conditioning time

[MarcusKillion]

my question has to do with conditioning . I bottle my beer . After fermenting for 3 weeks it still tastes horrible in some cases and just sort of okay in others. I bottle and allow to condition for 1 month in general to taste real good .
So when you keg I gather that you ferment for 3 weeks or what ever and then put in keg and carbonate and drink it the next day . how is this drinkable ? no conditioning . Could it be because you are force carbing and therefor not adding in flavors from yeast eating sugar ? but then if that , there is still the fresh from the fermenter horrible tasting beer thing .

so what is it ? If I kegged would my beer taste the same as it does now straight from the fermenting bucket , only carbed ?

 

[E_Marquez]

my question has to do with conditioning . I bottle my beer . After fermenting for 3 weeks it still tastes horrible in some cases and just sort of okay in others. I bottle and allow to condition for 1 month in general to taste real good .
So when you keg I gather that you ferment for 3 weeks or what ever and then put in keg and carbonate and drink it the next day . how is this drinkable ? no conditioning . Could it be because you are force carbing and therefor not adding in flavors from yeast eating sugar ? but then if that , there is still the fresh from the fermenter horrible tasting beer thing .

so what is it ? If I kegged would my beer taste the same as it does now straight from the fermenting bucket , only carbed ?

I think you will get as many different answers to your questions as the number of folks that reply.

A larger portion of those that keg will likely say you still have to condition / let it carb over time.

A smaller portion will say, 10 days grain to glass works great. Once it's in the keg, pressurize, shake, roll, let sit a day and drink.


I'm on my 15th brew, third keg, so a rookie for sure..
BUT, once my beer is done fermenting Stable SG over 3 tests and 5 days ... I let it sit another week,, then keg or bottle...
Bottles sit for three weeks at 72-74 deg
Kegs are sitting at 36 deg f @12 psi for 10-14 days (so carbing and conditioning )

 

[Yooper]

The key to drinking beers early is simply to make them without off-flavors in the first place. I know that sounds sort of self-evident, but if a beer is properly made (proper amount of yeast pitched at the proper temperature, fermented at the proper temperature, good water chemistry, quality ingredients, etc), then off-flavors aren't created in the first place, and so no time is needed for that to age out.

Some complex grainbills may take a bit longer to meld together, but a well made beer should never taste bad at day 14.

My oatmeal stout takes a bit longer to really peak than my IPAs and APAs, but it's more like I'm drinking my IPAs at day 15, and my oatmeal stout at day 25, rather then aging for weeks and weeks.

Think of commercial breweries. They don't let beer sit for weeks and months to age. They make it correctly the first time, get it in the bottle, and even put a "born on" or "drink by" date on it. Few beers get better with age, when made properly.

 

[MarcusKillion]

Okay that answers that sort of . I had noticed some posting that they drank the day after kegging . I was not sure if conditioning would happen at low temps or if kegged at all .

 

[Yooper]

Okay that answers that sort of . I had noticed some posting that they drank the day after kegging . I was not sure if conditioning would happen at low temps or if kegged at all .

I don't normally drink my beers the day after kegging- but usually shortly thereafter! If I'm in a big hurry to drink a beer, I'll keg it and set it in the kegerator at 30 psi for 36 hours or so, then purge and reset it to 12 psi and try a sample. So, it's usually 48 hours after kegging when I'm drinking mine.

Fridge temperatures slow down aging by quite a bit, so if a beer needs to condition it should be kept at fermentation temperature and then stored cold. Cold conditioning also does nice things for beer- increases clarity, can drop polyphenols during lagering, etc- but if a beer needs time to come together, it's faster to age it at room/fermentation temperature.