Yeah - I get that - I'd like to leave it in the fermenter longer and then age it longer in the bottles for the best possible brew. Does Yooper's comment that "5 weeks is 5 weeks...it doesn't age any differently" mean just that 5 weeks is too short period and it won't matter how that 5 weeks is split up between fermenter and bottle. Would it matter if it were 6, 7, or 8 weeks?
It's gonna take you three weeks minimum on average to carb up your beer IF you have an ambient temp of 70 degrees....but some beers take longer to carb, there's nothing you can do about that....you can't push a natural process...and just because a beer is carbed doesn't mean that it isn't still green and needs more time to condition...
You have to ALWAYS add the minimum 3 weeks@70 as a rule of thumb for bottle carbing...some beers like low ABV milds may be drinkable at a shorter time (MAY, is not WILL) I've had stouts, and Porters that don't pop for 8 weeks....and some beers need months to carb and oOndition in the bottle.....
I leave 99% of my beers in primary for a month...then I bottle...and right now I can't get 70 degrees in my loft to save my life...so I don't expect ANY of my beers to be carbed on time....so in the interim, I buy mix sixers of various beers to try as research for the next beers I plan on brewing and to build up my bottle stock.
Honestly, we get this all the time, new brewers who hope to have a drinkable beer ready for a set date that is often too short to gaurentee the beer will be A) Carbed and B)Not still tasting like ****...and we recommend that you buy beer just in case, an realize that as a brewer, next year you will have a pipline, and you will know enough to brew ahead for whatever holiday....
For Example, I brewed my Pumpkin Ale for Thanksgiving on Labor Day...figuring at 8 weeks, I MIGHT have some ready for Holloween...But they were still green, so I only brought a couple to my annuual Halloween thingy, along with a sampler of commercial pumpkins...BUT come Turkey Day the beer was fantastic, and was a hit at the holiday.
RIght now this is my current inventory...
Drinking....IPA, various bottles of Oaked Smoked Brown Ale, Smoked brown ale, Poor Richard's Ale
Avoiding....Marris Otter/Argentinian Cascade SMaSH (It sucks)
Bottle Conditioning.....Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde (but as a Lager,) Chocolate Mole Porter, Belgian Dark Strong Ale, Peach Mead
In Primary.....Schwartzbier, Vienna Lager
Bulk Aging....Mead
Lagering....Dead Guy Clone Lager
Pretty much anything still in Primary or Lagering I will not be drinking til the end of March, but more than likely April....the centennial Blonde in bottles will probably be drinkable next weekend...or in two weeks. The Mole Porter needs a minimum 2 more weeks as well....but the Belgian Strong is prolly going to need 3-6 months to be ready...
The Swartzbier has 3 weeks more in primary, then another month lagering, THEN 3 weeks at least in the bottles...
This week I will take a break from my own beers to drink a couple sixers of samplers, so I don't drink ALL my IPAs and other ready beers before the Centennial blonde comes online....Plus I'm craving a couple of styles that I don't have ready (like Vienna Lager) so I will make a bottle run....
And I'm also probably going to brew something this weekend...don't know what yet...maybe a low abv mild that I would only leave in primary till fermentation is stopped then bottled..so hopefully in a month they will drinkable.....
But do you see...you too one day will have a pipleine....
This quote from one of my friends sums it up....
The nice thing is to get to a point in your pipeline where you are glancing through your BeerSmith brew log and realize that you have a beer that you have not even tried yet and it has been in bottle over 6 weeks. This happened to me this weekend. The beer was farging delicious.
The thing is...as disappointing as it may seem...if your beer ain't ready for Patty's day....go buy some...it's a waste to drink your beer if it's still green and young tasting....they say, you best bottle of beer is ALWAYS the last one in your batch...many people on here (myself included) will tell you that we wished we waited a bit longer before diving into some batches of beer...because when they hit their peak...they were nearly gone...