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Can i age in fermenter

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wester101

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Hi all, can i age my beer in a secondary fermentor for like 4 weeks then transfer to my bottleing bucked with canning sugar bottle then wait 2 weeks then beer is good to go? I have a better spot for keeping my fermentor warm then i do 50 bottles for ageing. thanks
 
If you're priming with cane sugar, then that should be okay I reckon. The aging process lets the yeast work through fermentation by-products and sugars which are harder to break down - whilst cane sugar is readily fermentable and shouldn't carry any taste.
 
There's a working theory that the beer ages better and quicker in bulk than it does in individual bottles. I know I've noticed it. A beer that took a month after carbonation to really taste right on one batch, was good after a week on the next. The only difference was that I gave the second batch an extra week before I bottled.
 
You can condition in secondary but if you bottle prime you'll still need the 2-3 weeks @ 70F/21C to properly carbonate in bottle.
 
I siphon my wort into my fermenter, pitch my yeast and forget about it for at least a month before I even bother to keg and condition. My beer quality went up significantly after I quit fussing over it and started giving it time to become good beer. If you want to move it to a secondary and then leave it sit, that will work just fine as well. But in my experience, the longer the beer sits in primary the better the taste of the final product.
 
wester101: This process will be fine- beer may taste better if aged longer in the bottle. I let mine age in the bottle for about three weeks. Then I'll chill a couple and taste them. I repeat the chill and taste every 2-3 days until the beer tastes great and then I chill 'em all.

you can age in your fermenter, but it will be a tight fit, I imagine.
I prefer to age wherever I am....

I prefer not to age at all. However, I don't have a choice.
 
There's a working theory that the beer ages better and quicker in bulk than it does in individual bottles. I know I've noticed it. A beer that took a month after carbonation to really taste right on one batch, was good after a week on the next. The only difference was that I gave the second batch an extra week before I bottled.

Agreed. QFE.
 
Work recently got very busy, and I didn't have time to bottle off a couple of beers. They spent 6 weeks in the primary before I got to them, and they are spectacular! I am going to try to do 4+ weeks for every beer I do now.
 
Work recently got very busy, and I didn't have time to bottle off a couple of beers. They spent 6 weeks in the primary before I got to them, and they are spectacular! I am going to try to do 4+ weeks for every beer I do now.

4 weeks in primary is my bare minimum, and many of my beers go for 6-8. Welcome to the cult of no secondary! :mug:
 
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