Physical clues of conditioning?

[olie]

1-batch n00b here. The recipes that I'm looking at all say "...then let condition for x-y weeks" (2-3 seems common).

This question is not about whether 2 or 3 or some other number is the right amount of weeks!

What I'm more curious about is the various visual (or other physically measurable) clues that the beer is fully (or > 95% or whatever) "conditioned", which I understand to mean that the yeast, having eaten all the sugar during fermentation, has then proceeded to polish off all the various proteins and whatnot.

The only one I [think I] know is that the beer becomes more-clear as proteins get eaten and yeast and other "gunk" settles out. However, (a) I'm not certain about that, (b) it seems rather subjective and (c) it's harder with darker beers.

So what else is there besides time & clarity to indicate that one's beer is fully ("close enough") conditioned?

Thanks!

 

[flugelizor]

That's it. It clears.
But, not all beers will clear, so here lies the advice you don't want to hear about waiting x weeks...
By the way, as for dark beers, a flashlight is usually visible through most stouts.

 

[kh54s10]

Your beer should be pretty much clear before you bottle it. Some beers will never be totally clear. So that is not something that you can use to determine when your beer is fully conditioned. It is also a very imprecise thing. There are many factors that will make a bottle condition at different times. If it is conditioned a little cooler it might take a longer time to condition.

In my experience it is time that you want to go by. Some of my beers are well carbonated at two weeks, some are not. But ALL of my beers have tasted better at 3 weeks or longer. Much longer for some. I did a Winter Ale that took over 6 months to taste good. That beer peaked at 2 years and I finished the last bottle at almost 3 years. It was still good but was starting downhill.

That is not to say that I always wait 3 weeks before I start to drink them. If they taste good, I don't have other already conditioned beers, and they have good carbonation I will start drinking them before they are really ready.

 

[eric19312]

There are a number of visual and othe signals about where your beer is in the primary fermentation process including airlock activity (if you have a good seal), clarity (if your fermentor is glass or clear plastic), gravity (if you have ability to sample and are willing to sacrifice batch yield for testing). These can help you decide when your beer is safe to bottle or keg.

Conditioning is a process that occurs after primary fermentation is over and I believe can occur in the primary fermentor, or in a secondary fermentor, or in a bright tank, or in the bottle or keg. The process relies on beer being in contact with at least some live yeast. The live yeast are said to be cleaning up various off flavors during this period. There really aren’t visual cues that can guide you in this period. The yeast don’t appear to be active but conditioning is underway.

But thing about typical home brew processes is that we package beer on yeast. Whether bottle conditioning or force curbing in the keg unless you are in extreme minority that is filtering you are packaging with live yeast. So conditioning will continue in the bottle or keg.

Now you can taste the beer over time to get a sense about how your recipe evolves over time. Experience will help you understand your personal preference for the proper amount of conditions for your beers. It will probably be style and recipe dependent. It will likely be in range others have posted about their recipes...was good in 3 days but wow it really popped after two weeks...

 

[Zimm9]

I like to bottle a few of each batch in plastic soda bottles. Give them a squeeze to force out any air before you screw on the cap. You can tell that carbonation is happening by the firmness of the bottle over time. It's not a perfect solution but it does give a little warm fuzzy that carbonation is happening.

As far as knowing when it's good to drink.... Probably the best way is just to try one each week and make a note of how it tastes, like others have said.

 

[RM-MN]

Here's where you start when you want to know about how your beer develops.

http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

Once the yeast have completed the fermentation and cleanup they flocculate and settle out. This is the start of the maturation of the beer and from here on the physical measurement of the maturity of the beer becomes the tongue and nose. Once the yeast and proteins are settled there is little other evidence to go with so you sample a bottle. I and others find that some beers are complete and ready to drink as soon as they are carbonated while others are still changing for more than a year, perhaps even more than 2 years. Your clue as to which beers are ready quickly and which need time is a combination of color and alcohol with the lighter beers being ready first and the dark, high alcohol beers taking plenty of time. One beer in particular to think about would be the one that features hop aroma. That aroma will begin to fade fairly quickly so you want to drink them early. I find that a pale ale that has been dry hopped has its aroma beginning to noticeably fade in 2 months and nearly gone in 3. The beer will still be quite drinkable after that but without the aroma.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

What I'm more curious about is the various visual (or other physically measurable) clues that the beer is fully (or > 95% or whatever) "conditioned", which I understand to mean that the yeast, having eaten all the sugar during fermentation, has then proceeded to polish off all the various proteins and whatnot.

The only one I [think I] know is that the beer becomes more-clear as proteins get eaten and yeast and other "gunk" settles out. However, (a) I'm not certain about that, (b) it seems rather subjective and (c) it's harder with darker beers.

So what else is there besides time & clarity to indicate that one's beer is fully ("close enough") conditioned?

It's a bit like asking what are the visible signs of a ripe banana. Some peopke like to eat them as soon as they turn yellow, others like me will prefer to wait until they're very spotty. Either are "ripe" in some sense.

There's no fixed end point to "conditioning". One aspect of it is when the liquid is fully gassed up, whether through a secondary fermentation or force-conditioning with CO2. But there's a more qualitative aspect of all the "raw" ingredients coming together and softening and maturing. Different ingredients do so at different rates, so the "right" end point depends on whether the balance of the beer is emphasising hops, malt, or eg fermenting organisms. But all beers evolve and not only do some people prefer them at different stages of that evolution (qv bananas) but it's fascinating to watch them go through those different stages.

It then gets even more complicated once you get onto cask conditioning, where you're deliberately letting some oxygen in. The same beer can taste different at lunchtime and in the evening, you can get beers that have been released too soon by the brewery and yet have been left too long after tapping in the pub - and vice versa. The British notion of "conditioning" gets so much more complicated than in countries that only know keg beer....

 

[olie]

Ok, thanks for all the info.

I'm getting the impression from y'all's answers that (a) time and (b) visual clarity are the big signals. Before all of that -- back when I was asking the question -- I had a vague notion that maybe there was some "protein measurement" or some other thing that we were waiting-for to change.

I think I'll all caught-up, now. At least until I have another question

Thanks again!