conditioning

How long after bottling should you wait until you can put the bottles in the fridge?

Mine usually take 2 or 3 weeks to fully carb up. I stick a couple in the fridge right around two weeks (most times earlier) to see how they're doing.

bigger the beer, longer to carb up.

but in general I leave em somewhere warm for about a week, then somewhere cool for about 2 weeks, then they are good to go.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up, and needed another 6 months to condition.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

Revvy said:

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.
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Hey Revvy, You have this in the clipboard permanently?

Bubba_Mustafa said:

Hey Revvy, You have this in the clipboard permanently?

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Pretty much, along with use your hydrometer not your airlock, and your beer is not ruined, and just about anyhting that gets asked 50 times a day.

this made me smile. After only two months new to this, I see a lot of repeat questions, and have to give the long-standing members a double round for their paitence and understanding; this forum and this section in particular as it is so huge and important for the noob (as I still resemble that term!).

3 weeks is my rule of thumb but I do find that most seem to really peak around 5 weeks for a a standard ale. So the last few beers of a batch are always very good. Makes me want to just wait at least a month or so now.