Post conditioning refrigeration

[PolishStout]

Just a quick question. How long is the minimum recommended for refrigerating a bottle conditioned beer for proper carbonation?

Just picked up a 6-pack of some craft bottle conditioned pale wheat ales that had a good amount of yeast sediment. No idea how long the bottles had been sitting unrefrigerated on the liquor store shelf, I'm guessing a year as it's Southern Tier Brew Co's 422 Earth Day pwa. I put 2 in the freezer to crash cool them, and of course when I opened them there was a great *hiss* and a ginormous head when poured.

How long should I leave them in the fridge for the CO2 to settle properly? and will a colder temp get the CO2 to dissolve faster?

 

[o4_srt]

Just a quick question. How long is the minimum recommended for refrigerating a bottle conditioned beer for proper carbonation?

Just picked up a 6-pack of some craft bottle conditioned pale wheat ales that had a good amount of yeast sediment. No idea how long the bottles had been sitting unrefrigerated on the liquor store shelf, I'm guessing a year as it's Southern Tier Brew Co's 422 Earth Day pwa. I put 2 in the freezer to crash cool them, and of course when I opened them there was a great *hiss* and a ginormous head when poured.

How long should I leave them in the fridge for the CO2 to settle properly? and will a colder temp get the CO2 to dissolve faster?

3-5 days in the fridge

 

[unionrdr]

I've found 5 days in the fridge after 3-4 weeks at 70F to work better at forcing CO2 back into solution & stabilize. I also found using DME with can kits & extra hops,rather than dextrose to make a very nice balance with good head & proper ale carbonation. Imho,that's why I really needed the whole 5 days in the fridge. Opened 2 on the 6th day for my wife & I,& it was a tad better yet!
So experiment with room temp conditioning, & cold conditioning to find what's right for the style/recipe you've brewed. I'm learning more about this myself as I go from batch to batch.

 

[mlg5039]

If it has been conditioning for a year on the shelf, just chill for a day or so, then enjoy. A year is plenty of time for CO2 to be properly absorbed into the beer, regardless of temperatures.

No reason to wait.

 

[unionrdr]

I opened one of my latest after only one day in the fridge. Got 90% foam,so more fridge time helps to stabilize the CO2 going into solution moreso then just an hour or so to get it cold. That's false from my own experiments thus far.

 

[mlg5039]

If you reread the OP, he is asking about store bought craft brew that has beer sitting for a year. I'm sure the carbonation is stabilized.