How long should I let my DIPA bottle condition for?

[mazzstar26]

I brewed a Double IPA a few weeks ago for my first beer. I had it in primary for a week, secondary for one week, dry hopped for another week in secondary, and cold crashed for 2 days. I bottled this past Friday and was curious as to how long it would take for my beer to carbonate and mellow out. I just refrigerated one and opened it to get an idea of where I stand and it wasn't tasting very balanced. Tasted very bitter and was flat. I am well aware that a DIPA is suppose to be bitter and this was a recipe based off of a dreadnaught clone I found on hopville, but will it carbonate and mellow out after a few weeks? Just curious as to weather or not I can chalk my first beer up as a bust or not. Input would be great!

 

[newtobrew36]

If youre using priming sugar, it usually takes one week-ish to carbonate. However, for it to mellow out, I would give it at least 2-3 weeks, if not longer. It's interesting though to taste early on and see how the beer progresses from where it's at now to where it will be when it matures.

 

[billl]

At 3 weeks, you stand a pretty good chance of it being ready. Every batch is different though, but that is a reasonable starting point to start testing.

For future batches, 1 week in the primary is pretty short for a high gravity brew. Generally, the higher the ABV, the longer you should just leave it alone in the primary.

 

[mazzstar26]

Thanks for the input. I did not have a hydrometer the day I brewed so I am not sure about the alcohol content but it was suppose to be 9.2%. The krausen settled (I know that's not always an accurate indicator that primary is finished) but I moved it anyway. Can't wait to try it in a few weeks. Can't wait to brew again this weekend (if this crappy Maryland weather chills out) and try some new stuff I've learned over the past few weeks.

 

[fergyrock]

My experience with the handful of DIPA and IIPA's in the .074-80 OG range that I've done, 2 weeks primary, 1 secondary, 4 in bottle before all the green or harsh flavor was gone and they kept getting better up until about 6 weeks in bottle. Then we destroyed all of them in less than a week. But I did save a couple to see how they are after another month.

now I'm trying out the 4 week primary only method and I hope that ends up shortening the bottle conditioning time a little but still thinking it will be 6-7 weeks from kettle to glass on my big beers and 5-6 on my smaller ales. I will find out soon.

 

[mazzstar26]

From what I've gathered through reading threads and other sources, I thought fermenting in primary for too long produces esters and off flavors. Granted I'm brand new to brewing but what advantages does a 4 week primary offer? Feed me beer knowledge!

 

[fergyrock]

It's a theory that many of the guys on this forum have that it produces just as clean and debatably better tasting beer because the yeast continues to slowly clean out the byproducts after the fermentation is done. I think the worry of it creating off flavors is not a concern, unless you are doing brewery size batches.

The part that is not debatable is its less work in transferring and cleaning. So I though I'd give it a try. and see how it works out.

But there are plenty of guys out there that have been doing a long time and have great results.

 

[billl]

a 4 week primary has zero risk of producing extra esters of off flavors. Those are mostly determined by the start of fermentation - pitching the right amount of yeast, aerating properly, and holding a proper temp. If you do that, the risks are zero.

A 4 week primary isn't some magical number though. You just want to leave the beer on the yeast AT LEAST as long as it takes for fermentation to complete. Beers with higher gravity have more sugar for the yeast to eat and just tend to take longer.

 

[mazzstar26]

Yea if you could avoid having to siphon to secondary that would be awesome. Hope it turns out for you. I may have to try it once I'm a little more confident in my brewing abilities

 

[mazzstar26]

Cracked one last night and it was pretty delicious. 2 more weeks and it will be awesome! Thanks for all the advice