cheezydemon3
Well-Known Member
I THINK I know alot about conditioning. If I am wrong I WANT TO KNOW IT!
For the time being, let's discuss ales only. Also, since you sacrifice conditioning because hop flavor and aroma are lost too, lets leave out IPAs.
Lets consider conditioning anything after 1 week of fermentation.
SO, for an american amber let's say, or most any other middle of the row 6.5% ABV brew......here are my beliefs:
Total conditioning should be at least 6 weeks, preferably 4 weeks primary, 2 weeks secondary, no fridge involved.
Any combination of primary, secondary, keg (not chilled), or bottle (allowing extra time for bottling sugars to lose the GREEN flavor) works.
Beers conditioned less than 6 weeks, while not "green" are still short of their prime.
Cold beer ceases to condition, although a process akin to lagering may occur, lessening flavor.
Any beer would be better after 6 months bulk or bottle conditioning, as long as processes are good and oxidation isn't a problem.
All of this is ideal, of course. I just put gas to a batch I brewed 1 month ago because My kegs are EMPTY after our Halloween bash. I am just talking "ideally you would let beer condition X months" in this post.
For the time being, let's discuss ales only. Also, since you sacrifice conditioning because hop flavor and aroma are lost too, lets leave out IPAs.
Lets consider conditioning anything after 1 week of fermentation.
SO, for an american amber let's say, or most any other middle of the row 6.5% ABV brew......here are my beliefs:
Total conditioning should be at least 6 weeks, preferably 4 weeks primary, 2 weeks secondary, no fridge involved.
Any combination of primary, secondary, keg (not chilled), or bottle (allowing extra time for bottling sugars to lose the GREEN flavor) works.
Beers conditioned less than 6 weeks, while not "green" are still short of their prime.
Cold beer ceases to condition, although a process akin to lagering may occur, lessening flavor.
Any beer would be better after 6 months bulk or bottle conditioning, as long as processes are good and oxidation isn't a problem.
All of this is ideal, of course. I just put gas to a batch I brewed 1 month ago because My kegs are EMPTY after our Halloween bash. I am just talking "ideally you would let beer condition X months" in this post.