Difference between bulk conditioning and botlle conditioning

If you were to cold condition a batch, What is the difference between conditioning in the carboy vs bottles? Once i reach my final gravity should i cold condition in the carboy then bottle? Or bottle, carbonate then cold condition?

Well I think "Palmer" has an opinion on this and it is that Bulk conditioning is preferable because of the mass involved... more mass, more yeast to condition with, and I guess more "movement" to aid in any other chemical reactions taking place.... EXAMPLE: ya ever brew a couple cases and some bottles taste different than others? consumed the same day?

DPBISME said:

Well I think "Palmer" has an opinion on this and it is that Bulk conditioning is preferable because of the mass involved... more mass, more yeast to condition with, and I guess more "movement" to aid in any other chemical reactions taking place.... EXAMPLE: ya ever brew a couple cases and some bottles taste different than others? consumed the same day?

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Makes sense..I think im gonna go with bulk and then bottle cause the finished beer will store in the fridge anyway once carbed and bottled and condition even more..cheers

DPBISME said:

Well I think "Palmer" has an opinion on this and it is that Bulk conditioning is preferable because of the mass involved... more mass, more yeast to condition with, and I guess more "movement" to aid in any other chemical reactions taking place.... EXAMPLE: ya ever brew a couple cases and some bottles taste different than others? consumed the same day?

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More beer mass = more yeast? The volume of beer doesn't change the amount of yeast per volume of beer in the solution. If you have 1000 gallons of beer that has X cells per gallon, after you bottle it's still going to have X cells per gallon. The one thing that will change is that the beer is no longer on the yeast cake, but that yeast has flocculated anyway, so I'm not sure it will condition the beer.

m_stodd said:

More beer mass = more yeast? The volume of beer doesn't change the amount of yeast per volume of beer in the solution. If you have 1000 gallons of beer that has X cells per gallon, after you bottle it's still going to have X cells per gallon. The one thing that will change is that the beer is no longer on the yeast cake, but that yeast has flocculated anyway, so I'm not sure it will condition the beer.

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Yeah but im betting that having all the beer with all the yeast at one time will make each bottle more consistant,Maybe not.. but it sounds logical more surface area..less variables

I always got clearer beer when bulk conditioning, and it seems to taste "brighter" to me ... if that makes any sense to you. I'd recommend bulk over bottle conditioning personally. I guess one detriment is the increased possibility of infection, but as long as you are careful and clean, you should be ok.

As I understand it,bulk conditioning gives more consistency than bottle conditioning flavor-wise.

m_stodd said:

More beer mass = more yeast? The volume of beer doesn't change the amount of yeast per volume of beer in the solution. If you have 1000 gallons of beer that has X cells per gallon, after you bottle it's still going to have X cells per gallon. The one thing that will change is that the beer is no longer on the yeast cake, but that yeast has flocculated anyway, so I'm not sure it will condition the beer.

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The distribution of yeast from bottle to bottle can vary during dispensation.

So althiugh the bulk reads x cells per gallon, once you move it to a new container not every bottle will necessarily end up with x cells per gallon instead some will have y per gal, some will have z per gal and some will indeed retain x per gal.

No one will ever accuse me of being a scientist or a brew expert. My thought is that there may be a better result with bulk aging as different compounds may have a chance to settle out of the beer and get left behind upon racking. I aged a RIS for four months in a carboy last year and did not transfer everything to the bottling bucket. Likewise with my one lager, when it dropped clear, I left the cloudy behind when I racked. Just thought I would add my bit of pseudo science to the conversation.

If you bulk age, be sure to secondary. You want it off the yeast / trub.