Competition advice - refrigeration?

Hello,

Semi new brewer here, and I'm about to enter a local competition! I'm wondering about refrigerating my bottles before submitting them. I hear that chilling them for a couple weeks can really clear up the beer and make it look nice (my beers usually aren't super clear). However, the brews were bottled just 5 weeks ago, and I'm wondering if a couple more weeks of conditioning would be better for them.

Right now, they taste great. (IPA and IIPA). I guess these styles can be drank 'fresh' with good results. I don't notice any green or off flavors at this point. Then again, I'm not a judge.

So my question is...chill the bottles for a while to clear them and then drop them off, OR, let them condition at 70 degrees for as long as possible. Whaddya think?

Also, any other advice for a first time competitor? I know, it's all for fun.

Forgot to mention, judging is about 1 month from now. Thanks for yer help!

wait 2 weeks then throw them in the fridge. then on what ever day take them down there and drop them off.

Alternately, take three and put them in the fridge. Two days before you have to turn them in, put one more in there. Taste one that had been in the fridge, the one that had been out, and enter the better one.

That's what I'd do.

Also save one bottle of each in the back of your fridge for when you get your score cards back. Always good to re-taste the beer while reading the judges comments. Most educational!

FYI, those styles are better fresh. 2 months in bottles doesn't equate to fresh. That's the reason a bottle of Pliny suggests that you drink it before you leave the store.

But if it were me, I would put them in the fridge now and try to keep my hands off of them.

BendBrewer said:

FYI, those styles are better fresh. 2 months in bottles doesn't equate to fresh. That's the reason a bottle of Pliny suggests that you drink it before you leave the store.

But if it were me, I would put them in the fridge now and try to keep my hands off of them.

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Really? I always hear to leave the beer in the bottles for at least 6 weeks before drinking, so I thought it'd still be 'fresh'. Very interesting...
THAT must be why these beers tasted so good before my standard aging procedure. I just thought I knocked one out of the park.

I just thought I knocked one out of the park.

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I'm sure that you did, but knocking them back when they were fresh didn't hurt anything.

Different times for different styles.

IPA and IIPA are probably pretty good 4-6 weeks after priming. I would not worry about the hops dropping out until at least 3 months. At 6 months, you will more than likely notice a difference pretty easily.

I would put them in the fridge and chill them. They will likely clear more, and stay fresher-tasting.

Thanks for all the help guys. Good ideas and suggestions. I'm totally going to put some in the firdge now and test em out before the drop-off date. Wish me luck!

Once the beer is ready to drink, the cooler you keep it, the better. Hop flavor and aroma will fade slower and signs of oxidation from careless racking etc will be less likely to show up versus keeping at warmer temps.

Well, I just wanted to follow-up here, if anyone even cares. I aged my bottles as long as I could and then chilled them for 2 days before submitting.

I won 2nd place for Pale Ale!!!!!!!!! :fro:

I'm amazingly excited! Thanks for all the help HBT.

I thought there would be a .0001% chance of me winning anything at this point in my "brewing career", but hey, miracles do happen.