T-minus how long to beer?

Just curious. I bottled an IPA I had after 2 weeks primary and 5 and a half weeks secondary. It called for 4. So, my question, do I need to bottle condition as long? Does the fact that I secondaried longer mean bottle conditioning won't take as long?

I understand it will be better with time regardless, but just curious if extra time in secondary coorelates to less time bottle conditioning.

Thanks.

It is still recommended to bottle condition at least 3 weeks. During bottle conditioning the beer clears up some more but it also carbonates. So additional time in the secondary will not help the beer carbonate faster. 3 weeks is a good rule of thumb. Try one after 3 weeks and go from there. Also depending on your OG you might need to bottle condition them longer.

I have had beers that have been in primary longer than my normal 3 weeks and that doesn't seem to decrease the amount of time I need to bottle condition.

One thing that may help is to give the bottle a gentle "shake" to get the yeast off of the bottom of the bottle and back into the beer. I sometimes do this on my bigger beers. It seems to help with the bottle conditioning for me.

Basically you bulk aged your beer for an extra week and a half instead of having them age in the bottle for that time. It will still take time to carb up though. So the answer to your question is yes and no... Don't over think it. More mature and less time to age in bottle, yes. Less time to carb, no. More time isn't always better though, you still want to enjoy your aroma hops which have a nasty tendency of leaving us in time (you aren't in danger of that anytime soon so don't worry).

+1 on not waiting too long on an IPA...

We *recommend 3 weeks minimum in bottle, but most everyone will at least try one (or two or three) after the first week. It will still be a little under-carbed, and may taste a little green or unbalanced, but it's still beer

This is comforting. We started a chocolate cherry stout on Sep 10 or so, racked it on Sep 22 (added the cherries then) and... it's still in the secondary. My brew buddies and I find our schedules are extremely difficult to coordinate. We're hoping to bottle on Nov 21 or 22, but still want to have it in time for Christmas. I know it will have enough time to carbonate, but was worried it would need more conditioning time. It's nice to hear that's not necessarily the case.

Captain Damage said:

We *recommend 3 weeks minimum in bottle, but most everyone will at least try one (or two or three) after the first week. It will still be a little under-carbed, and may taste a little green or unbalanced, but it's still beer

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Or if you're like me, you enjoy a pint or two right out of the secondary before bottling, warm and flat.

amingo said:

Or if you're like me, you enjoy a pint or two right out of the secondary before bottling, warm and flat.

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A quick question on this. First bottling tomorrow night and I want to try my beer. I know it will be flat but am I best to try it straight from primary or from bottling bucket (after priming sugar added)?

I like to take a hydrometer sample after primary and secondary (if I secondary). After you get your reading, pour into a small glass and refrigerate. You don't want to pour these back into the beer anyway, so you get a sneak peek of how it might taste.

Carbonation adds quite a difference though, so don't get hung up on samples. I would not try any beer with the priming sugar in it, even that small amount will make it semi-sweet.

Tiredboy said:

A quick question on this. First bottling tomorrow night and I want to try my beer. I know it will be flat but am I best to try it straight from primary or from bottling bucket (after priming sugar added)?

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I drink the sample that I use for my hydrometer reading (using a wine thief) and usually dunk a sanitized glass into the bottling bucket full of beer before adding priming sugar. I've sampled primed beer before and it's not good.

Tiredboy said:

A quick question on this. First bottling tomorrow night and I want to try my beer. I know it will be flat but am I best to try it straight from primary or from bottling bucket (after priming sugar added)?

Click to expand...

Bottling sugar = too sweet. Ewwww.

Tiredboy said:

A quick question on this. First bottling tomorrow night and I want to try my beer. I know it will be flat but am I best to try it straight from primary or from bottling bucket (after priming sugar added)?

Click to expand...

EDIT - scheduling changes mean I'm bottling tonight so I'll either be happy or sad in a few hours (depending on the taste!).

You're in the enviable "drinking period" When I first started, I would refrigerate 1 bottle every friday evening before bed, and try it monday evening after work. It's a great way to monitor exactly what bottle time does for your brew. Now that I have a full pipeline, I just leave them alone in the bottle for 4 weeks. In general, darker / higher OG brews benefit more from conditioning time then lower OG/lighter brews which are best enjoyed (relatively) young. I have a High OG brew that had a strong Alcohol taste after 4 weeks in bottle. I just rotatated it to the bottom of the pipeline and now its my all time favorite.

Beer turned out great. Very cloudy and a bit too hoppy when tasted from bottling bucket. Fantastic when first bottle opened. Thanks for all the advice.