aging/ conditioning in carboy vs. bottles

[hardman]

I got an imperial stout fermenting right now and was wondering once it reaches a stable gravity, how long should you wait till you bottle. What the difference conditioning mostly in the carboy rather than bottles and vise versa? Some good time frames you go by?

 

[jonmohno]

I would say at least a month, i would plan on 3 months drinking them. carboy is suppose to condition faster than bottles.So leave it longer before bottleing.

 

[hardman]

A month in the Carboy then two months in bottles?

 

[jonmohno]

I would do like this: What is your og? if under 1.08 then around 4-6 primary then like 5 wks to 2 months + bottleing. but really judge for yourself if you want to bottle at 4 weeks then check after 2 wks bottled do so, it should just get better.
Ive made high gavity beers im not afraid to try after a few weeks bottled ,i just know it will probably need a while before they are where i want them ideally/.

 

[helibrewer]

True conditioning requires contact with yeast. Once you rack off to bottle you have yeast in suspension to take care of your carbonation but I think conditioning is better done in the carboy.