Safe time in primary when using a yeast cake / big beer?

[BarryNL]

Ok, I normally don't bother with a secondary fermenter - I just leave my beers for 3 weeks in the primary and then bottle, but with my latest attempt I'm making a much stronger beer than normal - 1.090 - and also pitched a yeast cake rather than a normal starter.

My questions are:

- Does the fact that I've pitched the yeast cake from a 1.038 previous batch which had already sat for 3 weeks in primary mean that leaving it for another 3 weeks is likely to cause problems.

- Do beers of this strength need longer conditioning before bottling? If so, how long would you ferment for?

Overall, can I expect good results from my normal 3 week fermenting period with this beer or should I think about getting it into a secondary after a week.

[Rookie]

I've never left a beer in primary more than two or three wweks so I can't say from experience that it would "ruin" a beer to go longer, but it might and one advantage of a secondary is that you can let it set for quite a while.
I had some health problems this year and ended up leaving a wee heavy in the secondary for nearly four months (in a cooler) with no problem other than it was a bit slow to carbonate.

[oblivious]

i don't secondary by normal strength beers, but one's over 1.075 i would be inclined to.


it going to be many months before it starts reaching it peak

[BarryNL]

it going to be many months before it starts reaching it peak

That's part of the problem really, I figure that racking to secondary is a great chance to introduce unwanted oxygenation which will show itself during a long aging - particularly as I don't have a carboy but just plastic buckets. On the other hand, I've used secondaries before with no noticable off-flavours, though only with darker beers which can hide a few off flavours well.