What a difference a couple of months makes

[vNmd]

I never try to rush any of my brews. Usually ales first drink is at the 2 month(ish) point and lagers are around 3. I didn't like the lager I did in August very much so I gave it away. I was even hesitant in giving it away but I have some friends that said they will take it anyway. The last thing I told them was to dump it if they didn't like it. Turns out there was three bottles way back in my fridge hidden by other bottles. I found them while moving things around a bit and decided to try them before dumping to get my bottles back. I couldn't believe it was the same beer. It was the smoothest beer I have ever had. I was dumbfounded. I guess I was rushing my brew after all.

A question: did the amazing transformation come because it was in the fridge, further lagering in the bottle, or would aging (in bottles) at basement temps for that amount of time also produce the same results?

 

[unionrdr]

Sounds like they lagered well in bottles in the fridge for an extended time. Further lagering than your norm would seem to be required.

 

[gr8shandini]

3 months should be plenty for most lagers. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I somehow get the impression that you're "lagering" at room temperature and then chilling before serving. If that's the case, you're not really lagering the beer. The rule of thumb is 1 week for every 10 points of OG. So a typical beer needs to be in the fridge for 4-6 weeks.

Also, I know folks here love long primaries, but I think they're especially misguided when it comes to lagers. Proper temperature control during fermentation and a good D-rest will normally have a beer good to go in 10-14 days. Any longer than that and you're wasting time "warm conditioning" that would be better spent lagering.

 

[vNmd]

3 months should be plenty for most lagers. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I somehow get the impression that you're "lagering" at room temperature and then chilling before serving.

Sorry I gave the wrong vibe. I have a fermentation chamber (freezer) and lagered for 1.5 months at around 35degrees before bottling. Left the bottles @ room temp for a couple weeks before putting in the fridge for serving. Left them in the fridge after carbonating for a week or so before trying. It was drinkable after 2.5ish / 3 months but I wanted the bottles emptied a lot faster that I was willing to drink them when my friends stepped in and emptied them over a couple of weeks. I am a big believer in patience in beer as well as wine after this. I didn't want a bunch of bottles sitting around. I was hoping to have some sort of rythem between brewing, bottling, and drinking, but after this I will be letting them sit longer.

 

[gr8shandini]

Yeah, lagers take time. There's no way around that. 6 weeks should have done the trick, but it may have just been on the cusp of being finished. I've found that the improvement in taste is pretty dramatic during the final week. It's almost like a switch gets flipped and it goes from "sorta drinkable" to "whoa, this is good."

However, if you have the temperature control to do a lager, you should be able to turn your ales around way quicker than 2 months (unless you're brewing really big beers). 10 days in primary and 3 weeks of bottle conditioning should be more than adequate for an average gravity ale. Shaving nearly a month of your schedule would certainly help fill in the dry spells between lager batches.