about to try first brew, question about carbing and refrigeration...

My fiancée and I brewed our first batch of beer a couple weeks ago, and bottled it with a priming sugar. It will have been carbonating for 2 weeks as of Feb. 4th. We are going to refrigerate a bottle today to try tonight to see if we can serve it at our supper bowl party. When is too soon to refrigerate the beer if its till carbonating? I understand it will be just OK after 2 weeks, but very good at 3+ weeks, so I'm afraid to refrigerate it and kill any chances of it getting better. Thanks!

I would just refrigerate a bottle over night and see what that one tastes like before you refrigerate them all.

The serving temperature will also effect the appearance of the carbonation. If you serve it really cold it will appear almost flat, of course it won't be, just that the beer will try and hold on to the CO2 rather than let it bubble and fizz out.

As they are young, I would let them stand out of the fridge for 10 minutes before serving.

But then again, that depends on just how cold your fridge is. Mine is very cold, probably about 2C if chilled for 24 hours.

Ok, when I get home from work in a couple of hours after working all night, I'll put one of the beers in the refrigerator. When my fiancee gets home from work (I'll have been awake for a couple of hours by then), I'll pull the beer out for 10 minutes before we try it. Thanks guys.

Congrats and good luck! Post the results you get. It may not be completely perfect for the Super Bowl, but it may be surprisingly good.

As I did my first beer, everything was rushed and done prematurely, and it still tasted good after 5 days in the bottle...but now I've learned the importance of patience and I cannot believe how good home brew can be.

03rangerxlt said:

Ok, when I get home from work in a couple of hours after working all night, I'll put one of the beers in the refrigerator. When my fiancee gets home from work (I'll have been awake for a couple of hours by then), I'll pull the beer out for 10 minutes before we try it. Thanks guys.

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So you are going to drink a beer just a couple hours after you wake up? that would put me right back to sleep!

i have found that a couple of days in the fridge works wonders. i know you are excited, but the extra time in the fridge really helps the carbonation