What is the minimum time you chill your homebrew?

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whovous

Waterloo Sunset
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So, I bottled three weeks ago, and put some of those bottles in the fridge an hour or two ago. I understand that a week of cold conditioning is optimal if I want my beer to be as clear as it can be.

For those of you that bottle, how long do you refrigerate your bottles before opening the first one? And yes, I know that I can drink them straight from the closet if I am really thirsty. How soon is "good enough" for you?
 
If they've been in bottles for 3 weeks at 70 degrees than overnight is usually sufficient. More is probably better to get the CO2 in solution, but IMO bottles at a proper temp and length of time is far more important.
 
I usually shoot for at least two days, but that doesn't always happen. A week or more is great, but "until it's kind of cold" also works in a pinch.
 
most of my bottles are carbonated at around 60-65F. most of my beers are drank around 50F. some are chilled to around 40F. those go in the keezer at least over night.
 
My fridge is small and there's often not much room for my brews.
If I don't have any chilled but want one, 16 minutes in the freezer for 12 ozers, 35 minutes for bombers.

They carb, look, smell and taste just fine.
 
most of my bottles are carbonated at around 60-65F. most of my beers are drank around 50F. some are chilled to around 40F. those go in the keezer at least over night.

^ this for me too. I might add I have never "had" to chill below 58 to 55 to get plenty of co2 in solution. All my beers will even themselves out with enough time at those temperatures, say about 4 weeks, with no foam overs at all after that point.
 
I chill mine at least 5 days. Better head & longer lasting carbonation...barring gushers anyway. Hybrid lagers 2 weeks to give a bit of lagering time.
 
I shoot for 3-5 days, but sometimes I run short on the weekend and I have to throw a couple in there for 12 hours.
 
30 minutes in the freezer if I have nothing ready - works just fine.

An hour or two in the fridge works just fine too.

Personally, I see little difference between one in the fridge for a few hours and one in the fridge for a week or more. The biggest difference I have seen is that the one that has been in the fridge for a long time, sometimes has a chill haze, which doesn't happen when they have only been in there for a couple off hours.
 
I try to go 5 days but if it is a new batch I want to sample then I just let it chill overnight.
 
Chill haze will appear, if at all, when the beer chills down well. It can take 3-5 days to settle out by my observations. And longer fridge time usually means longer lasting carbonation & thicker head.
 
Well, it was a new batch, and overall I think it is my best one yet. Carbing is on the light side, but not too much so. Warrior for bittering blends really nicely with Citra/Mosaic. I'k gonna wait a few more days before opening the next one.
 
Shortest was about 45 minutes to an hour. I know it wasn't at its best that way, but I am typically an impatient person, and it was still pretty good :D.
That said I usually chill for 24 hours at least and rotate stock in my beer fridge so the warm ones go in the back.
 
I've iced bath mine. That chills them even faster than the freezer. That's good enough.

Really once your carbonation levels are good you could fridge all the bottles. Then take some notes.
 
I chilled a few cases of brews in the fridge for almost 3 full weeks in preparation for Christmas company. This definitely made them more clear, but they didn't taste any better or worse than other bottles from the same batches that were only in the fridge just long enough to get cold.
 
Especially this time of year, when beers finally carbonate the cold will start creating more of an equilibrium between the head space & the beer. Temp levels change this equilibrium between the head space & beer. so some beers that sit in the boxes/dark place long enough settle out pretty good & carbonate decent. But the fridge does a better job of carbonating & compacting the trub/yeast on the bottom of the bottles. It just takes time, depending on storage conditions...& time.
 
I start cracking bottles even before chilling, but usually takes a week for the haze to drop out when chilled. Even then I'll drink a few during that time.
 
My experience is that if I get a minimum of two weeks primary, a solid week to cold crash and a month in the bottle that only 20-30 minutes in the freezer or an hour in the fridge provides excellent results for carbonation and clarity.
I quite trying to think about what I was going to drink days in advance and because I have 13 different home brews in the cellar keeping them all cold is not an option.
 
I'm on the fence about this one...

First, I bottle condition all my homebrews at room temp in a spare bedroom. Also being a home chef means my fridge is dedicated to craploads of produce. No room for bottles, so they sit at room temp until I'm ready to drink them.



  • If I'm anxious to try one, I'll pop it in the freezer right under the blower for 30 minutes, then into the fridge until I have a spare moment to open it.

  • 2-3 days in the fridge is good for settling and dense head that unionrdr was talking about. Usually I'll put 2 in the chill at once, one in the freezer as in the first example, and the other in my fridge in the "beer drawer" for later.

  • Ideally, 2 weeks in the fridge. After that long, the beer is so brilliant, with amazing clarity of flavor and perfect carbonation, that I often wish I had an additional refrigerator dedicated to beer. I'm rarely this patient, and this usually happens with beers I've forgotten about or haven't felt like drinking.

I've also observed a sort of "bottle shock" when it comes to naturally carbonated beer, basically whenever the beer changes "state". Whether moving a significant distance, being jostled aggressively, or drastically changing temperature, there is a certain amount of time before that beer returns to "normal". I dunno, maybe I'm just over-analytical, but I swear I can tell a difference.
 
One thing I've come to notice, is that after they've been conditioning several weeks, then into the fridge, the carbonation starts bubbling in the bottle & lifts the dregs when pouring. But not always. The amount of dregs doesn't matter either.
 
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