First batch of Mr. Beer, can I condition it yet?

[bottlerocket]

My fiancee got me a Mr Beer kit for Christmas and I put the first batch in bottles about a month ago. I saw its a minimum of 7 days to ferment in the bottles, but what is a generally accepted time to actually wait? Looks like I'll be investing in a mini-fridge to keep all of the bottles in. No way will I have room in my main fridge...

Also, whats a good amount of time to cold condition these beers? I did the basic recipe for the Cowboy Golden Lager.

 

[jmprdood]

Three weeks is usually the rule of thumb for bottle conditioning - if they are 4 in the bottle, chill 'em up and try 'em out!

Cheers!

 

[KevinW]

Yes to what jm says! A good 24hour chill should do the trick and enjoy!

For carbonation usually a week at about 72° will get the beer at the final carb level however, 3-4 weeks for conditioning is good for most beers.

Of course a big beer could take a lot longer to carb and condition or if the beer sat in the fermentor for several months it could take the yeast longer to carb.