3 weeks 70? Is anyone's beer really that good after only 3 weeks in the bottle?

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TheH2

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Just curious.

Seems like it takes 4 weeks to be pretty good for me and 5 weeks before I actually want to drink it. I always taste after 3 weeks, but maybe not anymore, seems like such a waste of beer.

Should the mantra be 5 weeks 70, or do my beers just take longer to condition?
 
Should the mantra be 5 weeks 70, or do my beers just take longer to condition?

The mantra is a minimum 3 weeks @ 70- YMMV, especially if there are harsh flavors that need mellowing. :mug:
 
It really depends on the style. A bitter or a regular IPA can be done in 3 weeks, whereas a Northern Brown or Amber may take longer. They you have the big beers that take forever to mellow out.
 
I've got a co-worker that used to brew. He gives me hell about being inpatient when I tell him I'm sampling bottles at 4 weeks. He thinks it takes a minimum of 8 weeks in the bottle to properly condition. You know what? He's right!! The longer they sit (up to about 6 months) the better they get. I like Big Kahuna's approach. Get a quick sample at 3 weeks just to satisfy your curiosity and then stash them away for a couple more months.
 
Last night swmbo asked when we could drink that stuff I bottled on Wednesday (I split the sample with her) I told her we'll split a sample bottle in 4 weeks, then not touch them again for a couple months (Chocolate Hazelnut Porter). She thought I was joking, then got real sad when she realized I wasn't.
 
The yeast and fermentation profile can make a big difference. I used Wyeast California Lager yeast for the first time in a steam beer, and its taking forever to mature. However, Wyeast's German Ale yeast matures very quickly, so much so that I expect to start drinking my 6% ABV Octoberfest-style ale just 3 weeks after bottling (6 weeks total from brew day).

Aging beers can help a lot. But if you brew good beer to begin with (i.e., with no flaws that need time to age out), then you can start drinking them sooner rather than later.
 
Actually the mantra for carbonation is:


21 days at 70+ degrees

21 days at 70+ degrees
21 days at 70+ degrees
21 days at 70+ degrees
21 days at 70+ degrees
21 days at 70+ degrees

No shorter...no cooler...

This doesn't mean the beer is at it's best...only that it should not be expected to be carbonated until then.

A lot depends on how long the beer was bulk conditioned in the primary/secondary too.
 
I am waiting longer,now that got a few batches in. I am still in bottle gathering mode, hope to be all HB after Christmas. This has totally taken over my laundry room. I have 12 cases bottled, and will bottle a mild brown during the huricane. So that will be 14 cases of beer.:ban:

but, moving these cases around is a PITA.
 
On a recent vacation, I visited a very micro brewery (200 gal / week) that bottle conditions their beers in only one week. Fermentation is only 12 days. That's 19 days from grain to glass. Wyeast London Ale 1028 was used throughout. I should have asked what the conditioning temps were.
 
but, moving these cases around is a PITA.

...so set up so you don't need to move them much? After years of having a really inconvenient beer closet, I cleared it all out, tiled the floor, painted the walls and ceiling gloss white, and set up shelves (also painted gloss white) so that I have a VERY sturdy carboy shelf, and then a bunch of other shelves that hold cases below that. Fill, park, ignore until time to put in fridge for drinking - no moving of cases other than to get beer out to drink, or to put empties back in. If that one bugs you, you could set aside an open shelf that has enough space for an entire case to be out on the shelf. Once I had that, then more bottles accumulated to fill the formerly open space ;-)

I keep thinking I'll make wooden cases one of these days, but the day never comes. If you find the weight of a full case annoying, look for the sturdy 12-pack boxes (made more like a real case, as opposed to like an oversized six-pack) some of the smaller breweries use.
 
I generally leave my beer in primary for at least 3 weeks. I had a saison in there for 8 weeks recently. There is no temptation to taste during that period. You just have to make a lot of beer initially so the pipeline is primed and ready to go when you finish a keg.

I leave my bigger beers in carboys to bulk condition for no less that 3-6 months. They really improve if you can wait that long.
 
I have to say I'm impressed, it's not often we get someone new (ish) on here touting the benefits of waiting! :mug:

Obviously it's better to wait, but getting a new brewer not to sample the beer and start a new is my beer ruined thread, is a goal that many of us subscribe to, so we try to get them to at least wait out the minimum...

It's something that tends to only occurr in the beginning of a homebrewer's "career."

I think once you have a pipleine going it's really easy to let beers sit longer, because you have more to choose from, and you have beer at different stages of, so there's always something about to be drinkable.
 
but getting a new brewer not to sample the beer and start a new is my beer ruined thread, is a goal that many of us subscribe to, so we try to get them to at least wait out the minimum...

It's something that tends to only occurr in the beginning of a homebrewer's "career."

I agree, and that's why a beginner homebrewer should brew like mad for the first 6 months or so. Initially I made some quick finish brews so I could start in on them and then work on the pipeline. I made a mild and a hefe... both tasted good young. But the mild got much better after about 2 months in the keg.
 
I know I have been brewing a batch every week since October. To say I have beer coming out my ears is an understatement. I've been forced to "wait" mostly because well, I only drink a few beers a week(mostly on brew day) and well that doesn't put much of a dent in the 5gallon batch.

I know everyone touts waiting, but seriously. I always drink one 7 days or so after bottling to test carbonation level. Each one of the beers has been AWESOME. I'm always surprised in fact that they are as good as they are. The only two beers I've even remotely felt waiting made a huge difference on yuri's thunderstuck, and an omegang clone. The thunderstruck well had a bunch of spices in it and the omegang was a bit over the top estery (mostly because I fermented it a bit warm). Both were solid drinkable after they were carbed up.

I guess I must not be picky or something. I've yet to have a beer that has some how went through some magical transmutation from bad/green/undrinkable to amazing 3/4 weeks later.

I have seen improvements mind you but many people speak of this conditioning period likes its some alchemical process like turning lead into gold.

I have always done at least 3 weeks in the primary maybe I'm getting my aging and conditioning that way.

So to answer the question: Yes that good after 3 weeks.
 
I just tried a beer I kegged 1 week ago and it was pretty good . In fact I thought it was closer to being "ready" than one of my other batches that I kegged 3 weeks ago .
I think it has a lot to do with the fact that it stayed in the primary for 4 weeks before it was kegged and the yeast "cleaned" it up.
 
It's something that tends to only occurr in the beginning of a homebrewer's "career."

I think once you have a pipleine going it's really easy to let beers sit longer, because you have more to choose from, and you have beer at different stages of, so there's always something about to be drinkable.

I can attest to this. After the first few batches I've had no troubles waiting. Having 10+ different homebrewed beers to choose from makes it much easier.

Lately it seems I end up bottling the beers and forgetting about them. Speaking of which -- I have an "Extra Pale Ale" 22 days in the bottle today. Better put one in the fridge :)
 
i just brewed a cream ale with a lager yeast and it was fairly drinkable at 2 weeks (63 degrees), but got really good between 3-4 weeks.
 
I bulk age in the primary or secondary, so I start cracking open my bottles after about 7-10 days. Things carbonate pretty quickly in Florida because room temperatures tend to be higher than in most other parts of the U.S.
 
I have to say I'm impressed, it's not often we get someone new (ish) on here touting the benefits of waiting! :mug:

Obviously it's better to wait, but getting a new brewer not to sample the beer and start a new is my beer ruined thread, is a goal that many of us subscribe to, so we try to get them to at least wait out the minimum...

I completely agree with Revvy that the goal is to not sample the beer and start a new thread that you ruined a batch. Thankfully because of Revvy and many others in this group I was not at all concerned that my beer was just okay after 10 days in the bottle. Hey, it was by first homebrew and my birthday.

With opening my first beer after 10 days and now about another three weeks later I am appreciating the conditioning/aging process. Now I am saving two-three bottles of each batch in a closet for an extended conditioning time.

Since it seems as though you are doing your background work by being on this site to get info, I think that I would encourage you to try one bottle early. This way you can taste the difference between a properly conditioned bottle and one that was too early. But only do this if you are not going to freak out about a ruined beer.

I'm working on my pipeline so that I don't have to struggle with my waiting for my best if opened after _____ date.
 
It depends on the style, the batch and then what you mean by "good." I have a stout that finished just fine after a week and a half. It's FG was 1.012, as expected. I bottled it and within a week the carbonation was perfect so I dropped the temperature on it and started drinking it regularly. It tasted great. I did notice however that as we went along for a couple weeks drinking this batch (my wife and I limited ourselves to no more than 2 in a night and often drink none, so beer can last pretty good around our place), the flavor profile changed and things swapped places--thinks that predominated got muted and some things that were muted came to the fore. Over time it became a fairly different beer. It had been good without age and just as good, but different, with age. If you enjoy the taste then it's ready to drink. If you don't, then let it sit. If you enjoy it now, but might enjoy it more later, just pick one. Either way, when other's tell you "You're doing it wrong," remember whose beer it is and whom it has to please--you and...um...you. It's not possible to make hard fast rules about much in life--this applies especially to beer.
 
I usually start drinking my beer at 14 days in the bottle. 90% of the time it's not any more carbed at 3 weeks than 2 and 90% of the time its delicious.
 
As the 70 degree seems to be a standard, can we extrapolate a length of time if you are not able to get your room/bottles up to 70 in the colder weather months?

If you condition at, say 62, are you adding x number of weeks to the process?
 
As the 70 degree seems to be a standard, can we extrapolate a length of time if you are not able to get your room/bottles up to 70 in the colder weather months?

If you condition at, say 62, are you adding x number of weeks to the process?

There's too many other variables to give any "cut and dried" answer to this...It would be predicated for one thing in knowing how many weeks it would ACTUALLY be ready if at 70...

Basically, you try your beer, then try another in a week or two, until the beer is done....really just trial and error. Rather than three, try at 5, or six or whatever and see.
 
I agree, usually it gets even better with time, but all of my beers but one have been perfectly drinkable at three weeks (pumpkin needed more time to carb).
 
My hefe (WLP300) was at its prime at 2 weeks, it's only gone downhill from there.

My pale ales and blonde ales (US-05) are almost always as good as they get at 2 weeks - though more time doesn't seem to hurt them, all the way up to a couple months.

I had a beer made with S-04 that was pretty bad until around a month in, at which point it started getting better and better.

I live in Arizona, so my conditioning temps are closer to 75, which may accelerate things somewhat. I believe it depends more on the yeast than any other factor.
 
I agree with Oter. I start drinking at 14 days and find that there is no diff with extra warm conditioning time. Two weeks of additional cold conditioning time however does improve my ales. In addition I bottle most of my ales after 14 days in primary. Again, I have noticed no diff with extended primaries in 90% of my ales.
 
What I've started doing recently, since I don't keg (yet) is put part of the batch in a tap-a-draft bottle and use that to force carbonate. This way I can start drinking usually in a week and by time that is done the rest is ready to put in the fridge.
 
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