Overcarbed, underconditioned IPA -- bad idea to fridge it?

[jsweet]

I have an IPA that has been bottle conditioning for about a week and a half. I knew at bottling time I had put too much priming sugar in (the problem with racking onto your sugar water solution is that you have to know how much volume you are going to get out minus the trub and other debris BEFORE you actually rack it, d'oh...). They've been sufficiently carbed to my tastes since about 4 days in the bottle! Now they are starting to taste a bit overcarbed, surprise surprise, but I also realize that an insufficiently conditioned beer can have a weird mouthfeel just from the CO2 not fully absorbing into the solution etc. Now, this is the best beer I've made so far, so I'd like to keep it that way...!

My question is, would it be crazy to just fridge it right now and let it cold condition the rest of the way, in order to minimize the extra carbonation? Or am I best off just waiting the full 3 weeks and then fridging it? Any thoughts?

 

[TopherM]

You should definitely cold crash it in the fridge to slow the carbonation. The batch will still condition like it would at room temp, it is just going to take about 3X as long to get there at the lower temps. Give this one about 3-4 weeks in the fridge then start cracking one bottle a week to taste until they condition to your tastes. I suspect they are going to take about 6-8 weeks, honestly.

 

[jsweet]

You should definitely cold crash it in the fridge to slow the carbonation. The batch will still condition like it would at room temp, it is just going to take about 3X as long to get there at the lower temps. Give this one about 3-4 weeks in the fridge then start cracking one bottle a week to taste until they condition to your tastes. I suspect they are going to take about 6-8 weeks, honestly.

There's no way it will last that long, as it's already, even at this point, the best beer I've made And we're having a party July 3rd... hehehe

Oh well, I think I will fridge them when I get home though.

Edit: BTW, it was Yooper's DFH 60 clone, so all credit to her for this being my best so far

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

I agree with the let em go in the fridge to keep from overcarbing.
What I do to avoid adding too much sugar is to measure my sugar for 5gal in a 500 ml measuring cup. (100ml for each gallon). Then after you rack, and know how much beer you're bottling, add the appropriate amount of sugar solution (i.e. 425ml for 4 1/4 gal) and gently stir. I haven't overcarbed since I started doing it this way.

 

[jsweet]

What I do to avoid adding too much sugar is to measure my sugar for 5gal in a 500 ml measuring cup. (100ml for each gallon). Then after you rack, and know how much beer you're bottling, add the appropriate amount of sugar solution (i.e. 425ml for 4 1/4 gal) and gently stir. I haven't overcarbed since I started doing it this way.

I'm paranoid that just stirring, without racking on top, would give uneven carbonation. You've never had a problem with that?

I am getting better at "eyeballing" how much volume I'm going to get minus the trub. My last batch was a 3-gal batch, but I had a lot of sediment due to having added a crapload of cocoa powder, and I pretty much nailed it with my guess at yield. (I was off by a tenth of a gallon only!) So this might be a moot point soon enough, knock on wood...

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

I haven't had an issue with the sugar not mixing. I can't say that every bottle is carbed to the exact same volume of co2, but the batches seem to be carbed consistantly throughout to me as a drinker. Just be careful not to aerate at all when you stir the sugar in. I use a slotted plastic mash paddle and stir very slow and even for a couple mins.

 

[TopherM]

There's no way it will last that long, as it's already, even at this point, the best beer I've made And we're having a party July 3rd... hehehe

Oh well, I think I will fridge them when I get home though.

Edit: BTW, it was Yooper's DFH 60 clone, so all credit to her for this being my best so far

Then it's no question! If there is not much conditioning to be done, and the carb is done, even if a bit overdone, chill and enjoy! :rockin:

 

[jsweet]

So I did so, and it turns out that I somehow forgot to cap two of the bottles! There were fresh caps just sitting on top, but not actually attached. D'oh... I'd briefly considered maybe they were salvageable, since a sanitized cap was loosely covering it, but I tasted a tiny sip of one and it's really oxidized. Oh well, live and learn: In this case, the lesson is that stacking the to-be-capped bottles, with the caps set loosely on top, in the box they will be stored in is a bad process. Too easy to miss a couple, apparently.