how long should a 9% beer sit before opening?

so we brewed an IPA, added maple syrup at the end, and ended up with about 9.5% apv - we put it in secondary after about 2 weeks, then did secondary for 1 and bottled 2 weeks ago - just wondering if anyone has done a higher content beer and how long to let it sit in the bottles before opening (or should we have allowed it to sit in primary/secondary longer) - also it went in the fridge yesterday, will that make a difference?

Thanks!

Open one and find out.

depends on if you want rough or smooth. right now, it'll probably be very green, as in bitter as h***... i wouldn't touch that 1 at less than 3 months, but that's just me. also depends on the ibu.

3 months is a little long for an IPA. I would try one now. Try one every week or two. It will help you taste the difference as it ages and mellow.

I have about a 9%abv IIPA thats been in the bottle for 6 days. Just cracked one and its definitely not the slightest bit carbonated... A little hiss upon opening and just enough carb to tingle a little, but I poured it straight in a glass and only got about 3 bubbles. Regardless, I say open one up! If its a decent beer it will at least be drinkable at this time, like said above, open one every week or so for the next month or two... Thats what I'm going to do anyway, though I dont expect it to be fully carbed for 6 weeks or maybe more. Cheers

Edit: and if you already put it in the fridge there is no reason not to crack it open! The yeast are dormant, you're not getting any more carbonation... drink it... do it... DO IT... you know you want to ...

I always let mine sit 8 weeks and it is always ready on week 8 after bottling. I got tired of drinking 1/4 batch of green beer until it was ready. 8 weeks seems to cover all my beers. I don't test any more, I just crack one open on week 8 and it's always ready.

At 9% you may be waiting a few months for it to carb, let alone mellow out. Personally I'd rather wait it out than waste potentially good beer by drinking it green.

lumpher said:

depends on if you want rough or smooth. right now, it'll probably be very green, as in bitter as h***... i wouldn't touch that 1 at less than 3 months, but that's just me. also depends on the ibu.

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I disagree, totally.

I'd drink them young; even by 1 month, most big IIPAs have lost a lot of the hop flavor and aroma will have dissipated and you'll have sort of an insipid barleywine instead of a bold DIPA.

Look at the label on a bottle of Pliney the Elder some time:
http://www.theperfectlyhappyman.com...y-the-elder/russian-river-pliny-the-elder.jpg

It has things like "Drink fresh! Do not age! Do not save for a rainy day!" plastered all over it.

They are just about the only style that needs to be consumed young. Even hefeweizens age better. A fresh Ballast Point Sculpin, Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA, or whatever is a great beer; once it's even a month old (post-release) it's lost most of its particular hop character and just has a kind of generic over-the-hill indistinguishable dead hop flavor to it. 2 month old Weyerbacher is pretty terrible.

We actually have people FedEx us Sculpin overnight to get it fresh out here (whereas with 90% of beer styles it doesn't matter, since I'm going to cellar them for a while anyway).

As soon as it's carbed, drink it!

cdif911 said:

so we brewed an IPA, added maple syrup at the end, and ended up with about 9.5% apv - we put it in secondary after about 2 weeks, then did secondary for 1 and bottled 2 weeks ago - just wondering if anyone has done a higher content beer and how long to let it sit in the bottles before opening (or should we have allowed it to sit in primary/secondary longer) - also it went in the fridge yesterday, will that make a difference?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

If you put ALL of the bottles in the fridge, the yeast will go dormant and it won't continue to carbonate at that temperature. Until you know it's correctly carbonated, just put one or two in there at a time.

thanks guys, will try it out and let you know