How long should you age your Brew ?

So there seems to be a lot of variance from how long everyone keeps their concoctions in the primary and then secondary.

I am still new to brewing so I wanted to hear from the group to see if there is a general consensus and how long to keep beer in the secondaries before kegging.

Right now I am going 2-3 weeks in the primary and then one to two months in the secondary. I know this varies depending on the specific beer and methodology but for the sake of this thread why don't we limit it to general practices used for the other extract brewers out there (like my self).

My Simple procedures, 3 weeks primary. Secondary if going longer then 1 month or adding stuff ( dry hop, wood, blah blah blah)

More precise, test gravity in primary for three straight days. When you get the same numbers then you can bottle. Me thinks this is a pain so I do 3 weeks.

This is my preference and what works for me.

For most average strength beers, roughly two weeks of primary and two weeks in the bottle is more than enough *if* your fermentation management is good. If you don't do yeast starters, don't oxygenate, and don't have good temperature control, that increases to 3-4 weeks in primary. Most people do not secondary unless they keg their beers (in which case the keg becomes a hybrid secondary and serving tank) or they ferment something (like fruit) in the secondary.

ArcaneXor said:

For most average strength beers, roughly two weeks of primary and two weeks in the bottle is more than enough *if* your fermentation management is good. If you don't do yeast starters, don't oxygenate, and don't have good temperature control, that increases to 3-4 weeks in primary. Most people do not secondary unless they keg their beers (in which case the keg becomes a hybrid secondary and serving tank) or they ferment something (like fruit) in the secondary.

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Ok. So I will almost always be kegging. I have a 3 tap keezer. That will hold 6 corney kegs. I have a buddy that swears to wait at least a month in the secondary before kegging.

I did a Hefeweizen that I racked directly to a keg after three weeks and I ended up with chucks of yeast cake in my beer.

Krazlikesbeer said:

I did a Hefeweizen that I racked directly to a keg after three weeks and I ended up with chucks of yeast cake in my beer.

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In a Hefeweizen, that's supposed to be in there - you need to agitate to the keg every once in a while to break up the chunks and get them back into suspension.

Depends on the style. We made a bock that we made as a Christmas beer. It was aged about 4 months prior to Christmas, but we finished the last glass Easter. It got better as it aged. We make a British mild that does not make much difference after 3 weeks.

It's personal preference of course, but I don't use a secondary. About 2 weeks ago I bottled a pale ale that I had left in my primary for 7 weeks. It wasn't done intentionally, the plan (what I usually do) was about 3-4 weeks in the primary then bottle. I've left beers up to 8 weeks in a primary with no ill effects, as far as I can tell.

I've had a beer that tasted great and well carbonated only 6 days in the bottle and I've had a beer that tasted best a year after it was bottled. It is so varying depending upon alcohol content, style, and even methods or errors in the brewing process. Buddy of mine found some 10 year old red ale he had forgotten about... take a cardboard box, boil gently for 20 minutes, let set in the open sun for a week, pour off the remaining liquid, add two unflavored seltzer tablets, and drink. There is a limit... LOL Oh, and for the record, next to that 10 year old red he found was also two cases of mead he'd forgotten about. Indescribably good... un-freakin'-believable. But, that was a mead.

Chuck_Swillery said:

I've had a beer that tasted great and well carbonated only 6 days in the bottle and I've had a beer that tasted best a year after it was bottled. It is so varying depending upon alcohol content, style, and even methods or errors in the brewing process. Buddy of mine found some 10 year old red ale he had forgotten about... take a cardboard box, boil gently for 20 minutes, let set in the open sun for a week, pour off the remaining liquid, add two unflavored seltzer tablets, and drink. There is a limit... LOL Oh, and for the record, next to that 10 year old red he found was also two cases of mead he'd forgotten about. Indescribably good... un-freakin'-believable. But, that was a mead.

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LMAO
Yeah. It is not really a easy one to answer generally. Thanks for your replies. I am glad that you brought up the mead as it is on my to do list as well. I figure I will try some this summer. Maybe try aging it a year or two. Well see my list of upcoming beers and wines will keep me busy and bass fishing starts soon as well.

I wonder if the Mass game police would give me a hard time if I added a beer faucet to my bass boat this year. 🍺👀🐠

It's very style and yeast specific, I made a Pale Ale and went from brew to glass in 6 days using yeast which is used by many brew pubs and is was great.

I have tried leaving my brews for a bunch of different time frames. However, these days I do 2 weeks (or 3 weeks max) in primary, then bottle or keg. Stuff that tends to get better with age can damn well do so in a bottle. I tend to reach my FG in 3 or 4 days, so i reckon another week and a half is plenty to clean up behind itself.

I have left it longer on a few brews (4 weeks) to see what benefits it provided. So far... none that I could discern

It should be noted that these have all been ales. I'll get to lagers one day, but i'm not really a big fan.

kapbrew13 said:

My Simple procedures, 3 weeks primary. Secondary if going longer then 1 month or adding stuff ( dry hop, wood, blah blah blah)

More precise, test gravity in primary for three straight days. When you get the same numbers then you can bottle. Me thinks this is a pain so I do 3 weeks.

This is my preference and what works for me.

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+1 on this. Plain and simple

bkl63 said:

It's very style and yeast specific, I made a Pale Ale and went from brew to glass in 6 days using yeast which is used by many brew pubs and is was great.

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I would like to hear more about that one as I would like to have some quickies to my mix. I am a big fan of pale ales as well. Well do be honest I love them all except for the winter Warmers with heavy cloves.

As long as it isnt a very hoppy beer I would say let it age as long as you can make it last, that last bottle of every batch is always the tastiest...

EDIT: I just read your post and it sounds like you are aging them PLENTY!

2-3 weeks in the primary, then wits, blondes, and all manner of lawnmower beers get just 2-3 weeks in the bottles.

Just about everything else gets 2 months in the bottles. There's something magic about that two month mark.

A well made ale only needs a couple of days in the fermenter after it reaches FG. That's assuming keeping it at proper fermentation temperatures and pitching enough yeast (two of the biggest reasons for off-flavors and the need for extended aging).

Assuming the correct amount of yeast is pitched and the temperature is correct during fermentation, I keg most ales on about day 10. If it's a dryhopped beer, it's usually closer to day 14.

I often use attenuative and flocculant yeast strains, so once the beer has been done at least a couple of days and it's clear (or clearing well), I will keg it.

I have two ales that take longer to be ready to drink though. My oatmeal stout is kegged by about day 10, but it's not really at its best until about week 4 when the flavors meld and the mouthfeel is creamier. My Belgian tripel is best at about 4 months old.

For lagers, I usually keep them in the primary until after the diacetyl rest (at about day 10-14) and then keg them and then lager for 8-12 weeks before consuming.

I would say stay on the longer side when you are first starting out with ales. It doesn't hurt to wait, and in the case of new brewers, letting the yeast do their thing longer helps make up for less-than-perfect technique. I bottled after two weeks in primary and started drinking the beer after two weeks in the bottle, all based on the usual timeframes given. I was pretty disappointed in the beer. As my technique improves, the better the beer generally tastes earlier in conditioning. Right now, I leave in primary for 4 weeks and in the bottle for at least 2 weeks before trying a beer. If it doesn't taste right, I leave it alone for another few weeks. As mentioned earlier, some styles just require longer time conditioning.

Krazlikesbeer said:

I am glad that you brought up the mead as it is on my to do list as well. I

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i'm going to crack open a mead this weekend i've had aging for over 2 years. looking forward to it

Since you are kegging I wouldn't bother with a secondary. Most of my beers are moved to a keg after anywhere from 7 -14 days for ales, and 14-21 days for lagers. I will let the beers then age for a week without any CO2 before starting to force carbonate.

I usually wait until at least 3 weeks from brew date to tap a keg, but have pushed it much shorter with good results. Lagers usually take 6 weeks, and I find they really hit their stride at ~10 weeks.

I find it takes 3-4 pints to finish blowing of any yeast sediment and then the beers settle down and smooth out.

pjj2ba said:

Since you are kegging I wouldn't bother with a secondary. Most of my beers are moved to a keg after anywhere from 7 -14 days for ales, and 14-21 days for lagers. I will let the beers then age for a week without any CO2 before starting to force carbonate.

I usually wait until at least 3 weeks from brew date to tap a keg, but have pushed it much shorter with good results. Lagers usually take 6 weeks, and I find they really hit their stride at ~10 weeks.

I find it takes 3-4 pints to finish blowing of any yeast sediment and then the beers settle down and smooth out.

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I read some people just trim there dip tube back just enough to suck in those yeastee's.

Krazlikesbeer said:

I read some people just trim there dip tube back just enough to suck in those yeastee's.

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Yes, some folks do that. I don't bother. I usually only dump the first 1/2 pintand then drink the slightly yeasty pints that come next. Usually within 3 - 4 pints it pours clear.

The higher your PSI is set, the more yeast you will blow out at first. What happens is you get a little cleared area around the dip tube. The faster the beer flows, the more yeast it can pull in. You just have to be careful about jostling the kegs.

I'm a fan of 2-3 weeks in primary and then straight to bottles or the keg.

For bottles, I let them sit for 4 weeks minimum (2 to carb, 2 to condition).
For kegs, I like to age them for the same 2 weeks at room temp (after setting the lid and purging) before putting on CO2 for the set-and-forget carbing method which is usually about 2 weeks for me.

There are some exceptions like hefs that get cracked sooner than that. 2 weeks in the bottle, then the fridge.