I have a beer that hit 4 weeks in primary yesterday. Normally I would have kegged it but I ran out of time. I leave tomorrow for a 2 week work trip. Am I risking it leaving it in primary for 6 weeks?
No
No, be sure to package it when you get back and it should be fine.
If it’s a happy beer I would freshen it up with some more hops in the keg. Other than that no worries.
The only thing I would be concerned about is if you primary is in a plastic bucket. You may get some oxidation.
6 wks is fine in primary.
Yep, even in buckets. Obviously keep enough water in the airlock, past that it’s all good.
Take it from the laziest brewer on Earth (that’s me):
6 weeks is my absolute limit of how far I would take it in primary. 6 weeks + 1 day may start to give you off-flavors. Don’t go for 7 weeks.
The effects are also indeed MUCH worse in plastic than they would be in glass. If you are fermenting it in plastic, get it out of there soon.
It is in a 6 gallon better bottle carboy
I generally wouldn’t keep a beer in primary for a month but if you’ve gone four weeks then two weeks isn’t going to be much of a difference.
6 gallon plastic better bottle carboy