why chill for 48 hours?

[morebeer]

I have read in a few places to chill your bottles for at least 48 hours in the fridge prior to drinking. What is the reasoning behind this, and why cant I just throw one in ice or in the freezer to quickly chill it and try it out?

 

[wildwest450]

You can drink them whenever you want. The 48 hours is so the yeasties will drop out of suspension.

 

[ChshreCat]

Actually, the 48 hours is for CO2 to absorb into the beer from the headspace. Otherwise you pop the cap, it goes pfsssht but you don't have much carbonation in the beer.

 

[wildwest450]

Actually, the 48 hours is for CO2 to absorb into the beer from the headspace. Otherwise you pop the cap, it goes pfsssht but you don't have much carbonation in the beer.

Nice, can you tell im a kegger trying to up my post count.:cross:
It will still help dropping the yeast to the bottom where they belong.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

Actually, the 48 hours is for CO2 to absorb into the beer from the headspace. Otherwise you pop the cap, it goes pfsssht but you don't have much carbonation in the beer.

I realize this would affect head formation to some degree but does it have a large or moderate affect on head formation?

 

[ChshreCat]

It has a large effect on the overall carbonation of your beer, which will have a large effect on head formation. No bubbles, no head.

 

[Revvy]

Actually, the 48 hours is for CO2 to absorb into the beer from the headspace. Otherwise you pop the cap, it goes pfsssht but you don't have much carbonation in the beer.

Yes.

Also the longer you chill, meaning more that just 48 hours, you will eliminate chill haze and ALSO compress the sediment layer in the bottom of the bottle so you will have to leave less beer behind when you pour to the shoulder. I recently discovered a bottle that had been in the back of my fridge for at least 2 if not 3 months...I upended the bottle even and nothing came out from the bottom, the sediment layer was so tight.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

The crappy part is I have room for about 6 beers in my fridge (tiny). Don't really have a choice right now as our previous large fridge crapped out while I was in school. Working on building the kezzer so this won't be an issue as well. I really had no idea that a quick chill would affect the carbonation/head formation.