Extra pale ale in primary for 7 weeks

hello everyone,
this is my first brew…FYI.
I’ve had extra pale ale in a primary fermentation bucket for 7 weeks, tomorrow :expressionless: specific gravity is currently 1.01.
it tastes okay initially, but has got a weird, gross like aftertaste.
I also didn’t have foam come up through my air lock, the first few days of fermentation.
is this batch worth bottling?
please let me know your thoughts, and if you’ve got any advice. thank you in advance!

Personally, I would go ahead and bottle it. Why not. Why have you had it in the primary for seven weeks?

I don’t have a secondary fermenter, and like a newb, followed written directions too closely just waiting on time. I talked with a dude at the St. Paul location today, and he said always just give it a taste. but, I feel like it should taste a little different and I know it’s probably been in a primary for too long.
I’d just hate to hate bottle for potentially awful beer.

IMHO you are about 4 weeks past bottling time. So go ahead bottle and carb it. Let it condition in the bottles and I think you will be fine. I never use a secondary unless I am adding something to the beer. I go three weeks primary then keg. Your air lock should only bubble. Sometimes you can get a wild fermentation where the krausen will escape the airlock. Everything is going good with your fermentation without anything coming out of the airlock as long as there is bubble activity. The air lock activity may quit in a couple of days, that does not mean your beer is finished. The best way to determine if your fermentation is done is to check the gravity using a hydrometer or refractometer. I don’t start checking gravity until after the second week of fermentation is complete.

Yes, bottle it! If it has an off flavor I would not be too sure that it has anything to do with the 7 weeks in primary. If it tastes like soy sauce, I’d say it was In primary too long. But, I would not expect 7 weeks would be long enough for yeast breakdown to cause that. I am thinking it will be a tasty brew once it is carbonated and bottle conditioned.

7 weeks in primary just means 5 weeks of condition time anyways. Your good to go.

gotcha. I definitely had activity during fermentation, but the air lock wasn’t doing much if any bubbling. maybe there was a leak in the bucket seal. thank you so much for your input! you’ve definitely added to my brewing knowledge.

definitely not soy sauce, just an odd aftertaste. one of the guys at NB St. Paul said the same, yeast breakdown probably wouldn’t happen in 7 weeks.

thanks again guys! I went ahead and bottled yesterday. I’ll keep this thread posted with results.

Was it in the fermenter for 7 weeks basically untouched? Or were you checking readings every 4-5 day over that whole time? I ask only because of your comment: “specific gravity is currently 1.01”

If it has been capped and sealed with air lock untouched, if there is an infection or something wrong I would think it would of happened if you bottled after 7 weeks or 3-4 weeks. in other words, if there is an issue may of happened anyway.

If you have been checking on it every 3-4 days for a number of weeks then you may of had many opportunities to expose the brew to something.

I know it seems like a waste of 2-3 hours, but unless it just tastes terrible, undrinkable etc then I would try bottling.