Conditioning Time and Hop Character

[Shortstack]

New” brewer here, in that I just restarted after a 13 year hiatus. Noticing something counterintuitive with my American wheats. I originally wrote off the hop combos because they didn’t taste remotely like expected. No flaws, just not good. (SA+Motueka and SA+HM, whirlpool only, high 40’s OG). Didn’t improve much with time In the bottle. Just found an old bottle of each at about 4mo after brewing and they were what I was originally wanting! Really vibrant citrus nose and flavor in the first and the melon finally showed up in the second. No obvious oxidation in either. I thought conventional wisdom was that the hop flavors should be fading in a beer like this at 4 mo, not peaking. Not really complaining but that is an awfully long time to wait for a mid gravity wheat. I generally get the beer off the yeast and into the bottle soon after hitting FG. Would leaving it on the yeast in the primary speed this maturation up? Any other hints? Getting the impression that others achieve a similar result in a lot less time.

 

[Sammy86]

Time certainly does hurt hoppier beers like your IPAS, Pales, etc. However what I've found is that my beers really hit the mark a month to six weeks after being transferred into the keg.

4 months certainly is a long time for maturation but after reading Mosher's radical brewing his recipes all seem to have extended maturation time. Things mellow out, hop flavors develop and the beer just tastes better IMO

 

[Shortstack]

Thanks Sammy86! In your case is that 4-6 weeks at cold storage or room temp? I’m bottle conditioning at basement temp, which usually hovers a little south of 70F.

 

[RM-MN]

I generally get the beer off the yeast and into the bottle soon after hitting FG. Would leaving it on the yeast in the primary speed this maturation up?

I believe that maturation starts when the yeast finish cleaning up the byproducts of fermentation and that rushing the beer to bottles or kegs is counterproductive. I typically leave the beer in the fermenter for 3 weeks but the one that I left for 9 weeks was one of my best. Patience seems to be a good thing when making beer.

 

[Sammy86]

Thanks Sammy86! In your case is that 4-6 weeks at cold storage or room temp? I’m bottle conditioning at basement temp, which usually hovers a little south of 70F.

I've done both...majority of the time it's in the keg. However, last year I started filling 4-6 bottles and using those carb drops and letting them condition in my basement just to see how they hold up 6-8 months later.

 

[Shortstack]

I believe that maturation starts when the yeast finish cleaning up the byproducts of fermentation and that rushing the beer to bottles or kegs is counterproductive.

Thanks for the feedback! That is kind of what I was wondering, whether I was relying on a relatively low yeast to beer ratio in the bottle to do it’s post fermentation work. I have a beer that just finished up fermentation that I was getting ready to bottle (now at 10 days from pitch). I’ll try putting that off for another week or two and see if that reduces the maturation time.

 

[Konstantianus]

One of my recent batches was a Golden Ale made with an ounce each of Lemondrop and Galena hops. When it was young at about 2 weeks old the flavors were disappointing and it tasted like what I imagine lemon cleaning products to taste like (not that I've tasted them). From what I remember the last few bottles were about 6 weeks old and the hop flavors really seemed to meld together. I guess the old saying about the last bottles being the best is true.

 

[Shortstack]

One of my recent batches was a Golden Ale made with an ounce each of Lemondrop and Galena hops. When it was young at about 2 weeks old the flavors were disappointing and it tasted like what I imagine lemon cleaning products to taste like (not that I've tasted them). From what I remember the last few bottles were about 6 weeks old and the hop flavors really seemed to meld together. I guess the old saying about the last bottles being the best is true.

The Sorachi Ace + Motueka combo initially came off like someone cleaned up dill with a dirty dishrag... Was pleasantly surprised that it finally turned into what it did.

So the consensus seems to be not rushing it off the yeast after fermentation and giving it around 6 weeks in the bottle. Appreciate everyone’s feedback!

 

[balrog]

And Dirty Dill Dishrag would be a good name for a rock band. Or a bluegrass band.

 

[Shortstack]

And Dirty Dill Dishrag would be a good name for a rock band. Or a bluegrass band.

Definitely bluegrass. Screams stand up slap bass.