how long can you keep beer in your carboy?

[candleman]

i have a couple of beers that have finished fermenting and i am going to trasfer them to a secondary carboy (all the kegs i have are full,so i either need to keep them in carboys or buy more kegs) my garage is about 55-60 degrees.

i am just not sure how long i can store them in the carboy,and if something may happen to the flavor(i.e. spent yeast flavor..ect)

[candleman]

oh and both beers have fermented 14 days at this point.
i siphoned them into secondary carboy's today

[slothrob]

Weeks to months.
Hoppy beers will tend to mellow if they sit for a long time, though.

[candleman]

i figured they would be ok there,but i have always just made enough to keep up with how many kegs i have.

thanks

[hansolo]

I would say it also depends on what type of beer you are making. I know some Holiday ales taste better if they are in the secondary for a few months. It gives all the spices time to infuse into the beer. I would think that heavier beer styles would also take advantage of longer secondary time.

[jimcraig]

anyone ran into "cidering" due to leaving it in the fermentor too long after its done ? Mine was at about 72. I dont have a garage so I am at the mercy of room temp. Summer is coming so at least I have an excuse to run the AC and try to keep it closer to 70

[slothrob]

I've never heard of cider flavors coming from leaving beer in the fermentor too long. I've had good luck leaving beer in primary for as long as a month in the 60°F-65°F range without any problems.

I've never really made anything above 70°F, though, since my house only gets that warm in the summer (which is only about 3 months here in Boston) and I move my fermentors down to the cellar once the hot weather comes. Hot temperatures are where problems from storing beer on the yeast cake would be expected to show up, if at all.

[jimcraig]

yeah I dont have the luxury of cool weather where I live, Nashville. I love boston btw. visted last spring, its a great city.

so I am about at the point where the AC runs 24/7 so I can regulate the temp down to where I want it, but dont know if I want to keep my apt at 70 round the clock, I know I should keep the beer closer to 65 but no way I am living with that and paying that AC bill.

oh well till I buy a house, soon, that is what I have to deal with.

[slothrob]

Thanks, I like Boston, too! Boston (and Cambridge) is a great beer city, too.
I haven't had the pleasure of visiting Nashville.

Try placing the carboy in a bucket with a few inches of water, this can get you a few degrees drop in temperature. Put a damp towel over the top and put it near the air conditioner, and you should get a few degrees more. You might find that you can get the beer down to 65°F even with the air set above 70°F.

If you don't mind the extra work for the first few days to a week of fermentation, you can also swap out soda bottles full of frozen water a couple times a day and really drop the temperature. Once fermentation slows down, the temperature becomes a lot less important.

[jimcraig]

wow thanks for the water bath tips, going to do that today. I cant put it near the AC vent is it comes out near the ceiling not the floor, but great idea. I have been putting a thermometer in different rooms trying to find cool spots.