary cold conditioning . . .

[Jens-Kristian]

Hi, all.

Last year in early February, I brewed a Pale ale of sorts (AG). OG 1046, finishing at 1010.

At the end of February 2013, I transferred to secondary and put it in the fridge, planning up to two weeks there.

To cut a long story short, I have been stupidly busy the last year and never got around to bottling and it's still in the fridge. I only do bottle-carbonation as I don't have kegging equipment.

It tastes pretty good out of the fermenter still, but what are the thoughts on bottling it after this long? No matter what, I'm not throwing it out as I simply do not believe in that approach. The question is, do I go for an experiment of simply priming and bottling to see if it'll catch, or do I introduce new yeast to it to give it a better shot. I'm a little bit inclined to just go ahead with priming and bottling to see if the yeasties may actually still have it in them at this stage, also because the homebrewing world is full of 'you can't do that' and 'two weeks is the limit!' advice, when very often that proves rather incorrect.

Does anyone think it'd work just to prime and bottle, or is that simply bordering on utopian optimism?

The yeast is T-58 and went off like a rocket back in primary fermentation (from 1046 to 1012 in less than 20 hours).

Cheers,

Jens

 

[breakbeer]

Have you taken a recent reading?

Can't see why it wouldn't be fine to bottle?

I say go for it

 

[mje1980]

I reckon add a packet of t58, maybe hydrated, then take out of the fridge and bottle.

 

[mb-squared]

yep, hydrate a little yeast (half packet), put the yeast and priming solution in your bottling bucket and rack your year-old beer on top of it with a good whirlpool action if you can. bottle away. you'll be good.

 

[manticle]

I'd add yeast. If you really want to find out, just leave 5 unprimed and mark them. Beats having to reseed a whole batch and rebottle.

No way I'd chuck it if it tastes OK though. I have left beer (deliberately though) for similar lengths of time and have added a small amount of extra yeast when bottling.

 

[Trevandjo]

My thoughts would be if it still tastes ok go ahead and bottle. Hopefully it might be a wake up to some of the (by the book) Nazis on here

 

[S.E]

If it still tastes good out of secondary now, sounds like you may have a nice cask conditioned pale ale. You could just drink it as it is. Was it under air lock or something? Carbonation may be just right if so.

 

[Yob]

My thoughts would be if it still tastes ok go ahead and bottle. Hopefully it might be a wake up to some of the (by the book) Nazis on here

There are by the book nazi's here?

 

[dammag]

Mein Kampf would be the book. Who the Nazi's are = ?

 

[dammag]

Good experiment though. Or you could just cut out the experiment and do the sensible $5 thing and add some yeast.

 

[Edak]

Of its a plastic fermenter then it would be oxidised would it not?

 

[lael]

Of its a plastic fermenter then it would be oxidised would it not?

I was wondering this too. Maybe not if its been cold the entire time? Would Autolysis be an issue?

 

[manticle]

There is the potential for oxidation but it's not a guarantee. I've had some beers in plastic for over 6 months with no obvious off flavours from oxidation

The transfer to secondary and the cold would have reduced the risk of autolysis adding off flavours. As OP said - tastes good.

 

[lael]

There is the potential for oxidation but it's not a guarantee. I've had some beers in plastic for over 6 months with no obvious off flavours from oxidation

The transfer to secondary and the cold would have reduced the risk of autolysis adding off flavours. As OP said - tastes good.

missed secondary - either way you've paid for a year of refridgeration... most expensive brew ever.... bottle that sucker - might just turn out to be like sullivan's single malt...

 

[wynnum1]

Any yeast would do for bottle carbonation little effect on flavor.

 

[Jens-Kristian]

Thanks, all.

I'll go for the middle ground as suggested by Manticle; I'll probably do ten bottles or so without new yeast and then add some to the rest. I'm generally happy to 'challenge' the rules a bit. My motto for the past 8 years of brewing has always been that if Ol' Bess at some farmstead in central Yorkshire was able to brew a decent beer in wooden buckets in her barn back in 1634, then surely I can manage to do the same in a 21st century kitchen (even if my kitchen is from the seventies).

S.E. - I like your thinking. It's not actually that far off being OK for that style - but still just a bit too low in carbonation for that. I tend to carbonate relatively low though, as I find most beer to be overly carbonated - even some of the better ones on the market.

With regards to oxidation, there doesn't seem to have been any. I'm using a plastic fermenter and I've never actually experienced any problems with them on that front. I once left a stout in secondary for nearly 3 years. That was involuntary though, as the fermenter was in Denmark and I had moved to Australia. My sister found the fermenter sitting there, tasted it and told me it was the best stout she's ever had. Knowing her attitude to beer, I wasn't too surprised when she later told me it was gone, and straight out of the fermenter she'd kept herself reasonably pissed on it for two weeks.

 

[manticle]

Just remember ol' Bess also used to wall up stray cats in the farmhouse to keep away Black Annis, remove infection by 'bleeding' and treat leprosy using nowt but saltpetre and well water.

 

[NewtownClown]

My thoughts would be if it still tastes ok go ahead and bottle. Hopefully it might be a wake up to some of the (by the book) Nazis on here

Communist

 

[mmmyummybeer]

Guess it depends on when you want to drink it, if it's been there that long your probably not in a hurry. My guess is both methods will work but adding yeast will be quickest as the yeast won't have to build it's numbers back up as much.

 

[S.E]

S.E. - I like your thinking. It's not actually that far off being OK for that style - but still just a bit too low in carbonation for that. I tend to carbonate relatively low though, as I find most beer to be overly carbonated - even some of the better ones on the market.

How can it be just a bit off being OK for that style? Are you some sort of by the book Nazi?

 

[Jens-Kristian]

Sorry for reviving this one - and for not updating on the outcome. Still busy.

Anyway, even after this post, it took me nearly two months to get around to bottling, which was done on 19May. I'd actually decided to add yeast for everything other than a few bottles for the sake of experimentation but when I got around to it, I couldn't get S.E.'s comment out of my mind, that I might be a bit of a by the book nazi lol.

I bottled the whole lot, primed with raw sugar, without adding more yeast. Experiment, don't you know. One week out from bottling, I tested and there was pretty good carbonation and after two weeks even better. At three weeks it was fully carbonated and all fine.

I've been drinking it and it's pretty excellent, although the dryhopping I did of it back when I first put it in secondary is a little subdued. I am normally quite sensitive to things that taste oxidised and I'm not getting any of that in here.

I really need to leave things for a year in secondary more often. Perhaps an argument to have several brew fridges.

So far then, my 'maximum time in secondary' for a beer that I actually end up carbonating is a bit more than the usually proscribed period of 2-3 weeks. 66 weeks on this one.

Then there's the 4 bottles of my homebrew that I found while home in Denmark visiting my parents a few weeks ago. These were brewed in June 2006. Perhaps a separate post about these ones. lol

 

[poggor]

Interesting topic.

I was rooting around in the brew shed to get the gear out having not brewed a batch for well over a year and I stumbled upon 4 unopened bottles. These were an attempt at a belgian style ale made on 20 feb 2012.
Anyway, i put them in the fridge and cracked them- was delicious! nice smooth malty flavour with gentle hoppiness.
Good head retention.
Goes to show.... over 2 years of wildly fluctuating temperatures....

 

[Jens-Kristian]

That is a beautiful looking beer, mate. :beerdrink:

 

[poggor]

Thanks mate! not sure if I have the patience to bottle condition all my brews for 2 years though!

g