Opening APA day by day log.

[dontman]

I feel the need to +1 the idea that conditioning is not equal to carbing. Carbing is a subset of the conditioning process. Of lesser importance to my tastes than the flavor refinement that occurs.

I have mentioned this before. The tastes associated with green beer are not sensed by all people. Their tastebuds just do not pick them up. This is not a statement on the taster's sophistication or skills as a human being. It is a genetic thing. In the exact way that some people cannot taste salt, or smell cyanide.

I happen to be very sensitive to the off flavors present in green beer and to this date have never had a beer that had shed those off flavors in less than three weeks in the bottle.

 

[Jeffro]

I feel the need to +1 the idea that conditioning is not equal to carbing. Carbing is a subset of the conditioning process. Of lesser importance to my tastes than the flavor refinement that occurs.

I have mentioned this before. The tastes associated with green beer are not sensed by all people. Their tastebuds just do not pick them up. This is not a statement on the taster's sophistication or skills as a human being. It is a genetic thing. In the exact way that some people cannot taste salt, or smell cyanide.

I happen to be very sensitive to the off flavors present in green beer and to this date have never had a beer that had shed those off flavors in less than three weeks in the bottle.

I don't know about sophistication and all that... What I DO know is that I usually have 2 to 3 batches of beers in the bottle conditioning stage at all times. I check them each after a week, then 2 weeks, and so on. I pretty much brew a stock APA every time. Same grain bill, Same yeast, and attempt to reproduce the same conditions every time. Of the 30-5 gallon batches I have brewed over the last year, I tried making 21 of them the same APA... The others were 3 Hefs, 2 Stouts, 1 Pils, and 3 Porters.

I tried and tried to replicate the same beer over and over again, but it didn't happen. WHY? I don't know... The beers are all AWESOME, but they don't all taste the same.

They also have different carbonation characteristics as far as head retention and lacing goes.

They are all great beers either way.

 

[flyangler18]

Thanks for the info Jason... Maybe I should move the carboy I'm about to bottle out to the shed for a couple of days before hand?

My pleasure.

I'd say 3-4 days will do well- although a week would be better.

 

[Malticulous]

Aside form carbonation time and sediment what difference does crashing a case of beer have over a better bottle? I can fit a case of bottles in my fridge but not a fermenter.

 

[Schlenkerla]

I think its about getting flocculation. Getting the yeast to go dormant and drop out of solution quickly. It can be done in the bottle, but thats the least desirable spot to have sediment. Correct me if I'm wrong, I believe crash cooling is faster than just letting yeast settle out on its own. This seems to be a common thing for kegging. Its a fast way to separate a substantial amount of yeast from the beer w/o filtering. Many home brewers do this with kegs and a little bit of gelatin as they connect them to CO2

I think if you crash cool you will still have the green beer taste once it well carbed, but that depends on the beer type. I'm guessing a low ABV like a pub ale, bitter, or mild it won't matter too much. Start getting into ESB, Porters, Alts, and IIPAs and I think its a different story.

I don't crash cool my beers, so you can take my comments with a grain of salt. I usually have plenty of beer on hand so I'm predisposed to let the beer sit longer in the primary and 2ndarys. I can have as many as 9 fermenters going at a time.

Its not uncommon to have beer in the primary 3 weeks then rack to 2ndary for 3-4 weeks. My beers are pretty clear on the way to 2ndary. I probably don't need the 2ndary but I like the beer to be clean and have minimal sediment in the bottle. I take a risk of oxidation by doing so but I have yet to detect this. Therefore I keep doing it...

My beers at 3 weeks (carbed) are rarely green. I had my Saison at about 3 months and it was definately green but at 5 months it was great. My Saison is about 8%. Its one those beers you can store for special occasions. I generally assume any high ABV beer could be like that.

I have a cyser made with mead yeast that I'd say exemplifies the need for long time conditioning.

 

[Malticulous]

I don't have a whole lot of sediment in my bottles and most of the time it just sticks there when I pour--even if I dump out the last drop. I do wish they were more clear. I just made a immersion chiller. I hope it helps. The second half of this APA batch that was in a secondary for the dry hops was a little bit more clear than the one just in the primary for three weeks. I seen them side by side.