How do you decide how long a beer will need to condition?

So I'm going to be making a Jubelale clone this year, and in my mind I have this thought that it's going to take 2 to 3 months to be read to drink. I've seen that sentiment in some of the Jubelale recipe threads. My question is... why? It's not a particularly big beer, I'm shooting for an OG of about 1.070. That's not all that big, I've made IPA's that were above 1.060 and drank them *long* before 3 months. So I don't get why people think that Jubelale will need to condition for quite a while before drinking? And are they right? Should I make it now if I want to tap the keg at Thanksgiving?

I'm basically going off the recipe in this thread, FYI: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/2009-dechutes-jubelale-138876/

Alot of it has to do with the number of adjuncts and specialty grains used in a specific recipe.

Individual tastes vary, and IPA's have a lot of hops to hide 'immaturity' in the beer.
I'm not familiar with Jubelale though.

1.070 is not a barleywine, but its not a small or even medium gravity beer...its definitely getting up there (consider many wines are only 1.080 to 1.085 OG).

My own two cents, a beer with that OG, I'd age 3 months before drinking too much...just because your IPA tastes good young, doesn't mean its peaked. For all you know, it could be an award-winning beer if left for 12 months.

malkore said:

Individual tastes vary, and IPA's have a lot of hops to hide 'immaturity' in the beer.
I'm not familiar with Jubelale though.

1.070 is not a barleywine, but its not a small or even medium gravity beer...its definitely getting up there (consider many wines are only 1.080 to 1.085 OG).

My own two cents, a beer with that OG, I'd age 3 months before drinking too much...just because your IPA tastes good young, doesn't mean its peaked. For all you know, it could be an award-winning beer if left for 12 months.

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Fair points. Part of the problem is that I haven't been brewing long enough to have experimented with stuff like this. Perhaps I should just follow conventional wisdom and aim for about 3 months on this one.

FWIW, Jubelale is Deschutes' winter seasonal. The commercial version is 6.7% ABV and 60 IBU's. It's got a healthy amount of crystal malt and a little roasted barley to balance out the hops.

Oh, and I'm not sure if I could let my IPA sit for 12 months. When I make an IPA, I want that kick-in-the-face hop aroma, and I can't imagine that would last nearly that long.

Disclaimer: I have only been brewing for less than a year.

I like the idea of tasting on a regular basis. It's your beer and you can drink it when you want. Have 1 after 4 weeks, 8 weeks, etc. Take notes in your brew notebook and next time you will have a good idea of how long to age it. Also, you can help others out with the same question you now have.

That being said I personally subscribe to Remy's "of patience and bottle conditioning" (or something like that). Relax, don't rush it, and you might be surprised with what you end up with.

JBmadtown said:

Disclaimer: I have only been brewing for less than a year.

I like the idea of tasting on a regular basis. It's your beer and you can drink it when you want. Have 1 after 4 weeks, 8 weeks, etc. Take notes in your brew notebook and next time you will have a good idea of how long to age it. Also, you can help others out with the same question you now have.

That being said I personally subscribe to Remy's "of patience and bottle conditioning" (or something like that). Relax, don't rush it, and you might be surprised with what you end up with.

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this

Simplest answer: until it tastes the way you like it

I'm new to this but from what I know, the longer a beer ages, the more it changes, and different people have different tastes. So crack some open now, a few weeks from now, few months from new, or years from now, and decide how long you like it to be conditioned.