Bottle Conditioning / Carbing - allow more time? or less?

[tdhickey]

Just a general question, have you found that your beer tastes better or worse when you let it carb up for longer before putting it in the fridge?

For example does 6 weeks make it taste better than 3 weeks? or is it pretty much the same at this point.

 

[stevehardt]

depends on the beer. The higher the OG, the better it will taste with extended conditioning

 

[BlackGoat]

yes, generally they will taste better with some additional aging. Certain beers, heffe comes to mind, are better as fresh as possible. But, my Irish Red was brewed the day after Christmas and is just now starting to hit the sweet spot on proper aging. I just brewed a high gravity old ale that I wouldn't even bother opening for at least 9 months. Typically, the longer you age the beers the more the flavors blend together for a more balanced flavor profile. Of course there is a limit to this with most typical beers and after a certain number of months the hop flavors/aroma start to dissipate and eventually the beer will turn.

 

[Calder]

heats and hoppy beers (IPAs) will probably last longer if refrigerated when properly carb'd. They like to be drunk fresh. Almost every other beer will improve when left out of the fridge; many for a year or more (Barley wines, and Belgians come to mind)

 

[bleme]

I brewed a 5% ABV chocolate stout last March. It was good in May. It was great in September. It's freaking awesome now. Too bad I only have 3 bottle left :-(

 

[okiedog]

I have a similar question, though for a little different reason. I have a pilsner bottled that didn't attenuate as much as expected. I under pitched the yeast, and it ended up with an FG that was 6 points higher than expected: 1.018 instead of 1.008 - 1.012. Also, it tasted a little sweet when I sampled it at bottling. It has been conditioning at room temp now for 2 weeks. Will a longer conditioning period possibly help it ferment some of those residual sugars?

 

[schittbreff]

As a general rule, keep taste testing until it's gone. If the last beer was the best, you drank it too soon.

 

[latium]

It has been conditioning at room temp now for 2 weeks. Will a longer conditioning period possibly help it ferment some of those residual sugars?

Did you bottle already? If so, you don't want those extra sugars to ferment now, as it will cause overcarbonation in the best case and bottle bombs in the worst case.

 

[hehawbrew]

I'm very new to brewing. I love it, but, learning to wait kills me! I need a locked cage to but my beer in and give the key to someone else!

 

[BlackGoat]

learning to wait kills me!

me too, dude. The good news is that its only temporary if you keep at it. Once you get the proverbial pipeline going you can have a couple different brews in the fridge, a batch in a closet carbing up, something in the fermenter, and the next 4 recipes spinning in your head. Once you are there, the waiting game becomes much easier since there is always something going on. Just sucks at first when you are waiting for that first batch or two to finish up.

 

[okiedog]

Sorry td, didn't mean to detract from you thread, just had a similar question.

My pilsner was bottled with SG of 1.018 and stored at room temp (60 - 70F) for 17 days now. I want to know if some residual sugars will ferment in the bottle, but guess I'll just have to wait and find out.

 

[BlackGoat]

The answer is that the yeast will probably only ferment out the priming sugar that you added. If they attenuated your beer much further (i.e. it wasn't quite done in the first place with fermenting) then you would probably end up with exploding bottles or overcarbonated beer so you should certainly hope that there isn't additional attenuation.

 

[tdhickey]

Thanks for the replies, I'll be sure to put my smoked wheat beers (BBS) in the fridge after 3 weeks and look at other styles for longer in the bottles (may even split a few batches to play around.

 

[okiedog]

+1 on putting bottles in the fridge after 3 weeks (that's tomorrow for my pils), and see, er, taste how it ends up. This all sounds like good advice from voices of experience. td, I'd like to know how your brew turns out as well. Be sure to post the details on it when you started popping those caps open. Thanks

 

[saxboarder]

I'm new as well, but I'm finding that four weeks is about as early as I would suggest. yes, I know it's hard to wait when you think you have a winner, but you really won't have a true taster before. If you can't wait (or you don't believe me), taste a bottle each week and see how your beer progressesively gets smoother.

 

[Desvio]

Along with each recipe I create I put three bottles aside and open one a week and add my findings to my notes so I know the next time I brew that recipe. My Hefeweizen was pretty good at 1-week post bottling, but two and three weeks was awesome. My Irish Red and Chipotle Brown take a minimum of three weeks before coming around. And that all depends on if I put it together exactly the same each time, still working on consistency.