Conditioning/aging from yeast, CO2, or other

[BeerWard]

Hi , everyone. I love the site and have been lurking and searching for some time, and have learned a bunch. So I have brewed 4 extract batches and the last is a Scottish wee heavy with an OG 1.100. Northern brewer instructions suggest conditioning in carboy for 2 months after primary. I usually primary for 3-4 weeks. I have been reading about aging and conditioning and my question is what is the primary factor that aids conditioning. Is it residual yeast that cleans up, or is the the acid from carbonation that helps break down some of the components? Is it both, or neither and does it just takes time just for the flavors to mingle?

The answer has implications as to what temp to condition at and when to carbonate. Thanks in advance

 

[BeerWard]

Should I carbonate with the keg and keep at 40F. Should it be left in a carboy or keg at fermentation temp, for a month or so, then cool and carbonate. If the yeast is important in conditioning, then maybe I shouldn't cold crash before the first transfer.

 

[remilard]

At any temperature you'll have redox reactions (oxidation), this is faster at higher temperatures.

The yeast can metabolize stuff, this is faster at higher temperature.

You also have yeast, protein/polyphenol complexes and other particulate matter dropping out of solution, this happens faster at lower temperatures.

In general if you want to condition a beer to make it taste "clean" you want to cold condition it. If you want to condition a beer to make it taste "aged" you want warm conditioning.

IMO for a scotch ale you want both. If you keg, go ahead and get it in the keg as this is a lower oxygen environment than the carboy (there is always going to be plenty of oxygen to get the pleasant aged character). If it is convenient, I find it works better to do the cold conditioning and then the warm, so maybe 4 weeks cold, 4 weeks warm and then start drinking. If you don't have a ton of cold storage, just leave it warm for a while and then get it in the kegerator and it should improve with several weeks of cold storage.

 

[BeerWard]

Thanks, I may have a slot in cold storage by the time it is done. So, rack to Keg, force carbonate for a month, then bring it out to higher temp for aging. The warm/cold/warm/then cold for serving cycle is ok? I guess it would accelerate the aging process.

Thanks again for help. This is my first really big beer. Prelim tasting was great.

 

[devilishprune]

What I would do is rack it to a keg on top of the amount of priming sugar that you need to get your desired volumes of CO2. Purge the headspace and let it condition like this for a month or two before dropping it in the kegerator.