Aging question, 2 of them... :)

Ok, Just when I think I have a system down I find out i'm wrong..... So far this is my process for Ale's and Lagers....

Ales
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primary for 1-2 weeks, sometimes I use a hydro, sometimes I just give it 2 weeks untill its pretty well settled. Then I secondary for another 2-3 weeks, then I keg and put in my COLD chest freezer (32 degrees).

Question: Should I NOT be aging in such a cold environment? I have read a few posts that say you age faster in warmer environments.

Lagers
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Primary @ 53 degrees until the krausen has mostly fallen, then I warm up to 65-70 degrees for the diacytl rest. Following this I secondary at 53 degrees and then put it in my COLD chest freezer (32 degrees)...

Question: What temp should I secondary at? What temp should I condition at?

 

i think the ales will carbonate faster in a warmer environment, but cold conditioning them after they carbonate will really clean them up and clear them.

 

i am far from an expert but most lagers are kept in the high 30's to low 40's for secondary(lagering) i believe.

 

Your ale sounds pretty good but you only need it in the cold chest for 2 days or so for everything to crash out. Then just hold it at serving temperature until you are ready to drink.

For your lager secondary is typically your lagering anyway. I think you can safely skip the secondary you are currently doing and just start dropping it down to your lagering temp after the diacetyl rest. If you are planning on bottle conditioning your beer drop slowly from your fermentation temp to your lagering temp (5 degrees per day) so that you won't shock your yeast and there will still be some in suspension to carbonate. If you are kegging I'm not sure that shocking the yeast is an issue.

 

I've been wondering the same thing. I started directly with kegging, so I converted the 1-2-3 method into 1+ week in primary, 2+ weeks in secondary, then straight to keg that is chilled and carbonated. I've noticed that the flavors continue to improve for 6-8 weeks.

So, would conditioning at 65F instead of 40F allow the beer to improve/age faster? Any reason to condition uncarb'ed instead of carb'ed?

 

It will 'age' a faster at room temperature but it should definitely be carbed, otherwise you're just doing an extended secondary.

 

Room temperature aging seems to make more sense, especially if there are "reactions" happening. The general trend is for things to slow down in the cold and speed up in th eheat.

 

I wouldn't go as low as 32. Try 36. 'Aging' will surely happen faster at warmer temps. But it produces, in my experience, looser, sloppier beers. Cold aging seems to really make them crisp, tight...better. The warmer the aging temp, the short it will take to age, but the lower the quality will be. I have extra space in my lagerator, so I'm doing a little experiment with a few of my beers. I put a sixer of 3 different brews into the lagerator to age in the mid to upper 30's. After a few months, I'm going to try them up against the ones I have at room temp, and see exactly how much of a difference it's made.

Lagers
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Primary @ 53 degrees until the krausen has mostly fallen, then I warm up to 65-70 degrees for the diacytl rest. Following this I secondary at 53 degrees and then put it in my COLD chest freezer (32 degrees)...

Question: What temp should I secondary at? What temp should I condition at?[/QUOTE]

Again, keep it at 36. 35 at the lowest. That's just what I've seen. Go into the brew room at the local brewpub, and every one of his massive conicals is set to 36f...you can see it right there on the temp display array. 36f almost all across the board.