Maturing vs Stale

[CSAYank]

Without drinking it and thinking "holy crap this is stale", how long would you want to mature to get a fully mature flavor profile but still have that nice, fresh taste? I know each beer will be different, depending on the type, but what I'm going for in Homebrewing is: 1) beer I made myself, 2) creativity and freedom to make it how I want, but the biggest reason I considered home brewing in the first place - nice, fresh tasting beer. I'm pretty much looking for a "happy zone" of aging

 

[flars]

The Happy Zone still depends upon what you decide to brew. The happy zone for a Barley Wine may be 1.5 years, depending on your palette. The happy zone for a Wit Bier may be 2 to 3 months.

 

[uncleleon]

To paraphrase the beer hunter; 99.9% of a beer is made to be consumed when it leaves the brewery. A few styles can benefit from cellaring.

He seems to think the sweet spot is one year on those few examples. This doesn't account for maturation in the brewery though.

 

[dand]

Like others said, it depends on the beer and the style.

Any wheat beers i have made are best young, so once they have a few weeks in primary and a few in bottles to carb up i will drink them right away and they noticably drop off in taste after a a few months in the bottle.

I made a tropical blonde and like the wheats the tropical hop flavour really dropped off after a while, so i wouldn't really age them for any amount of time.

Now the oatmeal stout i tried after 2 months and thought it wasn't going to be very good, just tasted like beer with chocolate syrup added in. Now that's it's been 8 months or so the flavours have mellowed/mixed so it's starting to taste more like it should.

i also have a belgian tripel and a trappist ale that needed at least 6 months before they hit their stride, and i fully expect them just just get better with time as well.

 

[progmac]

for me the sweet spot happens for say sub 1.065 beers happens between weeks five and six after three weeks of cold conditioning, it's a bit later with bottle condtioned beers, but not much. they are drinkable, even good before this, but in my mind they continue to improve to that point.

i can get there quicker with heavy fining.

 

[Foosier]

if you keg with the set it and forget it method of carbing I find week one is pretty green tasting. Week 2 carbed properly and tastes good. Week three things start to really taste great. This works for most moderate ABV ales. High ABV and darker beers reallly benefit from longer aging. I have a tripel I brewed in May that really started to taste right after about 4 months in the bottle and really hit its' stride at 6 months.

 

[Homercidal]

4 weeks. After that it's dead to me.

 

[LKABrewer]

It really depends on how much oxygen exposure there is, and what temperature it is stored at. If you have zero oxygen exposure and keep the beer cold, it will last much longer.

 

[LandoLincoln]

Without drinking it and thinking "holy crap this is stale", how long would you want to mature to get a fully mature flavor profile but still have that nice, fresh taste? I know each beer will be different

Then you already know the answer. Each beer will be different. Each person's particular preference will be different.

 

[mrgrimm101]

My hoppy beers are best fresh. 2-3 weeks bottle conditioning and after that they are best within the first couple months. Hop flavors and aromas fade pretty quickly..within a few months I would say. My stouts are a bit more forgiving..really good fresh but still good after several months. After a while I notice that regardless of style, the flavor profile tends to fall apart. Higher gravity beers can age for longer and the flavors develop more over time. The yeast has time to go into overtime and more estery/fruity flavors become apparent.