age your beer at room temp or cold?

[bguzz]

If I wanted to age my beer for 6 weeks to condition and mellow, should it be at room temp or fridge temp? For example, I just bottled an IPA, it has bottle conditioned for 3 weeks at 75F, so the carbonation is probably done, if I wanted to age it for 3 more weeks, should I leave it at 75F or put it in the fridge (I guess that would be lagering it?) at about 42F for 3 more weeks?

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

I age all of my ales at 70F. Since I only brew one lager at a time, it's always cold when aging. It goes straight from lagering to my kegerator.

As for an IPA... I highly doubt it needs to age for 3 more weeks. IPAs are the types of beers you want to drink right away so the hop flavors don't mellow.

 

[Revvy]

If it is an ale, and you stick it in the fridge, the yeast will go dromant and little or no conditioning will happen.

 

[Uisgue]

I guess that there's a difference between aging and conditioning. It seems to me that conditioning (warm) is to allow the yeast to continue to clean up some of the byproducts of fermentation, while aging (cold) allows some of the harshness to mellow and flavors to meld. A regimen of conditioning and then aging might work well for a big and/or dark brew. As mentioned in an earlier post, it is best not to age IPAs.

 

[944play]

Condition = 60s-70s
Age = 50s-60s
Serve = 40s-50s
Lager/Store = 30s

If you want to preserve the beer, colder is better, just like with most any food product.