Bottling: What happens to the beer that last week in the fridge?

Bottling today, and three weeks at room temp in the bottles means I'll transfer to the fridge on Nov. 30. So what else happens besides cooling the beer that it takes a week?

Do more particulates settle out when it chills, etc?

Well yeah a week in a fridge will serve two things mainly: proper absortion of co2 and if you develop some kind of chill haze after a week or two cold in the fridge that chill haze will drop.

My birthday is Dec. 1. I think I'll pull one bottle out of the fridge and pop it and pour into a glass. That's only one day in the fridge. Partly I'd like to see how beer ages at different stages, because this is all new to me. Partly I just want to try my first homebrew on my birthday. What can I expect on Dec. 1 compared with Dec. 10, for example? Hazier beer? Less or more carbonated?

Don´t put your beer in a tigth schedule you don´t know when it´s going to be ready. Patience your beer will be ready when it´s ready. This being said two days before your birthday put one in fridge and try it. Most of times it will be all rigth

Yep if it is a little early that is fine. Typically I throw a bottle in after 2 weeks of bottle conditioning knowing it is not exactly ready, but I am impatient.

I have never had one of my beers fail to bottle carbonate at least mostly within 10 days in bottles at 70F. I like to age my lighter styles at least 3-4 weeks before putting in the fridge but they are still good with just 2 weeks in bottles and left overnight in the fridge. Leaving them in the fridge >7 days definitely clears them! I had a wheat ale I left in the fridge for 14 days and it was as clear as a lager!

Only been doing this for coming up to two years now, but I've never really seen much difference between my beers after 3-4 days in the fridge or several weeks. One day sure, but after a couple of days everything is fine. Now, I haven't yet done any lagers so I'm not sure how much of a difference people say it makes in an Ale to have it in the fridge for weeks, but again, I've never seen the difference between a good few days cold conditioning in the fridge and several weeks. I've even had some of my beers in the fridge for months, and they looked and tasted the same.

@Jayhem - my wheats do that too after only a few days, crystal clear when pouring until getting near the end when the yeast finally get into the glass. Of course for a wheat I want the yeast in and not have it clear


Rev.

I usually get beers to carbonate in about a week, and then after about 2 weeks in the fridge they're crystal clear. I noticed no positive improvement in beers after more than a month in the fridge. If anything, they get worse over time. The nice hop aromas disappear. Hefeweizens especially suck after more than about two months. Just a plain tart beer. No banana lovely bits any more after a few months. I guess people on this board like to age beer. I don't. I like it fresh. These are not ultra complex barrel aged dark beers made with noble gasses, bits of exotic minerals, fruits only grown in one time zone for 2 weeks a year. They're plain ol beers.

highgravitybacon said:

Hefeweizens especially suck after more than about two months. Just a plain tart beer. No banana lovely bits any more after a few months.

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I've had the exact same experiences, especially with Hefe's which are my most often brewed beer. Had me wondering how the heck the commercial hefe's stay fresh and fine for so long. Only thing I could think of is filtering, then using lager yeast to bottle condition which we know they use. Not sure if they actually do filter their hefe's... though it would be odd to use lager yeast if the wheat yeast isn't filtered out no?


Rev.

If you bottle condition at 65 degrees versus 70 does that present any problems?

Rick

Is not a problem beers can take a little longer to be ready

F250 said:

If you bottle condition at 65 degrees versus 70 does that present any problems?

Rick

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Not much. My apartment is kept around 68 degrees in the winter, and it still takes my beer the same amount of time to carb, about 2-4 weeks. 70 is the bench mark for the 3 weeks to fully carb, cooler temps will take a bit longer, but nothing drastic (unless its high gravity).

Rev2010 said:

I've had the exact same experiences, especially with Hefe's which are my most often brewed beer. Had me wondering how the heck the commercial hefe's stay fresh and fine for so long. Only thing I could think of is filtering, then using lager yeast to bottle condition which we know they use. Not sure if they actually do filter their hefe's... though it would be odd to use lager yeast if the wheat yeast isn't filtered out no?


Rev.

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Maybe its just pure banana IED when it leaves the factory and by the time it ages, its normal? Could also be pasteurized. I doubt they're more than a few months old by the time they get here though. .Global logitics FTW.