How long should you bottle condition before cooling??

whats the protocol for bottle conditioning??

Usually about 3 weeks is the norm. Longer if you can.....

thats what i figured, i opened one yesterday after about 2 weeks and it was a little flat, but hella delicious. I hate waiting!

i try to wait at least 2 weeks, but i've had some carbonate in 4 days and still taste good.

Sometimes they do taste good after a couple of days.....but I've found they always taste alot better after 3-4 weeks.

Chill only what you will be consuming in the next couple of days. The rest will continue to improve. The normal rule of thumb is that the best beer of any batch is the last one.

SteveM said:

Chill only what you will be consuming in the next couple of days. The rest will continue to improve. The normal rule of thumb is that the best beer of any batch is the last one.

Click to expand...

+1 to the "Last One"

I'm still a noob, but with a little over 12 brews under my belt I can't think of even one of them that wasn't better @ 2 months. I usually start cracking them open around 3 weeks, but try try not to start drinking the majority after 6 weeks. It's hard for me for sure.

Cheers...

1 week in primary
2 weeks in secondary
3 week in the bottle
chill and enjoy!
Now you dont have to be patient any longer. You just follow protocall.
Jay

The 3-week "rule" works well for most situations. You need to remember that bottle carbonation/conditioning is a secondary fermentation under conditions that are extremely stressful to the yeast. So they need to be given time to ferment, consume by-products and flocculate under anaerobic (i.e. they can't increase their numbers), high pressure and high-ethanol (toxic) conditions.

That said, if you are beyond the newbie stage characterized by an excessive fear of batches being ruined or infected based on tasting green beer, you don't have to follow the 3-week "rule" at all. First, keep the beer warm - mid- to upper 70s works great! Also, use your eyes - you can use one clear bottle per batch to use as an indicator to help you see the following processes more clearly: During bottle fermentation, the beer will turn somewhat opaque, scattering light shined through it. During flocculation, you'll notice a haze towards the bottom of the bottle. When the process is complete, the beer will become very transparent (assuming you don't have an inherently cloudy beer, or one that is very dark).

That's when you can take a couple of bottles, put them in the fridge for a couple of days and give them a taste. They'll probably be fine at this point. But as others have said, most beers will continue to improve for several weeks as they age, so let the rest sit warm until you are ready to drink them.