# Can I leave my stout unattended?



## olusteebus (Oct 17, 2014)

I need to be away for about 16 or 17 days. I have materials to make an oatmeal stout. Could I start it and then leave it for that long. The recipe says it takes 14 days in the primary.


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## pjd (Oct 17, 2014)

I would probably wait. the fermentation on a stout is usually so vigorous that you cannot keep an air lock on the bucket for the first several days.


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## olusteebus (Oct 22, 2014)

I started it yesterday and I will be here to attend to it until Sunday. It is a recipe my local vendor put together to mimic this stout. 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/113/571/

sounds great and it smelled like coffee while boiling the hops. I should be able to drink in in about 8 weeks.


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## petey_c (Dec 9, 2014)

olusteebus said:


> I need to be away for about 16 or 17 days. I have materials to make an oatmeal stout. Could I start it and then leave it for that long. The recipe says it takes 14 days in the primary.


I know this response is late (I'm a new member). Yes you can leave your stout in the primary for four weeks if you want. Your bottle conditioning time will probably be longer than the six weeks suggested though. Many of my stouts I bottle conditioned for three or more months. I have an oatmeal stout that I'll be bottling in a week that should be great for St. Paddy's day. Lemme know how it turns out. This is an excellent resource for homebrewing http://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum.php
I saw in your next thread that you also made an oatmeal stout. Didn't click on the link in this thread.


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## olusteebus (Dec 9, 2014)

Thanks Petey. The fermentation stopped because the temp got too cold while I was gone. I moved it to a warmer place, gently stirred it and it took off got down to 1.010 it has been in the bottle 4 weeks and i thought it would be preety good by now. i had no idea i had to age beer that long. If I have to I will hide it because i think it will be good thanks.

Oh, it is an oatmeal stout ala Samuel Smith.

my label http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f52/my-oatmeal-stout-label-47853/


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## BernardSmith (Dec 9, 2014)

I guess my question is that when I brew beer I have a large amount of head room in the primary. I generally do not rack most of my ales to a secondary unless I have used a bucket for my fermenter. I would think that several inches of headroom may not be wonderful if I intend to age the beer more than a month... No?


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## olusteebus (Dec 10, 2014)

I have not made that much beer but I think it is more common to ferment beer all the way in the primary. After a few days you snap the lid down with an airlock.


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## petey_c (Dec 10, 2014)

BernardSmith said:


> I guess my question is that when I brew beer I have a large amount of head room in the primary. I generally do not rack most of my ales to a secondary unless I have used a bucket for my fermenter. I would think that several inches of headroom may not be wonderful if I intend to age the beer more than a month... No?


Unlike what I think I've seen here, most brews are bottle or keg conditioned. I've noticed, in the little time I've spent here, that some people leave their wine in a fermenter/carboy for a year or more. With beer, headroom isn't as important as wine. The headroom with beer is usually filled with CO2, unless you peek a lot. I've read that if beer sits too long on the "trub" it can develop off flavors and I usually get my beer bottled in three to four weeks. All of my beer fermenters have spigots so they can serve double duty - fermenting or bottling.


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## petey_c (Dec 10, 2014)

olusteebus said:


> I have not made that much beer but I think it is more common to ferment beer all the way in the primary. After a few days you snap the lid down with an airlock.


 Yes all the fermenting takes place in the primary. You snap the airlock down right after you pitch the yeast though. I usually wait three weeks, check the SG and decide if it's ready to bottle (most are).


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## BernardSmith (Dec 10, 2014)

petey_c said:


> Unlike what I think I've seen here, most brews are bottle or keg conditioned. I've noticed, in the little time I've spent here, that some people leave their wine in a fermenter/carboy for a year or more. With beer, headroom isn't as important as wine. The headroom with beer is usually filled with CO2, unless you peek a lot. I've read that if beer sits too long on the "trub" it can develop off flavors and I usually get my beer bottled in three to four weeks. All of my beer fermenters have spigots so they can serve double duty - fermenting or bottling.



My guess is that the headroom with wine is just just as likely to be filled with CO2. Fruit and honey are typically prepared so that the starting gravity is going to be close to 1.090 which in my (albeit limited) experience is about 1/3 more than the sugar content of most beers and ales. The problem is the length of time that wine is aged. If you are "packaging" your beer after a couple fo weeks or even a month you may still have a blanket of CO2. "Package" (what a horrible word) that beer after a year and I strongly suspect that there will be air filling that headroom and air will result in stale beer (and oxidized wine). In other words, both brewers and wine makers need to be (I think) concerned with excessive head room but I agree that the headroom becomes a problem after a while and not immediately. AND wine makers tend to age their wines far longer than most brewers age their brews...


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## petey_c (Jan 1, 2015)

olusteebus said:


> After a few days you snap the lid down with an airlock.



olusteebus, I'm not sure what you meant. Do you not have an airlock on after it goes into the fermenter?


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## olusteebus (Jan 1, 2015)

I only lay the lid over the ferment bucket at initial ferment. I put an airlock in the lid and snapped the lid securely on the bucket once the ferment has been going on several days. I can't remember when I snapped the lid down.


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