Clear this concept: bottle conditioning vs. just having a bunch of beer on hand

[woozy]

With all the talk of how long to bottle and can you condition to long, I have to confess to always having been confused about one thing. Once a beer has aged hasn't it become ... well, a bottle of beer? I mean, before I started brewing if I bought a case of commercial beer I'd put it in the cupboard until I was ready to put it in the fridge. It never occurred to me that it'd be continuing to condition, over conditioning, and going bad. I most have some beers that are *years* old.

So whenever I heard talk "I opened this beer after six days and it's lousy"/"Let it condition for a couple weeks, idiot" I always figure "Um, let it condition till it's done. Then just let it be a beer that's stored in the closet until you are ready to drink it; what's the big issue".

Now people talk of final conditioning in the fridge for a few days. I figured this was for clearing appearances. I've always just treated this as the "i'm putting it in the fridge so I'll drink it in a day or two" phase. My thinking being: Maybe my beers should condition for a week more. Or maybe they're done. Well, I'll just put the ones I want to drink in the fridge. The remaining beers will sit here and continue to age if they need it, or will sit on the shelf if they are done aging.

So as a final step in processing beer, does fridge conditioning somehow *stop* the process. Does fridge conditioning somehow "homogenize" (metaphorically, not literally) the beer? Will fridging the beer stop conditioning and aging so the if you remove them from the fridge and put them back on the shelf they will sit with an indefinite shelf live? Without fridging would they simply age, overcondition and go bad?

I don't see how that could be as all fridging will do is chill them. Once they warm up again whatever yeasties are still there will wake up and they will just start doing whatever it was we put them in the fridge to stop.

So... what's the deal? Does beer actually go bad if you over bottle condition? Does fridge conditioning stop this? Are my never seen that south side of 60 homebrews going on twelve weeks old in danger? If fridging them doesn't stop aging should I toss out the heinekin I have in my cupboard because I didn't keep it refridgerated all this time? Or was I right all along; both the heinekin in my cupboard and the 12 week old homebrews in my closet are "just a bunch of beer I have on hand"?

 

[kh54s10]

I cannot answer everything in your post but here are a couple of my ideas.

Homebrew is different from most commercial beers. Commercial are often filtered and pasteurized. They should not change much sitting on the shelf except they will last only so long (how long I have no idea) at peak then steadily degrade.

Beers like IPA's will lose the hop flavors over time so they would be bottle conditioned shorter and should be consumed relatively quickly.
Light ales and lagers are also short lived.

Heavy beers may require longer aging, sometimes in both bulk aging and bottle conditioning. A barleywine may take a year to reach the right conditioning and may last 3-5 years or longer at peak. Where as a pale ale 3 years old would likely be terrible.

I made a winter ale in Dec 2011 hoping for late February. In July it started to become drinkable, In the late fall of 2012 it was still getting better. In the spring of 2013 still better. I still have 15 bottles left and think they may still be good for another couple of years if they last that long.

 

[woozy]

Okay, that helps.

But we're talking losing flavor, right? And not "overconditioning", right?

And, all things considered, I think drinking too green is a bigger and more likely problem then not getting around to drinking it in time.

I mean by "short-lived" were talking months and not days, right? (or with a very delicate IPA are we talking weeks?) And it's not like you wake up one morning and what was the day before a beautiful rich pale ale is now rancid undrinkable swill.

Do all commercial brewers pasturize? Is there a way to find out which do and which don't? Surely some breweries must make a big deal out of the fact they don't.

Thanks for answering.
================
Well according to this just about all the beers I drink (Heinekin and Becks excepted) are unpasturized. I probably have had a years old Anchor Steam (there's a weekend house which we visit only every few months and we leave things behind so...) and Sierra Nevada. They probably weren't that good but I probably wasn't paying close attention. They certainly weren't undrinkable.

Then again we have a traditional easter beer hunt where I come from. And I have on occasion found a Negra Modelo from the year before. It was ... well ... didn't attempt to drink it. (Left in the sun and weather for a year and ....)

Memories: When I was 12 I hid a Olympia (remember those?) in what I thought was a great hiding spot, a standing water water pressure pipe. When I was in college I was discussing easters past and pointed out the pipe, looked in and ... there it was... corroded and filled with sludge and slugs but clearly a long past easter beer.

[See... kids *love* to hide things in clever places {did I mention it was the kids who hid the beers?} and don't realize that adults really don't want to look hard. Although an easter beer hunt sound all very egalitarian and amusing, it really is a recipe for disaster. The adults quickly took to rummaging through the beers before the hunt and stashing the good stuff away. The tradition soon became Coors Light would be bought for the sole purpose of being wrapped up in decorative paper for the hiding which the adults would make a cursory attempt at finding to make the kids happy. The adults would keep the coors light in their pockets for the first few hours and bring them out when their darlings would ask "do you have the beer I hid for you" and then in the afternoon after the fruit punch was gone and the wine was in dregs the adults would pull out the warm coors lights wrapped in crepe paper, look at each other, and exchange a "what the hell" look...]

[But I digress...]

 

[freisste]

The large guys pasteurize and filter. Smaller commercial breweries don't necessarily. I once saw a Bell's Brewery bumper sticker (I think it was bells) that said "if god wanted us to drink filtered beer, he wouldn't have given us a liver."

So it is true that some don't filter and at least one makes note of it

 

[ICWiener]

kh54s10 pretty much said everything I would have said, so I'll add what I know based on experience.

'Short lived' does mean months, not days. I think my IPAs and APAs peak at around 6-8 weeks after bottling. They're still good for another two months, but the hoppiness just starts to fade, and who wants to drink a less than super hoppy IPA?

I don't know about overconditioning. I think staling would be a better term. If you're careful about oxidation and sanitation, I don't know that you can truly overcondition, say, a Belgian strong dark or an American barleywine. They just get better with time.

As for storing beers cold or warm...if you're conditioning, it should be on the warmer side, cellar temps are good. For hoppy beers, once they reach their non-green state, cold is better. Preserves the aroma and flavor.

I've seen some funny stuff over the years. I made a cider that was a butter bomb. Still drinkable, but seriously buttery. I put all of the bottles in the fridge and slowly they came around. After a few months the butter flavor was completely gone. I also have a Berliner Wiesse rght now that is similar, but with a prominent grain flavor. The longer they sit in the fridge the more the grain flavor dissipates. I don't pretend to understand this hobby, I just enjoy it when the final product is good.

 

[unionrdr]

I def think PA.APA,& IPA's are talking weeks. bigger beers,& you're talking months. So far,my dark hybrid lager is still good at 13 weeks & 3 days.

 

[J8D]

This is one of the reasons I enjoy having a kegerator with multiple faucets. I can tap a keg and if it isn't "great" I can keep drinking the other ones and occasionaly sample the new one. When it starts tasting good or great, i record the data then ensure I let it age for that length of time next time.

 

[woozy]

They're still good for another two months, but the hoppiness just starts to fade, and who wants to drink a less than super hoppy IPA?

Well, it's better than an poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

... or a warm coors light wrapped in crepe paper.

 

[ICWiener]

Well, it's better than an poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

... or a warm coors light wrapped in crepe paper.

Haha...true.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that anything is better than a warm Coors Light.

 

[woozy]

Haha...true.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that anything is better than a warm Coors Light.

I dunno. I've drunk warm Coors Lite and I've been poked in an eye with a sharp stick. 7 out of 10 times I **really** don't like the poke in the eye with only 3 out of 10 times would I state "Well, at least I'm not drinking a Coors lite".

 

[DrunkleJon]

With all the talk of how long to bottle and can you condition to long, I have to confess to always having been confused about one thing. Once a beer has aged hasn't it become ... well, a bottle of beer? I mean, before I started brewing if I bought a case of commercial beer I'd put it in the cupboard until I was ready to put it in the fridge. It never occurred to me that it'd be continuing to condition, over conditioning, and going bad. I most have some beers that are *years* old.

So whenever I heard talk "I opened this beer after six days and it's lousy"/"Let it condition for a couple weeks, idiot" I always figure "Um, let it condition till it's done. Then just let it be a beer that's stored in the closet until you are ready to drink it; what's the big issue".

Now people talk of final conditioning in the fridge for a few days. I figured this was for clearing appearances. I've always just treated this as the "i'm putting it in the fridge so I'll drink it in a day or two" phase. My thinking being: Maybe my beers should condition for a week more. Or maybe they're done. Well, I'll just put the ones I want to drink in the fridge. The remaining beers will sit here and continue to age if they need it, or will sit on the shelf if they are done aging.

So as a final step in processing beer, does fridge conditioning somehow *stop* the process. Does fridge conditioning somehow "homogenize" (metaphorically, not literally) the beer? Will fridging the beer stop conditioning and aging so the if you remove them from the fridge and put them back on the shelf they will sit with an indefinite shelf live? Without fridging would they simply age, overcondition and go bad?

I don't see how that could be as all fridging will do is chill them. Once they warm up again whatever yeasties are still there will wake up and they will just start doing whatever it was we put them in the fridge to stop.

So... what's the deal? Does beer actually go bad if you over bottle condition? Does fridge conditioning stop this? Are my never seen that south side of 60 homebrews going on twelve weeks old in danger? If fridging them doesn't stop aging should I toss out the heinekin I have in my cupboard because I didn't keep it refridgerated all this time? Or was I right all along; both the heinekin in my cupboard and the 12 week old homebrews in my closet are "just a bunch of beer I have on hand"?

Good questions. Here is the answer as I know it (so someone correct me if I am wrong).

Generally speaking, conditioning beer is when the beer sits on the yeast post fermentation which will allow the yeast to clean up after itself and consume or break down some of the off flavors that were generated during the rapid phase of fermentation. This is where you hear about bulk conditioning (storing in secondary) or bottle conditioning (which with bottle carbing gives enough time to eat the added sugars and build pressure so that it can carbonate).

In addition to cleaning up off flavors, you can think of conditioning like you would a caserole or Lasagna or stew that you put in the fridge. They always seem to taste better as leftovers because the flavors have a chance to meld and when taking a bite you do not taste each individual flavor. Bigger beers, with higher ABVs and more complex beers need more time for the flavors to meld and become all they can be. Sure you can drink a homebrew immediately after it is carbonated, but conditioning is the reason that usually the last couple beers of a batch are the best.

Commercial brews, most of which are pasturized and filtered do not have any living yeast left in them. This stops conditioning (other than hop degridation) and usually how you buy it is the best it is going to taste. Fresher is better there.

Throwing your beer in the fridge for a few days before drinking does not stop anything really. What it is used for is to allow the built up CO2 in the bottle to absorb and stay in solution and kinda "cold crash" or help anything in suspension fall out to the bottom and compact there so you get a good pour. Also if you open a homebrew or most any beer with sediment in the bottom while it is warm (which is a sign that it is not filtered or pastrurized) you can easily get what we call a gusher. This happens because the sediment in the bottom of the bottle is loosely packed and provides nuculeation sites (places for the CO2 to form bubbles and come out of solution) all at once and you can get the equivalent to Mentos + Diet Soda.

I am not sure if overconditioning is really an issue. Whatever yeast is there will go dormant once it is unable to do anything anymore and fall out of solution to become bottle sediment. True some beers are best fresh (wheat beers and beers where the hop aroma and flavor are meant to be prominant) and will taste a little lackluster if consumed old, but I have had an IPA I made over a year in the bottle and it was still delicious.

One of the ways that we homebrewers take care of conditioning is building up a larger pipeline so that when we get to drinking a batch, usually it has had time to become all it can be and we can find out how long different brews take to reach their peak flavors.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[Yooper]

Good questions. Here is the answer as I know it (so someone correct me if I am wrong).

Generally speaking, conditioning beer is when the beer sits on the yeast post fermentation which will allow the yeast to clean up after itself and consume or break down some of the off flavors that were generated during the rapid phase of fermentation. This is where you hear about bulk conditioning (storing in secondary) or bottle conditioning (which with bottle carbing gives enough time to eat the added sugars and build pressure so that it can carbonate).

In addition to cleaning up off flavors, you can think of conditioning like you would a caserole or Lasagna or stew that you put in the fridge. They always seem to taste better as leftovers because the flavors have a chance to meld and when taking a bite you do not taste each individual flavor. Bigger beers, with higher ABVs and more complex beers need more time for the flavors to meld and become all they can be. Sure you can drink a homebrew immediately after it is carbonated, but conditioning is the reason that usually the last couple beers of a batch are the best.

Commercial brews, most of which are pasturized and filtered do not have any living yeast left in them. This stops conditioning (other than hop degridation) and usually how you buy it is the best it is going to taste. Fresher is better there.

Throwing your beer in the fridge for a few days before drinking does not stop anything really. What it is used for is to allow the built up CO2 in the bottle to absorb and stay in solution and kinda "cold crash" or help anything in suspension fall out to the bottom and compact there so you get a good pour. Also if you open a homebrew or most any beer with sediment in the bottom while it is warm (which is a sign that it is not filtered or pastrurized) you can easily get what we call a gusher. This happens because the sediment in the bottom of the bottle is loosely packed and provides nuculeation sites (places for the CO2 to form bubbles and come out of solution) all at once and you can get the equivalent to Mentos + Diet Soda.

I am not sure if overconditioning is really an issue. Whatever yeast is there will go dormant once it is unable to do anything anymore and fall out of solution to become bottle sediment. True some beers are best fresh (wheat beers and beers where the hop aroma and flavor are meant to be prominant) and will taste a little lackluster if consumed old, but I have had an IPA I made over a year in the bottle and it was still delicious.

One of the ways that we homebrewers take care of conditioning is building up a larger pipeline so that when we get to drinking a batch, usually it has had time to become all it can be and we can find out how long different brews take to reach their peak flavors.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

"Conditioning" isn't done on the yeast cake. When brewers leave the beer in the fermenter an extra period of time, the yeast is still active and working to digest other non-preferred things like their own waste products. But that process takes only about 24 hours after fermentation ends. The extra time is just for clearing.

When they talk about "bulk conditioning" or "bulk aging", it's usually for a big beer like a barley wine or a big roasty stout that needs some age for the flavors to meld.

"Bottle conditioning" is a bit different, as that is the time the beer needs to carb up.

Some beers are aged at cellar temperature, like a barley wine or something that will improve with age. Most lower ABV beers will peak much faster and while they won't "go bad", they will lose peak flavor and aroma and begin to decline. Beer ages fast at warmer temperatures, and chilling in the fridge slows down the aging process quite a bit.

If you read the labels on some macrobrews, they have "born on" dates and suggest drinking in 90 days. Even Pliny the Elder, one of my favorite commercial beers, has a label that says something like "Drink Fresh!" on it.

There is a balance between aging a bit for conditioning and aging to make a beer old!

 

[woozy]

"Bottle conditioning" is a bit different, as that is the time the beer needs to carb up.

When you say "carb up" are you talking about anything other than simply building CO2? My impression/understanding is that that pretty much takes two to three weeks and is done. The beer meanwhile is continuing to age and will take however long it takes to reach "peak flavor" and this is pretty much (I'm under the impression completely) unrelated to carbonating.

I've always been a little unclear as to whether the carbonation sequence effects (delays, quickens, alters) the aging process. (The beer and flavors are mellowing and aging and a bunch of priming sugar is added and the yeasts act up at the same time the beer and flavors are trying to age; does all this teenage commotion effect one's retirement?) Most of what I hear says no.

 

[unionrdr]

Well,I can say that conditioning takes a lil bit longer than carbonating to get the beer to it's peak. This varies with gravity & other factors.

 

[Johnnyhitch1]

This threads giving me a headache!!

IMO conditioning means ageability (sp?)
I would never say a beer is done "aging" because its ready to drink, what makes it...done...ageing? If it could be aged longer and taste better???
However, a beer can come in and out of its prime which i would call "old" or "oxidized" of course it can be "overaged", in essence...making it not done aging, just not great if aged longer...i think???

 

[unionrdr]

Conditioning is aging in essence,but not quite the same. It's not extended aging,it's just conditioning because the beer needs X number of weeks to get to the desired flavor & aroma "at first" so to say.

 

[woozy]

Johnnyhitch, I'm sorry I'm giving you a head ache. I guess I'm trying to get into the mind set of "Damn, why isn't my beer ready to drink; I let it carb a week and a half. When the heck can I start drinking it. I need to get an early start or I might wake up the next morning and find them all spoiled".

I just don't get that. Surely, every beer you drink early is one beer you *won't* be drinking when the beers get to their peak flavor.

Then there's the "when will I know for certain that my beer is at peak flavor so I'll know when to drink all fifty of them in one sitting". I sort of get this, but I don't get what the worry is. Just drink the damn beers a few at a time; the ones that you take longer to get to will only get better and better as time goes by.

 

[Cyclman]

I would highly recommend the Yeast book given your questions. There are many processes, as has been stated, that occur in beer as it progresses. Fermentation, cleaning up the fermentation byproducts, lagering (resting the beer at low temperatures to allow undesireables to precipitate out and to let the beer meld flavors- yes, even ales can be lagered and benefit from it),ageing (resting at cellar temps) and of course carbonation. Then, add in filtration (and of course what size filter) and pasteurization. Some of these can overlap.

On a homebrew scale, where time isn't a huge issue, these can be "plodding" steps. Commercially, profit is at stake by wasting time from brew to sale. So, commercial breweries build laboratories to measure each step and develop a time-minimized, perfected process.

Fermentation and ageing to me are the most interesting part of brewing, and perfecting those techniques and using style-appropriate processes makes a huge improvement in homebrew end product, IMO.

 

[pfgonzo]

Agree with Yooper and Cyclman. Read Yeast by Chris White and Jamil Z.

Use of terms is important. Aging and conditioning are not the same, and neither of them referto yeast cleaning up its byproducts (which, as Yooper states, and as Chris White says, takes 24-48 hours, and it's done).

Conditioning is bottle carbing. Nothing more.

Aging is the mellowing/blending of flavors and can take time (months) for higher gravity beers. Some are meant to be drinked/drank/drunk young like hefes and IPAs. IPAs in particular need to be kept cold after carbing to preserve hop aroma.

Experiment with your brews and take notes! Your tastes/preferences may not match others!

 

[unionrdr]

Conditioning is letting the flavors & aromas develope to their prime state. Carbonation is just that,& conditioning takes a little longer.

 

[pfgonzo]

Conditioning is letting the flavors & aromas develope to their prime state. Carbonation is just that,& conditioning takes a little longer.

Again, use of terms is important. I need to find Chris White's book so I can quote directly from it, but I am 90% certain what you describe as "conditioning" he calls "aging."

"Conditioning" also called "Bottle conditioning" solely refers to carbonation.

I'll leave open the possibility that I'm mis-remembering. Will get my book tonight and quote from it.

Side rant: is there any reason Brewers Publications refuses to sell e-versions of their books? We aren't Neanderthals!

 

[woozy]

As long as we are on the subject, what's the purpose of post-carbonation fridge conditioning? I've been ignoring that and simply putting the beers in a few at a time 24 hours before I want to drink them (because my theory is, if they are still aging I want to let the beers I'm not going to drink right away age). Because I put them in a few I want a small choice when I open the fridge door and because I don't want to open the door and find there are no cold beers I usually put two or three in every other day or so so some may go a few longer before I drink them.

After I fridge condition them should/can I remove them from my fridge if my fridge is full. What if I fridge condition them before they reach peak age flavor? Will the no longer continue to age? Will continuing to age them *after* fridge conditioning defeat the purpose of fridge conditioning in the first place? Or should I just put them into the fridge a few at a time one *week* before I'm ready to drink them? I'm not sure my ADHD and my impatience and my lack of organizational skills can actually handle that.
===edit===
or to sum up the above: fridge conditioning a bottle for a week vs. aging in the cupboard for a week: Is it a trade-off? Which is more worth pursuing?

 

[unionrdr]

It usually takes at least a week to get good carbonation that lasts more than a minute or two. I've found that 2 weeks gives thicker head,& longer lasting,fine bubbled carbonation. Taking them out again to age,etc does seen to rebuild pressure in the head space though.
And I've always refered to carbonation & conditioning seperetly,since theydefine different aspects of the process. That's the way it's been described since I started here,so I stuck with it. The reason being,the time it takes the beer to carbonate & the time it takes the beer's flavors & aromas to become fully rounded are two destinctly different things.

 

[pfgonzo]

It usually takes at least a week to get good carbonation that lasts more than a minute or two. I've found that 2 weeks gives thicker head,& longer lasting,fine bubbled carbonation. Taking them out again to age,etc does seen to rebuild pressure in the head space though.
And I've always refered to carbonation & conditioning seperetly,since theydefine different aspects of the process. That's the way it's been described since I started here,so I stuck with it. The reason being,the time it takes the beer to carbonate & the time it takes the beer's flavors & aromas to become fully rounded are two destinctly different things.

We're on the same page; we're just using different terms. You use "carbonating" and "conditioning," and I use "conditioning" and "aging" to describe those two processes. It could well be that there is no official terminology, which is why I want to re-check my book when I get home.

 

[unionrdr]

We're on the same page; we're just using different terms. You use "carbonating" and "conditioning," and I use "conditioning" and "aging" to describe those two processes. It could well be that there is no official terminology, which is why I want to re-check my book when I get home.

Yeah,that does seem likely. I just went with the terminology that's always been used on here. I'd like to hear what the book says when you get a chance later. But my descriptors being generally understood Goes a long way to understanding in the average conversation.

 

[pfgonzo]

He (Chris White) also makes a point of distinguishing fermentOr and fermenEr, the first being the fermentation vessel, and the second being the yeast. I know I've lazily typed one for the other on a number of occasions.

 

[woozy]

Well, I consider carbonation and conditioning/aging to be different things.

Okay, some specifics. I've been brewing brewing mostly mid to low gravity beers. Pale Ales, Ambers, an ESB stuff like that. The instructions usually say somewhat ambiguously but reasonably "It may take 6 weeks or more before your beer reaches peak flavor". I don't know if they mean 6 weeks from brewing or six weeks from the end of fermentation (or what the mean by "may"...)

So the routine I've sort of found myself settling into is that measuring from brew day I test final gravity around 14 days and bottle somewhere between 2 weeks and 3 weeks. I make a label listing brew day, bottle day and first drink day which I set at 6 weeks after brew day or 3 weeks after bottle day whichever is later. So anyhow, on drink day I have a bunch of bottles that are both "aging" and "just hanging around". I drink them one at a time but I basically leave the rest in the cupboard with the assumption that for all the time I'm not drinking them they'll be aging and just getting better and better.

So.... should I be adding fridge conditioning to process? I haven't been because between getting them to clear up and getting them to age well I figure I'd rather do the latter. Can I do both? Thing is I figure I'll *never* know when peak flavor is so I can't really plan on it. If I drink in steady few beers at a time I'll get to it one way or another but if I say "Aha! Today is exactly week 6! Time to fridge condition my entire batch" I never will.


Of course when I pull a few beers from the cupboard and put in the fridge to drink "sometime in the next day or two" I *sometimes* leave them for quite a long time.

Again, what exactly is the fridge conditioning supposed to achieve?

 

[unionrdr]

Fridge time gets the beer chilled down,which makes it easier for it to absorb the pressurized co2 in the head space. It's attempting to create an equilibrium between absorbed gas & that in the head space. In other words,you get better carbonation in the fridge. Plus,as soon as the beer cools downany chill haze will appear. Over a weeks time on average,the chill haze will settle out like a fog bank. It also makes the head better,& the carbonation last longer after pouring. 2 weeks fridge time,ime,gives thicker head & longer lasting,fine bubbled cabonation.

 

[woozy]

Hmm, I guess my carbonation retention would be better if I chilled for more than a day...

Is this fridge condition a "one-time" thing. If I chill my beer in the fridge for a week, removed it, put it in the cupboard for a week or two, would I still get the benefit? I'd think not, except all the unpasturized commercial beer I buy I always store in the cupboard has good carbonation (even warm). Is that because they had been fridge conditioned for some time before I brought them home?

And back to aging... does the fridge conditioning stop aging. Suppose I have a six week old beer that the gods know (but I do not) will reach peak flavor at 12:53 am on Tuesday of week eight. If I toss it in the fridge for a week before it's reached peak flavor, pull it out a week later and return it to the cupboard, will it continue to age and simply reach the peak flavor somewhat delayed? (I'm assuming that it will not age or aging will be slowed down in the fridge.)

Should I simply fridge my beers en masse on week 6? Is a full *week* nescessary?

 

[unionrdr]

I'm not 100% sure,but I'm begininningto wonder if carbonation starts going back into head space when warmed to equalize the pressure again? It seems that it may be likely.
I've found through experience that it takes a week on average for chill haze to form & settle out. Carbonation lasts longer in the glass when the bottles get at least a week in the fridge. Sometimes 2 weeks is better for some beers where a week wasn't enough. Most times,I've found that 2 weeks gives thicker head & longer lasting carbonation.
In theory,you could take them out,warm them up,& maybe swirl the yeast up again to continue conditioning or aging.

 

[pfgonzo]

Well, my memory mostly (but not entirely) wrong. He distinguishes "conditioning" from "condition," and not "conditioning" from "aging" as I was saying.

"Condition" refers to the amount of CO2 in the beer, while "conditioning" can refer to any part of the post fermentation maturation process from fermentor to glass.

I will remember!

 

[woozy]

So I when I go to the liquor warehouse and buy a case of Anchor Steam just how long should I assume thy have they been in the fridge? Should I assume they had been conditioned in the fridge for a week before shipping to the store where they sit on warehouse floor? Because I've never given *any* thought or concern to fridging them for any reason other than to get them cold enough to drink.

 

[pfgonzo]

Most commercial brews are filtered and force carbonated. You can drink them when they're cold.

There are some heavier brews which will technically age, and you can cellar them if you like, but for the most part, you can drink a store bought beer when you get it down to your desired drinking temp.