Too long in fermenter?

howamidifferent

I've an IPA 6% in the original fermentation bucket that I put on on Oct 13th. Haven't had the time to do anything further with it. It's still under seal with bubbler intact but has obviously finished fermenting a long time ago.
Never been opened since the night I put it on. Would the CO2 have kept it upto now or is it to be thrown down the sink? Was wondering if I could still bottle it at this point? Any advise? Its 23L in a 30L bucket.

Tigger

I'd say it's fine

Bogwoppit

Bottle it and leave it a few weeks, you'll soon know if it's ok.

BeerNut

Taste it. If it's obviously terrible, ditch it. Bet you it's not, though.

Ponster

It's probably fine. If you haven't opened the lid once the yeast has done it's job then it could sit there for months as long as the temp hasn't changed drastically.

MadsL

There are potential off-flavours from sitting on yeast too long, and your bucket isn't 100% air tight so some oxidation is likely.

That said, it's probably just fine but 4 weeks would be a better target next time.

UnknownSpecies

Wouldn't worry about the airtight seal on the bucket. Myself and many others brew with just a lid placed loosely on the fermentor. The layer of co2 produced will stop any oxidation. As mentioned, some off flavours possible from sitting on the yeast but you won't know until you taste it.

MadsL

UnknownSpecies wrote: »

Wouldn't worry about the airtight seal on the bucket. Myself and many others brew with just a lid placed loosely on the fermentor. The layer of co2 produced will stop any oxidation. As mentioned, some off flavours possible from sitting on the yeast but you won't know until you taste it.

Technically, whilst it will mitigate the oxidation the levels of CO2 do not remove O2 from the fermenter so some oxidation is inevitable.

The HDPE plastic the buckets are made from is actually gas permeable over time, nothing to do with how good the seal is. Whilst CO2 will be present in the top layer, the fermenting beer is exposed to O2. Usually not a problem but in this case some oxidation will have taken place. Some beers do benefit actually; nut brown ales for one.

UnknownSpecies

MadsL wrote: »

Technically, whilst it will mitigate the oxidation the levels of CO2 do not remove O2 from the fermenter so some oxidation is inevitable.

The HDPE plastic the buckets are made from is actually gas permeable over time, nothing to do with how good the seal is. Whilst CO2 will be present in the top layer, the fermenting beer is exposed to O2. Usually not a problem but in this case some oxidation will have taken place. Some beers do benefit actually; nut brown ales for one.

Good point, useful to be mindful of. One of the reasons I use a stainless fermenter

RasTa

I'd say there is mould on the top of it when you open it up. Should really only be sitting on yeast 30 days

MadsL

John Palmer on the subject;

http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/fermentation/secondary-or-conditioning-phase

Carawaystick

MadsL wrote: »

Technically, whilst it will mitigate the oxidation the levels of CO2 do not remove O2 from the fermenter so some oxidation is inevitable.

The HDPE plastic the buckets are made from is actually gas permeable over time, nothing to do with how good the seal is. Whilst CO2 will be present in the top layer, the fermenting beer is exposed to O2. Usually not a problem but in this case some oxidation will have taken place. Some beers do benefit actually; nut brown ales for one.

The whole headspace will be CO2 and the 2.5mm thick fermenter walls will only allow very little O2 permeate.

MadsL

Carawaystick wrote: »

The whole headspace will be CO2 and the 2.5mm thick fermenter walls will only allow very little O2 permeate.

In the short term yes, longer term as in the case here eventually O2 will diffuse into the headspace as the slight pressure differential is lost.

As I pointed out earlier HDPE buckets are long term gas permeable.