jjones17
Well-Known Member
Hello everyone out there in brewing land! Such a great day to be consulting with such fine ladies and gentlemens... (only 2 beers in and I am feeling cavalier).
Nevertheless, I am curious as to the general consensus on how long I need to be setting aside my beers to condition in the bottle. Actually, I really have a 2 part question:
1) In the larger gravity beers (1.060 + OG), I understand that a longer conditioning period is necessary for flavors to develop, and for the beers to clear. Longer, that is, than your standard 1.040 ish OG beers. I currently have 2 beers that have been about 3 weeks in the bottle, after 3 weeks in the fermenter. My IIPA, which was my first AG attempt suprisingly, turned out to be delicious after 1 week in the bottle though still cloudy. Now, after 3 weeks in the bottle, I am getting some unbalanced flavours... in fact it almost tastes green 'again' if that makes any sense. This beer was highly unbalanced (too malty not enough hops) for the style, and perhaps the reason it tasted good at 1 week was that I dry hopped (and it faded back to reveal green beer). This is a 8.1% ABV beer, with a FG of 1.020 (quite sweet, but 1.020 was intended and was exactly as beersmith predicted), and perhaps it needs more conditioning. Does anyone know how long this takes typically for these types of beers, they are being stored in my basement at around 62F (constant). I am hoping this will get better with age... I do love a huge malty beer, even if it is needing in the hop department.
2) It would seem that beers with simple sugars (honey, molasses, etc) also need longer conditioning times (am I right/wrong?). Does anyone know how I can confirm this? I have about 4 gallons of beer that used above 10% simple sugars in the recipes, and I do not want to dump them....
Anyway, I am hoping others share these questions that I have. Maybe this has been discussed, I could not find anything that would specifically speak to the mechanics of this process on big gravity beers.
Nevertheless, I am curious as to the general consensus on how long I need to be setting aside my beers to condition in the bottle. Actually, I really have a 2 part question:
1) In the larger gravity beers (1.060 + OG), I understand that a longer conditioning period is necessary for flavors to develop, and for the beers to clear. Longer, that is, than your standard 1.040 ish OG beers. I currently have 2 beers that have been about 3 weeks in the bottle, after 3 weeks in the fermenter. My IIPA, which was my first AG attempt suprisingly, turned out to be delicious after 1 week in the bottle though still cloudy. Now, after 3 weeks in the bottle, I am getting some unbalanced flavours... in fact it almost tastes green 'again' if that makes any sense. This beer was highly unbalanced (too malty not enough hops) for the style, and perhaps the reason it tasted good at 1 week was that I dry hopped (and it faded back to reveal green beer). This is a 8.1% ABV beer, with a FG of 1.020 (quite sweet, but 1.020 was intended and was exactly as beersmith predicted), and perhaps it needs more conditioning. Does anyone know how long this takes typically for these types of beers, they are being stored in my basement at around 62F (constant). I am hoping this will get better with age... I do love a huge malty beer, even if it is needing in the hop department.
2) It would seem that beers with simple sugars (honey, molasses, etc) also need longer conditioning times (am I right/wrong?). Does anyone know how I can confirm this? I have about 4 gallons of beer that used above 10% simple sugars in the recipes, and I do not want to dump them....
Anyway, I am hoping others share these questions that I have. Maybe this has been discussed, I could not find anything that would specifically speak to the mechanics of this process on big gravity beers.
