How long to "age" your beer

[WarBac]

From most of the posts it seems most everyone is giving their ales a month or so (primary and secondary). Most of the instructions that come with the kit are saying 3-4 days for primary and 3-4 for secondary meaning the beer is ready to drink after 8 days. So the question is does the beer really need to sit in the bucket or carboy for another three weeks to be drinkable?

 

[osagedr]

Ready to drink after 8 days only if you don't want to carbonate it.

Everyone's definition of "drinkable" is different. I would consider six weeks a bare minimum and even at that point most beers are still green. There are exceptions.

 

[unionrdr]

It can take 3 weeks or more for a beer to reach FG,then 3-5 days to clean up & Settle more. Then 3-4 weeks to bottle condition. And that's just for average gravity brews. I generally go about 2 months from kettle to glass.

 

[WarBac]

I am force carbing and kegging so there is no bottle conditioning. I am sure that "keg conditioning" will result in a better beer. Looks like the solution is to have multiple batches at different stages so I don't run out of home brew. Thanks for the info.

 

[TopherM]

I have found that most average to low gravity beers are very drinkable after a week in primary and two weeks conditioning/carbonating.

HOWEVER, most average to low gravity beers taste BEST and are at their optimum peak of beery goodness with about 3 weeks in primary and 6-12 weeks conditioning.

It sucks, because I'm not the most patient person in the world, but I always leave my beers in primary for 3-4 weeks, bottle or keg condition a minimum of 3-4 additional weeks, then start drinking, and still, the best beer of the batch is ALWAYS the last beer that has been conditioned for 6-12 weeks.

I've just now gone from producing about 10 gallons a month to about 20 gallons per month to match my consumption so that I can let beers properly age BEFORE I start drinking them, instead of starting to drink them BEFORE they properly age and peak, which is inevitably what most brewers do.

 

[atchinator]

If your yeast is good, the beer should reach its FG after a few days. Maybe 3- 6 Days.
If you are brewing a typical ale and it takes a couple of weeks to reach FG your yeast isn't very powerful or your temperature is wrong or you are doing something else wrong. after many years of brewing, I've never had an ale take more than a week to reach FG.

After the FG is reached, I typically let my beer age and clarify in the primary fermenting vessel or I rack to a secondary (a glass carboy) and let it sit for a couple of weeks.

After that, I bottle it with priming sugar and let it condition for about 2 weeks. After two weeks in the bottle, the carbonation might not be fully complete but it's probably getting close. As someone else mentioned, the beer really does get better carbonated after about 4 weeks.

So, all together, that's around 5 weeks. Or maybe 7 weeks if you really want to ensure that your carbonation is absolutely complete.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I found head retention and lacing also gets better as the bottle conditioning progresses.

 

[cfonnes]

Unless it is a unique brew (sour, dry hop, fruit added) that requires a secondary, this is what I do.

Three weeks in primary, then move to the keg. Purge oxygen.

If it is a wheat throw it in the kegerator and carb at 25 lbs for a day then 13 lbs for 5 days, then drink.

If it is not a wheat let it sit around for 4 - 6 months.

High gravity (Barley wine, Russian Imperial Stout, etc...) I bottle and let them sit for at least a year before I sample one. Usually wait for 18 months before I consider them ready.

 

[unionrdr]

I use starters,dex in re-hydrating water & have NEVER had an ale hit FG in 7 days flat. And only 1 brew was fully carbed in 11 days. Most take 4 weeks to carb & be better tasting than 3 weeks,which is good,but not great. And I pitch @ high krausen. Blow off tube going nuts for 2-4 days solid.

 

[ayoungrad]

If your yeast is good, the beer should reach its FG after a few days. Maybe 3- 6 Days.
If you are brewing a typical ale and it takes a couple of weeks to reach FG your yeast isn't very powerful or your temperature is wrong or you are doing something else wrong. after many years of brewing, I've never had an ale take more than a week to reach FG.

I would emphasize "typical ale" here. High gravity beers often take longer than a week to reach FG with the last few points coming off rather slowly towards the end of primary.

 

[unionrdr]

Ime,the ale would have to be on the low gravity side of typical to brew up rather fast. Even then,not quite that fast. My fastest to date was a light pale ale @ 12 days.

 

[ayoungrad]

I have had beers around 1.050 finish at about a week. Even then it seems like the final points also come off slowly but I don't honestly check all that often except with the bigger beers.

My fastest overall was an american wheat (slightly under 1.050) that was ready to start drinking after 10 days in primary and 10 days of bottle conditioning.

I mostly plan on 6-8 weeks after brew day before they are ready to start drinking...

 

[Golddiggie]

Define "typical ale".

My "typical" ales have an OG over 1.060. They also tend to take 2-3 weeks to finish fermenting in the basement I'm using right now (a steady 64-66F year round). My yeast are good and I normally use starters for all my batches. I also use pure O2 infusions to help them along. All said, I let my brews go 4-8 weeks in primary before sending them to bottle/keg. Then its however long they take to carbonate.

 

[organ]

2-3 weeks to ferment at 66?

 

[ayoungrad]

I am assuming atchinator means anything less than 1.050 as a "typical ale"? But I would also bet that atchinator ferments at the higher temp range (or higher).

 

[unionrdr]

Seems to me you'd have to ferment at a higher temp with a hell of a starter on something below 1.050 to get done completely in 3-6 days.

 

[Germelli1]

I go against the grain here on fermentation

All my beers below 1.060 ferment out completely in under a week, typically in 4-6 days at 64 degrees. It might be the yeasts I use but it is a regular occurance. I will leave them in the fermenter for another week at most letting it rise to ambient to clean up. So I bottle most of mine at 1.5 weeks after pitching. I really don't store them for long periods until they are in bottles. They carbonate in bottles usually in under 24 hours this way and are produce better beer than with the extended primary method.

What I am trying to say is experiement for yourself and you may be surprised with the results. I am not one to just take someone's word for it and I like testing the accepted systems.

 

[blackbear219]

I struggle with this in my head all the time.

I have a blueberry wheat going for SWMBO that was in primary for 7 days and has now been in secondary for 3 days. Gravity is stable. Do I bottle it this weekend after 7pri/7sec or do I let it mass condition for another week in secondary? It's a wheat beer (no whirlfloc) so it's not meant to be that clear anyways, but could an extra week in secondary possibly result in faster conditioning in the bottles? I go back and forth constantly.

Should I bottle? Should I wait? What's going to get it into my mouth in the fastest, tastiest manner? These are the questions I ask myself all day long

 

[Germelli1]

Its going to keep conditioning in the bottle just like it would in the secondary so I would just bottle it sooner rather than later!

 

[Hugh_Jass]

Most of the beers I brew are lower in gravity, >1.055. The typical schedule is 2 weeks in primary vessel, cold crash 3 days, rack to keg, carb and drink. The first of any batch of beer is ready to drink within 2 1/2 weeks and certainly 3.

My theory (YMMV) behind this is if I keep the yeast happy and free from competing organisms, there will be much less fermentation by-products to "clean up" When brewing, I thoroughly sanitize, inoculate the wort with the proper amount of healthy, viable yeast at the proper wort temperature, and control the temperature, generally at the low end of the yeast's tolerance, throughout fermentation.

I've gone from grain to glass in as little as 10 days with American wheats, Orfy's mild and an APA that's not dry hopped. I also wouldn't hesitate to serve three week old beer to company who regularly enjoy premium craft beer.

 

[nefarious_1_]

HOWEVER, most average to low gravity beers taste BEST and are at their optimum peak of beery goodness with about 3 weeks in primary and 6-12 weeks conditioning.

I agree

Its going to keep conditioning in the bottle just like it would in the secondary so I would just bottle it sooner rather than later!

I also agree.


I don't really consider my beer to be "aging" until it's bottled and starting to carb though. IMO, the time my beer spends in Primary is exactly that: Primary Fermentation. This stage takes 2 - 5 weeks and is necessary for, well, fermenting and clearing.
This gets the beer ready for the aging process that can take as little as 3 weeks (carbing) and up to 6 months or more in the bottle.

Just my own thoughts on the term "aging."

 

[gr8shandini]

This can be quite a heated topic here on HBT (see https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/aging-beer-facts-myths-discussion-84005/ ). Personally, I think people have mistaken the "new" evidence that it's not harmful to leave your beer on the yeast for an extended period for a mandate that you must do just that. Chances are that whatever your favorite commercial craft brew is, it spent less than 3 weeks in the fermenter. If they can do it, you can, too. Just mind your pitching rates and fementation temps and you can enjoy a great low- to mid-gravity ale in as little as 10 days if you force carbonate.

If you like to use a long primary I don't think that's a bad idea on its own, but the extent at which it's being advocated by some is getting ridiculous. I recently read one thread where a brewer was trying to track down a persistent off-flavor in several of his brews including a 1.065 ale that spent four months in primary / secondary. Several of the posters still insisted that it was just "green" and would age out. "The yeast will clean up their mess" is good, easy to follow advice for a new brewer, but eventually, it's probably best to learn how not to make the "mess" to begin with.

 

[Zixxer10R]

I found head retention and lacing also gets better as the bottle conditioning progresses.

I'm suddenly enamoured with lacing. I've got the AHS Apocalypso in keg right now and nearly the entire pint glass was plastered with lacing. So beautiful!

 

[Germelli1]

This can be quite a heated topic here on HBT (see https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/aging-beer-facts-myths-discussion-84005/ ). Personally, I think people have mistaken the "new" evidence that it's not harmful to leave your beer on the yeast for an extended period for a mandate that you must do just that. Chances are that whatever your favorite commercial craft brew is, it spent less than 3 weeks in the fermenter. If they can do it, you can, too. Just mind your pitching rates and fementation temps and you can enjoy a great low- to mid-gravity ale in as little as 10 days if you force carbonate.

If you like to use a long primary I don't think that's a bad idea on its own, but the extent at which it's being advocated by some is getting ridiculous. I recently read one thread where a brewer was trying to track down a persistent off-flavor in several of his brews including a 1.065 ale that spent four months in primary / secondary. Several of the posters still insisted that it was just "green" and would age out. "The yeast will clean up their mess" is good, easy to follow advice for a new brewer, but eventually, it's probably best to learn how not to make the "mess" to begin with.

Good post. If you ferment properly, then there shouldn't be many biproducts to clean up in the first place. Even so, I feel the yeast only clean up biproducts within 3 days of primary fermentation completing. Then they go dormant for the most part and anything after this can be achieved in a bottle with the same effectiveness.

 

[ArcaneXor]

I only let my sours, strong ales, and lagers/lagered ales condition for extended periods. The rest I usually turn around between 2-4 weeks.

 

[WarBac]

OK. So seems like it is personal preference then . My first batch was an ESB. 2 weeks in primary 2 weeks in secondary, cold crash in the keg then force carb for 2 days at 30 psi, then to 7-10 to serve. My second batch (Chico Ale) was 2 weeks in the primary, just moved it to secondary (dry hopping) and the plan was to let it sit for 2 more weeks then do the same as with the esb. Think I will make my third batch with a much shorter fermentation to keg period and then see how it compares to the longer ones.