Reminder: 3 weeks of bottle conditioning is a MINIMUM

I just popped a bottle of brew that I whipped up during the summer & this thing is beautifully carbonated......pours with and keeps a very nice head...and looks more clear than the caribbean sea.

This is a beer that spent only 2 weeks in the primary and then went straight to the bottle.

:rockin:

I would tend to disagree. Every beer I have brewed so far (8) has only spent 1 week in the bottle prior to first try and they all tasted great. Aging made them much better, but I don't think 3 weeks should be considered a minimum.

Congrats on your successful brew, though.

I agree - 3 weeks is not a MINIMUM - but is highly recommended. I've actually had so good green beer at one week but at 3 weeks it was much better and at 8 weeks way better.

Drinking an Amber now at 12 weeks and thoroughly enjoying it. My notes say I thoroughly enjoyed it at 2 weeks. But then . . . . I think I enjoy any beer I make. LOL

Ha, funny, I just cracked a coffee stout that's been in the bottle for two weeks, and it's pretty much totally flat. I just told myself to give it more time and hoped that was all it would take.

I've noticed that, even after 4 weeks in the bottle, my chocolate stout needs to be poured pretty turbulently at first to get a good head. Make sure you're pouring straight down the glass at first before going down the side.

I hear ya guys....I'm not saying that @ 2 weeks my beer tasted like piss. I mean that the longer I've waited....the better its tasted...the clearer the beer...and the better the head.

..I guess thats a given. But the differences are so drastic...you would think it was a different beer.

Longer is better for many things gentlemen.

nukebrewer said:

I would tend to disagree. Every beer I have brewed so far (8) has only spent 1 week in the bottle prior to first try and they all tasted great. Aging made them much better, but I don't think 3 weeks should be considered a minimum.

Congrats on your successful brew, though.

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I agree! This is nothing but personal preference. The longer you wait the better but not everyone really cares about getting anal.

I also disagree. There are too many variables involved to set a distinct "beer done on..." date. I prefer the approach of tasting the beer throughout the process to get an appreciation of how the flavors meld and interact with the building carbonation.
Three weeks is a good guesstimate, but in reality it varies from something like 3 days to several months.

ArcaneXor said:

I also disagree. There are too many variables involved to set a distinct "beer done on..." date. I prefer the approach of tasting the beer throughout the process to get an appreciation of how the flavors meld and interact with the building carbonation.
Three weeks is a good guesstimate, but in reality it varies from something like 3 days to several months.

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'Zatcly. One thing to remember about all these rules/guidelines/recommendations is that they are generally designed to keep impatient brewers from rushing through the process, bottling too soon and consuming all their beer before it even carbs. Beer has it's own schedule.

brewt00l said:

'Zatcly. One thing to remember about all these rules/guidelines/recommendations is that they are generally designed to keep impatient brewers from rushing through the process, bottling too soon and consuming all their beer before it even carbs. Beer has it's own schedule.

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That holds true for gifting beer also. On two occasions I gave away beer with instructions to wait a couple of weeks before opening. The first one took almost two months before it was ready to drink. The second, a lightly carbed stout, was handed out over this past Thanksgiving and it’s still not ready. Lesson learned. Never do that again! With experience comes patience, but you can’t expect that from non-brewers.

Waiting three weeks before even trying one is a good approach, but it's easier if you have lots of homebrew around.

Just to spice things up..... on the other side of this spectrum, I woudn't wait a 100 weeks to drink something that is 5% and less than 20 IBUs either. I have like 1-2 bottles of this laying around that I will probably cook with instead of drink.

AnOldUR said:

That holds true for gifting beer also. On two occasions I gave away beer with instructions to wait a couple of weeks before opening. The first one took almost two months before it was ready to drink. The second, a lightly carbed stout, was handed out over this past Thanksgiving and it’s still not ready. Lesson learned. Never do that again! With experience comes patience, but you can’t expect that from non-brewers.

Waiting three weeks before even trying one is a good approach, but it's easier if you have lots of homebrew around.

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I generally don't like giving beer to folks before its prime...they usually ignore your instructions and drink it anyway.

nukebrewer said:

I've noticed that, even after 4 weeks in the bottle, my chocolate stout needs to be poured pretty turbulently at first to get a good head. Make sure you're pouring straight down the glass at first before going down the side.

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I have noticed this and do this with with any stout that i have brewed. They are just such thick beers that they need the extra hard pour at first to get the head going.

I tend to agree with the OP here. I believe that there are a lot of people who just don't taste the green-ness in green beer. It doesn't register on their palates. As for me I am very sensitive to it and hate the hint of green in my beer. I also hate sampling my gravity columns. I tried one last night just before I added priming sugar and nearly spit it out.

So even though a beer may have a decent amount of co2 in it at day 3 or 4 or 5 it will still have green qualities in it that will decidedly detract from flavor if your palate picks it up.

I also agree with the OP. Let the beer sit for a few weeks let it age before drinking. I have a dedicated beer fridge where most of my beer gets to sit in the 44F temps for 2-3 months before drinking. I brew often enough that I don't need to drink beer that's less than a couple MONTHS old. Don't cheat yourself on drinking young beer...

The exception in my book is if you are talking yeasty brews like hefes, wits or something very low in ABV like a mild or bitter. Drink them as soon as they get ful carbonation. The latter assumes you secondary too. Let the yeast drop out well.

Right now I am drinking a 5 month old French Saison that is 8.5% ABV its really early drinking. It tastes so much better than it was at final carb time. I bottled this stuff when it was pristinely clear. A few days later it clouded up dark and about 3-6 weeks later it got clear again. I drank one when cloudy.... OMG it was like drinking barf in a bottle. Right now its awesome its so clean and silky smooth.

High gravity beers need time to smooth out and get the hotness out of them. Low ABV beers can be drank rather quickly. This whole time factor is what the BIG breweries HATE!

All the beer I've tried at one week had great carbonation. Some did not get much better after three weeks. Others seemed to have a point where the flavors just came together right. Three weeks seems like a good general rule but every beer really has it's own schedule.

so I wonder if the "green" taste everyone talks about is the "homebrew" taste that I get anytime I drink someones homebrew. Every homebrew Ive had has had "that" taste.

Bottles can carb up in a week or two. Aging beer is very important though and the three week minimum can help anxious brewers stick to it.

Hoserama said:

so I wonder if the "green" taste everyone talks about is the "homebrew" taste that I get anytime I drink someones homebrew. Every homebrew Ive had has had "that" taste.

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You might be tasting the effect of extract.... all grain is not that way.

I have my second beer in the primary right now, which is a Stone IPA clone. It has an OG 1.078. I think this would this be considered a big beer?

I will be dry hopping, and from what i have read, dry hopping tends to lose flavor with age...

I'm planning on doing 2 weeks in the primary, then maybe 5-7 days in a secondary.

So could you guys give me some ideas or thoughts on how long this should stay in bottles - does it need EXTRA time in bottles because it is a bigger beer with a higher gravity? Does it need LESS time in bottles because i dry-hopped and I don't want to lose the hoppy flavor?

any other comments are welcome.

RyanT said:

I have my second beer in the primary right now, which is a Stone IPA clone. It has an OG 1.078. I think this would this be considered a big beer?

I will be dry hopping, and from what i have read, dry hopping tends to lose flavor with age...

I'm planning on doing 2 weeks in the primary, then maybe 5-7 days in a secondary.

So could you guys give me some ideas or thoughts on how long this should stay in bottles - does it need EXTRA time in bottles because it is a bigger beer with a higher gravity? Does it need LESS time in bottles because i dry-hopped and I don't want to lose the hoppy flavor?

any other comments are welcome.

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Let the sucker sit in the primary 3 weeks until its completely done and the yeast has really settled. Fill your carboy with hops then syphon your beer over and let sit up to two weeks. No longer or it will get a grassiness flavor. I like to use whole hops for dry hopping. Pellets are OK too.

Let them carb for 3 weeks. Then you can chill them. Your brew is 1.078 maybe it ferments to 1.012. If so it will be 8.75 ABV. It might be hot in alcohol right after its done carbing. I let mine sit for a month or two if they are hot tasting.

Try one when its done carbing. If it needs to sit then so be it, the hop flavor will most likely be awesome.

I drank some of my French Saison yesterday and it was great at 5 months. Its 8.5% w/o the hotness. Two months ago it was pretty hot tasting. But this beer is only about 28 IBU. It doesn't have a notable hop nose to it so its possible that may be more subtle in an IPA.

Have A Beery Christmas!

Schlenkerla said:

You might be tasting the effect of extract.... all grain is not that way.

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that would make a lot of sense...hmmm

One of the reasons that I would agree with the OP would be because if you crack it early, you may drink them all before they mature enough to really, really enjoy!!!

I've learned that just because a beer is properly carbonated, doesn't mean it's done conditioning.