Patience is a Virtue

[osagedr]

I started my first kit probably eight or nine weeks ago, a honey blonde ale by Brew House. I was as excited as any newbie to taste my first homebrew, so I opened a bottle after maybe ten days in the bottle, thought it was just okay, had another bottle maybe a week later, thought it was better, and started to drink it regularly after the presribed three weeks in the bottle. It was a nice beer.

In the interim I had bottled a few more kits and had a few more on the go. I was mostly drinking my second batch (a honey brown that came with liquid malt extract, grains I boiled, three types of hops, etc.) and sort of ignoring the honey blonde. Well...last night I cracked one of the honey blonde bottles and could not believe how much it had changed. Absolutely wonderful; significant honey flavour coming through that was not present before. It was a completely different beer. The kicker was later last night when I went to a buddy's house who had made the same kit about two weeks after me and we cracked a bottle of his. It tasted like mine USED to--good but not yet fully developed.

So now I know that when the voices of experience here on HBT say HAVE PATIENCE, they are right. When they say three weeks in the bottle is a MINIMUM, they are right. Of course I am left lamenting the fact that I have maybe 15 of 60 bottles left. Mind you, it will be easier to wait on stuff now that I have a decent stock of beer built up.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Mind you, it will be easier to wait on stuff now that I have a decent stock of beer built up.

Lies! All LIES I tell you!

3 years in, and I am ALWAYS eager to try that new beer. And taste how it develops. Always getting down to the end and finding that if I just waited another couple weeks, it would have reached it's prime.

The new batch eagerness NEVER goes away, even if it's a repeat brew.

 

[beerthirty]

Lies! All LIES I tell you!

3 years in, and I am ALWAYS eager to try that new beer. And taste how it develops. Always getting down to the end and finding that if I just waited another couple weeks, it would have reached it's prime.

The new batch eagerness NEVER goes away, even if it's a repeat brew.

Amen brother. The only way around this is to brew 10G and stash 5. That leaves the other 5 for tasting.

 

[pizzaman]

I wonder if there's some way to safely and cheaply mail a case of beer to yourself, but have it go through every major post office in america before coming back. That would give it at least several months to a year to age properly, and the constant carrying and shaking would build up a nice carbonation. That or some sort of nuclear powered time-lock safe that will only open once every six months.

 

[osagedr]

I wonder if there's some way to safely and cheaply mail a case of beer to yourself, but have it go through every major post office in america before coming back. That would give it at least several months to a year to age properly, and the constant carrying and shaking would build up a nice carbonation. That or some sort of nuclear powered time-lock safe that will only open once every six months.

LMAO at the mailing idea!

Every time you make a batch, give a dozen to somebody you trust not to drink it and tell them to give it back to you in six months.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I wonder if there's some way to safely and cheaply mail a case of beer to yourself, but have it go through every major post office in america before coming back. That would give it at least several months to a year to age properly, and the constant carrying and shaking would build up a nice carbonation. That or some sort of nuclear powered time-lock safe that will only open once every six months.

There is a perfectly organic solution.

They are called infants, and they totally devastate your beer-time continuum.

By the time you can relax and enjoy a beer, you become unconscious for a 2-3 hour stretch. At some point you no longer care about primes except that you become overly eager to figure out how many beers you can divide into yourself.

 

[pizzaman]

yuri should make a time machine. I think argon gas is the ticket.

 

[Saccharomyces]

For most of my beers I follow a simple rule of thumb.

1 week of conditioning for every 10 gravity points for light beers
2 weeks for every 10 gravity points for darker beers

Blonde ales, light lagers and cream ales seem to be good at 2 months, peak at about 4 months and head downhill quickly after that, at least in my opinion.

I try to schedule my brewing so that by the time a keg blows I have a keg which is fully conditioned waiting to replace it. When kegging, I attach a note to the keg that reads "XX brew, brewed on XX, OG XX, FG XX, kegged on XX-XX, tap on XX-XX". I'll sneak a pint or two earlier as a sample, but reserve the rest for drinking when it is at its peak of flavor.

Similarly if I'm brewing for a comp, I adjust my brew date so that when it hits the judges glass it will be at its peak of flavor.

 

[Sean]

LMAO at the mailing idea!

Every time you make a batch, give a dozen to somebody you trust not to drink it and tell them to give it back to you in six months.

Volunteer!!!!!!

 

[Revvy]

I would be honored if you cut and pasted your post and added it to the canon of stories like this that I am collection here, so that others may see the collective wisdom of waiting.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/