Questions for my first stout

Hi all,
My first batch (an APA) will be bottled in a couple of days and then it'll be time for batch 2. I'm thinking of making some type of stout (oatmeal, chocolate, etc.) but will likely wait to get my copy of Brewing Classic Styles in a couple days to decide on a recipe. Anyway, say I choose a simple recipe with some DME, a specialty grain or two and a hop addition or two, and maybe even some chocolate extract before bottling; is it important to let it age, either in the fermenter or in bottles? (I don't use a secondary fermenter). I've read that people sometimes age stouts for a month or more but not sure if it's absolutely necessary for my first one.

Any other stout-brewing tips would be appreciated too!
Thanks guys

 

Aging is generally only useful for higher alcohol (imperial) stouts, as they often have elements that come into better balance with time. If you are doing a typical low-to-moderate gravity stout, no real aging will be necessary except giving the yeast enough time to finish fermenting fully and do some cleanup. Good luck!

 

Yup. Aging is mostly OG dependent. Some darker malts will smooth and meld better with time as well, but we're talking weeks, not months.

If your stout is 1.055 and lower, I'd primary for 14-18 days, then rack to bottling bucket. Wait a 3-4 weeks for carbing, and voila!

 

Thanks guys! jwalk, do you carbonate all your beers for 3-4 weeks? I seem to remember Palmer saying a week or so is fine. I guess it might depend on the beer though..?

 

It depends on how you carbonate. In a keg you can burst carbonate to make it quicker. 3-4 weeks is normal. One week is unlikely. For bottle conditioning it might have some carbonation at a week, should have some carbonation at 2 weeks, and should be pretty good at 3 weeks. This at about 70 degrees. I find that ALL of my bottled beers taste better at 3 week or longer. A stout will be better with a little aging. A month or so to get really good and that should be at peak for up to a year then a gradual decline.

 

Thanks for the info kh54. I assume the full carbonation period must be at room temp rather than refrigerated, as the yeast wouldn't be viable? I guess one full batch takes longer than I thought! I just want to taste the final product already

 

I usually do my bottle carbing for one month.
In my experience, I'd notice the "green" taste was much more prominent in beers that didn't ferment long enough or carbonate for that period of time. When doing my first extract brews, I used PET bottles as "testers" along with the bottles, tasting the beer along the way to get a feel for proper carbing times based on room temperatures and the environmental conditions in my house.

 

This is one big reason why people swap their bottles for CO2 pressurized kegs. Your beer can go from fermentor to glass much faster simply because the bottled yeast need more time to make the carbing process happen.
I've been bottling successfully, but will keg my beer eventually as time goes on.

 

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=94812

Here is a great thread with some info on carbing time, etc.
Read all the way to the bottom. You'll be glad you did!

 

OP, if you're of the mind that every single bottle is precious and you absolutely cannot "waste" any by drinking them before they're at their absolute prime, then by all means wait 1-2 months after bottling. But ultimately, it's just beer, and you can make more. If you're overcome by curiosity, pop one open and drink up. If it tastes great, have another one. If it's overly green, make note of that and wait a bit longer.

I always sample my beers around the 7-10 days-in-bottle mark even though I know they're not at their best, simply because I can, and because with 10gal batches I always have way more beer than I know what to do with anyway so who cares if a few early ones get sacrificed at the altar of curiosity. Obviously, the results of those early samples are almost always a bit on the "green" side but that has to do with how they taste, not carbonation level.

The guideline that bottle carbonation takes 3-4 weeks is not at all consistent with my experience. I guess for high gravity beers it can take longer but I pretty much exclusively do beers in the 1.040 - 1.060 OG range, and after 20+ batches I have never had one that needed more than 7-10 days at room temperature followed by a day or two in the fridge to carbonate adequately.