mrgrimm101
Well-Known Member
Its been 7 days, the yeast is still swirling but im going to move it upstairs at about 66-68F and let it sit for another week or so. I might be able to manage an overnight outside cold crash before bottling
Personally, I don't recommend the bulk aging thing.
Number one, beer is best fresh. Very rarely is a 5 month old beer better than a 1 month old beer.
Second, oxygen is the average homebrewers biggest problem. I don't care how careful you rack or tightly sealed you think your homebrew bucket or carboy is, your going to oxidize your beer. In my experience, bottle conditioning soon after fermentation is complete or carefully purging your kegs/vessels with CO2 is the best remediation available to homebrewers.
I can't tell you how many stouts and porters I've judged that were oxidized and would have scored much better had they been fresh samples. It's a shame that some of these homebrewers waited to enter them.
I agree. There are a few exceptions, but rarely is a 6 month old beer at its peak.
As a certified BJCP judge, I agree that oxidation is the most common flaw, and it's in the majority of the beers I've judged in competition.
Unless someone has a vessel-to-vessel transfer system and transfers under c02, just the act of opening/racking/closing will allow oxidation even if minimal. Oxidation shows itself more with age, and in fresh beers even a beer that was exposed to oxygen it won't be too bad. But with time, it will develop a "sherry" or "brandy" like flavor that is a hallmark of oxidation. You may see that in barley wines, and it is not a flaw there as micro-oxidation is expected and is a nice flavor characteristic, but it other beers, it is a fault.
As the late great Michael Jackson, the beer hunter not the pop star, said, "If you see a beer, do it a favor and drink it. Beer was not meant to age!"
Hmm, sounds like I need to do better
thinking this will be my next step and hopefully I get better beerthanks guys
http://www.love2brew.com/Articles.asp?ID=675
Hope someone can give me their two cents on this but,
I'm 6 brews in, and have only done coopers extracts. I didn't have a hydrometer for first 5, they turned out drinkable, but not 10/10. I did the two weeks ferment, then bottle for two weeks, drink.
I now have a hydrometer, and planned to wait 3-4 weeks in primary before bottling. Even if hydrometer is reading same result 2-3 days apart after 3 weeks. Will waiting a forth week help the yeast clean up, or will bottle conditioning for 3-4 weeks be enough?
Will this improve flavor at all if I leave in primary for say, 4 weeks before I even bother giving it a hydrometer reading.
This beer has been fermenting 5 days now. I will forget about going 4 weeks.
I don't know what the yeast is that comes with Coopers Canned extract kits, but could it handle upping the temperature for the remaining time?
I'm currently fermenting at about 68-69°
I am completely qualified to give an opinion - it might or might not be correct. For average beers, I like 3 weeks fermentation. I just take gravity readings 3 days apart to be sure it's stable - I don't like to leave it any longer once I have opened it and dipped into it. 4 weeks is ok, but I doubt if it will improve the beer. Even the third week probably doesn't make any difference if all the fermentation conditions were favorable, but it might help clean up if necessary.
For conditioning, 3 weeks at 70 degrees is the general guideline for average beers. Then 7 days in the fridge. I don't have room in the fridge for 7 days worth of beer, so mine gets 2 days. Seems fine to me. Hope this helps.
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