First batch done, how long to age?

[FvStar]

Hello everyone. First off I am loving the site, a lot of great info here. Every time I was nervous or had questions about brewing my first batch I just jumped onto HomeBrewTalk and I calmed down.

So I just finished bottling my first batch of home brew :rockin:. It is a red ale and I am wondering how long I should age it. I have it sitting in a nice dark place that is about 75 or 80 degrees normally. Should I let it go a full month or what? Thanks for any responses.

 

[bgrayson726]

3 weeks is the minimum for it to carb correctly. Honestly, it's up to you as far as aging. What was the OG/FG? What yeast did you use? Sometimes it takes a while to develop some flavors or get rid of other flavors.

 

[kcweazle]

I just started cold crashing my beers and even though it is not necessarily needed I add a small amount of yeast to my bucket at bottling time to help carb faster. I have used this method for my last 2 batches and my bottles have carbed up very nicely in only 1 week or less. Every batch before that would take 2 to 3 weeks as stated above to fully carb. The last time I did it I used a white labs yeast and made a yeast starter. Before pitching my yeast starter put a little back into the sanitized vial that the yeast came in originally and put back in to the fridge until bottling time and then added it to the bucket with my priming sugar. It is nice not having to wait 2 or 3 weeks to fully carb now. Cheers

 

[slayte]

At 75-80 you will carbonate faster than normal. As others have said, 3 weeks is the rule of thumb. However, I have never had the patience to wait that long and usually start sampling after about a week, when they are usually carbonated enough to be enjoyable.

To get a sense for your preferences, and as a fun experiment, you can put a bottle in the fridge at 1 week, 3 weeks and 5 weeks and then compare them side-by-side.