Learning to age

[edsa1984]

So I've just drank my last bottle of my first brew which was brewed 10 weeks ago. The whole time I've been drinking it I realised it was getting better but this last one was brilliant! It was a classic pale ale. I'm just wondering if there's a kind of go to as to which beers need how long to get to 'Wow' status and if anyone has any advice to best maturation length for style?

 

[derekcw83]

Man, I'm just starting to realize this too, only after 2 years of brewing. All styles need at least 2-3 weeks room temp priming, and minimum 1 week in fridge. The beers I've gotten close to this mark with, or exceeded it, have been wonderful. I've always been extremely impatient, and needing fresh bottles to use, but it's quite important. Beers are going through a phase of fermentation again in the bottle that puts off flavors and aromas you don't want, that mix and overshadow the others that you desire. Then....in the fridge, you're basically cold crashing the beer which drops out the yeast and such and pulls out the off flavors and aromas. Sticking to this schedule is the hard part. I'm currently trying a beer "diet" in order to let a few batches age longer to acheive this goal. Good luck, but it seems you've discovered one key to brewing, earlier on than myself!

 

[Johow]

Noticed this on my very first batch of home brew. Trouble is, I like beer and I have no patience... I think the thing for me to do is brew more so I can get ahead a bit to allow some age. Doubt I'd be very good at a beer diet....

 

[ChelisHubby]

Brew some more it will get better from here!

 

[Sadu]

My first AG brew, American pale ale went from not bad to amazing over 10 weeks. Just a basic cascade recipe, nothing flash. Just drank the last bottle at 10 weeks and the hop flavour was not there, just bitterness. Past its peak for sure. Hefeweizen was rubbish after 8 weeks also. On the other hand my lagers have gone from terrible to pretty good over 8 weeks. Waiting is by far the hardest thing about this hobby.

I have been brewing a mix of long term big beers and short term drink-now beers. I really want to be drinking beer at it's prime but at the same time I don't want to run out so sometimes a quick filler hopped kit beer is a good way to let the good stuff age.

 

[edsa1984]

I've also found that my current porter looks great in th bottle at now 4 weeks, but when u open it it goes a bit hazy from the yeast bed re-rising (yeh that's a word!) After looking for reasons I now see I need to leave it longer so the bed tightens to the bottom of the bottle. I have come to the conclusion I need to brew every week, have a bottle store that hold 1000-1500 bottles and age them all to get great ale. Now, to tell the wife!....!...!

 

[madscientist451]

One of my early brews was a Belgian that I didn't like when it was young. I put in the back of the cabinet and moved on to other brews. I came back to it every month or so and by month #6 it was really good and I wished I had brewed several more cases.
This is one of the advantages of bottling over kegging, you can age kegged beer of course, you may not what to tie up a keg that long, especially when it gets 1/2 empty.
IPAs or beer with pronounced hop flavor and character should be consumed relatively young. Belgians, Sour beers, dark beer like porter and Stout and lagers can all benefit from some aging. You have to be careful though, too much aging can put your brew into decline.

 

[Brewmasher]

Exact time is relative to your taste and comes with experience. However, you can use this as a guideline:

Best fresh- right out of the fermentor, up to 2-3 months:
Phenolic, estery beers such as hefeweizen, wits, blonds, bitters. Hoppy beers like IPA's, California Common.

Best with a moderate amount of conditioning, at least 2-3 months:
"Clean" beers where malt and hop flavors are balanced. Kolsh, lagers, pale ales, fruit beers, american wheat, browns and reds, cream ale, Bière de Garde, saison

Best with long conditioning, don't even think of cracking one open until after 6 months up to a year;
Malty, complex beers like stouts and porters, barleywine, scotch ale, bocks, wee heavy, strong bitters.

Sours and wild fermentation beers at least a year, but can be blended with younger beers for complexity.

Belgian strongs can be conditioned at high temps 80-90F for a time which speeds the process so they can vary between moderate and long conditioning periods.

Clean beers benefit from long cold conditioning and lagering. Yeasty and malty beers not so much.

 

[edsa1984]

Thanks for that, I can see why everyone seems to be brewing many more IPA styles! I have one in primary now so the rest of my porter may get put away for Xmas! Then I'm going to try and brew more than just 1 at a time so I have 1 'drink now' beer and 1 In waiting. So hard to wait when you see clear, tasty looking ale just sitting there!

 

[myndflyte]

The longest I've ever had to wait was for a barleywine that I made. It was at about 11% and it took almost 2 years to finally taste good. I've been brewing for about 3 or 4 years now and I've learned to let my beer sit for about 4 weeks before I even try a bottle. Unless it's a wheat beer, I know that drinking it earlier just isn't going to be at it's best. Patience is probably the hardest thing about this hobby.

 

[edsa1984]

I'm showing my lack of knowledge here. Why can/should wheat beers be consumed 'early'?

 

[Yooper]

I'm showing my lack of knowledge here. Why can/should wheat beers be consumed 'early'?

Because they taste better fresh.

Most beers aren't designed to age, but many styles that have complex flavors (big roasty flavors especially) or that are higher alcohol take longer to meld and smooth out and come together. Lagers are best after a period of cold conditioning to 'crisp' them up and smooth them out.

Since wheat beers are not complex, and generally lighter in body and flavors and alcohol, there would be nothing for them to gain by aging and instead they would grow old and stale if enough time passed.

Most beers will peak, and then gradually decline in flavor. Some lower alcohol styles will decline faster. Beer ages fastest at higher temperatures, so beers that need to be preserved are best cellared or even refrigerated to slow down aging and staling reactions.

 

[55x11]

So I've just drank my last bottle of my first brew which was brewed 10 weeks ago. The whole time I've been drinking it I realised it was getting better but this last one was brilliant! It was a classic pale ale. I'm just wondering if there's a kind of go to as to which beers need how long to get to 'Wow' status and if anyone has any advice to best maturation length for style?

Hops and wheat ales go fast - drink them fresh.
Dark, high-ABV beers can be aged for years.
Spices and other flavors can decay over a few months or so.

 

[brewbama]

I'm gonna need more kegs if I expect to keep a pipeline going while I try to follow these guidelines. LOL.

2-3 weeks in pri
8-12 weeks aging
2 weeks conditioning

Wow. I am lucky if I get 6 wks on a brew grain to glass.

 

[Brewmasher]

I'm showing my lack of knowledge here. Why can/should wheat beers be consumed 'early'?

The higher alcohol esters/ phenolics that give wheat beers their character are constantly being converted to plain ole ethanol by the yeast. That's why "clean" beers benefit from aging, as these flavors are considered faults of those styles.

This pertains to wheat beers that showcase those flavors like hefeweizen and Belgians, to a small degree bitters where some fruitiness is desired. Wheat seems to increase the production of these desired higher alcohols. American wheat ales use a yeast that does not produce a lot of esters preferring to bring out the tartness that wheat brings to the table. In this case longer conditioning and lagering will produce a better beer according to that style.

 

[edsa1984]

I really like porters as well! I can see I'm going to need more ferment vessels!

 

[Sadu]

I just cracked the lid on my first IPA today. Only been carbonating 5 days but 70+ IBUs of Cascade and Columbus and it tastes like a light APA to me. Hardly taste or smell the hops at all.

I had this exact same experience with my last APA and I got myself all stressed out about it, then that beer got better and better with every bottle up to 10 weeks. I have a feeling this IPA is going to do the same. Although if the conventional wisdom of IPAs being best straight out of the fermenter holds true then this will be a little disappointing.

 

[m1k3]

I'm gonna need more kegs if I expect to keep a pipeline going while I try to follow these guidelines.

That's what I did! I went from 3 taps to 6 taps and now my beer on tap is an average of 75.6 days old (since brew day).

Tap #1 - Pilsner SMaSH with Mosaic 34/70 lager yeast - 85 days (great!)
Tap #2 - Pilsner Mosaic dry hopped with 4oz Citra dry US-05 - 85 days (still good but the dry hop character is not what it use to be)
Tap #3 - Pub Ale US-05 - 105 days (ok, brilliantly clear but late centennial hop flavor and aroma is gone)
Tap #4 - Belgian Pale Ale WLP550 - 105 days (great!, brilliantly clear)
Tap #5 - American Strong Ale US-05 - 15 days (only on tap 2 days - not drinking yet)
Tap #6 - Black Lager 34/70 - 59 days (great! in it's prime)

So, the hoppy beers on tap 2/3 are not as good as they use to be but nobody would really know unless they had them before.

Also, I'm the only one who drinks beer in the house and my friends come over VERY infrequently so it's a lot of beer for just me. *no, you can't come over... and I won't ship you any!*

 

[oldstyle69]

ive been brewing for a few years now, and this was my problem for about 4 of them. once i got more fermenters and was able to have about 50gal or so sitting around, it was easier to get the proper amount of time to bottle bottle condition. once i started to make sours, i gained a ton of respect for the aging process. fermenting and aging a beer for over a year was rough. i do still have some big barrel aged ciders that i made a couple years ago in bottles still.

 

[edsa1984]

So, is the maturation best done in the bottle/keg? Or can it be carried out in the fermentation process, either in primary, second or a third?

 

[m1k3]

So, is the maturation best done in the bottle/keg? Or can it be carried out in the fermentation process, either in primary, second or a third?

The advantage of the bottle/keg is that oxygen is kept away from the beer. A glass carboy filled up to the neck would be good too.

Cold temps also helps particulates fall out of the beer faster. So, many people lager in a keg.

 

[Nico93]

I just cracked the lid on my first IPA today. Only been carbonating 5 days but 70+ IBUs of Cascade and Columbus and it tastes like a light APA to me. Hardly taste or smell the hops at all.

I had this exact same experience with my last APA and I got myself all stressed out about it, then that beer got better and better with every bottle up to 10 weeks. I have a feeling this IPA is going to do the same. Although if the conventional wisdom of IPAs being best straight out of the fermenter holds true then this will be a little disappointing.

i also had similar experience with my ipas, in the first one/two (maybe three) weeks they taste a little bit grassy without hop punch, after that time the hop start to shine and the grassy/vegetal note fade