Why put Home Brew in the refrig for a week????

[Grinder12000]

I have read a few places that people put a young home brew in the frig for a week before drinking.

Why?? I have put it in for a day to get cold - is there some reason for a longer period?

 

[WVHeep]

The way I understand it, it makes it clearer

 

[WVHeep]

The way I understand it, it makes it clearer

sorry for the double post

 

[mmb]

Usually you crash cool in a secondary container to make anything hanging in suspension fall out for clearing.

 

[Mutilated1]

it helps it carbonate better too I think - can't exactly explain it, but here is my sort of dumbed down version as best as I understand it. Cold beer absorbs the CO2 better than warm beer, so if you put the beer in the fridge there will be nice tiny bubbles that will last while you drink it, where if you just put the beer in there to get cold the bubbles will be big and the carbonation won't last as long.

 

[BrewBrain]

I believe cold conditioning helps. It just seems no matter how long I condition my beer at room temps, they improve loads with a couple weeks in the fridge.

 

[Austinhomebrew]

it helps it carbonate better too I think - can't exactly explain it, but here is my sort of dumbed down version as best as I understand it. Cold beer absorbs the CO2 better than warm beer, so if you put the beer in the fridge there will be nice tiny bubbles that will last while you drink it, where if you just put the beer in there to get cold the bubbles will be big and the carbonation won't last as long.

Actually the beer carbonates quicker in warmer temperatures. You need the yeast to eat the sugar you just gave it. Yeast will be very slow and can go dormant in colder temps. Please carbonate before chilling.

I tell my customers to put the last beer in a 20 oz. soda bottle. Once the bottle is firm and you cant squeeze it, your beer is carbonated.

 

[chefchris]

Ok, so my first batch has been in the bottle for almost two weeks. I planned on waiting a full 3 before trying my first ever homebrew. Should I put it in the fridge at the 2 week mark or put it in at the 3 week mark and wait another week?

 

[bradsul]

Most of the CO2 is under higher pressure in the headspace at room temperature because it isn't able to dissolve into the beer. Placing the beer in the fridge for a couple days before drinking allows that CO2 to fully dissolve into the beer throughout the entire volume. This means nice even carbonation and no large bubbles that dissipate quickly.

It still takes 3 weeks to bottle condition a beer so do not put your beer in the fridge until after the third week.

 

[Bobby_M]

Cold conditioning will help to flocculate and compress the yeast for ultimate clarity. Give it a try. After verifying carbonation, put one in the fridge. A week later put another warm one in the fridge over night. The next day, take them both out and pour them side by side.

 

[Grinder12000]

First of all I believe Austinhomebrew because that makes sense and agree's with my knowledge.

Clarity seems to be the big answer but I was confused why the Week/5 days compared for a day or so.

Bobby M - seems like a fun experiment. I'm having a coming out party of my Lazy Man's Porter. I think I'll do a 1 week/3 day/1 day experiment.

 

[Loweface]

I'm having a coming out party of my Lazy Man's Porter. I think I'll do a 1 week/3 day/1 day experiment.

I like the kind of experiments where the timeline is more like 1hr/45min/30min experiments...

 

[adrock]

Most of the CO2 is under higher pressure in the headspace at room temperature because it isn't able to dissolve into the beer. Placing the beer in the fridge for a couple days before drinking allows that CO2 to fully dissolve into the beer throughout the entire volume. This means nice even carbonation and no large bubbles that dissipate quickly.

The reasons are (at least) two-fold. As you mentioned already, clarity is one of the big ones but even more importantly is carbonation, as bradsul mentioned above. Take it from a chemist.

Austinhomebrew stated that beer carbonates more slowly in the refrigerator due to lessened yeast activity. This is of course true: However, after the yeast have done their thing and produced CO2 in the bottle, bradsul's scenario takes place. CO2 solubility is low in warm liquid, so all the CO2 the yeast produced is under high pressure in the bottle's headspace (another example of this temperature-based solubility is the observation that warm soda goes flat faster than cold soda). Cooling the brew down increases the CO2 solubility of the liquid, and that CO2 goes right into solution. Then, Hooray Beer!

 

[Seawolf]

I love pouring beers that have been in the fridge for a while. I poured one last night that blew me away with clarity. It looked like a filtered commercial beer!

 

[Grinder12000]

That must be why my beers never seemed to have a wonderful head. It's only my first real drinkable batch and have not had a "coming out" party yet so they have only gone in the frig a day ahead of time.

Sweet - can't wait!!! thanks


Seawolf - you have Fat Tire clone twice!!

 

[Seawolf]

Seawolf - you have Fat Tire clone twice!!

I sure do, however, I drank the last bottle of the first batch tonight, so I'll fix it. Thanks!

 

[mr_bell]

Noob to noob advice, my first batch (English bitter from Midwest) was not significantly carbonated at 2 or 3 weeks (I opened a bottle each week starting at week 2 to test). At about 4 weeks, it had adequate carbonation. Was even better by week 6 (carbonation and flavor) and that's when it (what was left) went in the fridge.

I did the same with thing with my 2nd batch, the Blue Moon clone from AHS, about the same way. 6-7 weeks of bottle conditioning (@ 70 deg), testing each week starting at week 3, with everything then into the fridge at week 7. This beer was drinkable at week 3, but better by that 6-7th week. It's hard to be patient, but to me the wait was worth it.

I'm curious, has anyone else found extended aging like this to be beneficial, even though these are not higher gravity brews?

 

[shertz]

Ok, so my first batch has been in the bottle for almost two weeks. I planned on waiting a full 3 before trying my first ever homebrew. Should I put it in the fridge at the 2 week mark or put it in at the 3 week mark and wait another week?

First homebrew and your going to wait three weeks? WOW, I can say that most of us out here on our first batch were trying one at 1 week or so. Good for you. Great patience.

 

[chefchris]

First homebrew and your going to wait three weeks? WOW, I can say that most of us out here on our first batch were trying one at 1 week or so. Good for you. Great patience.

Still have yet to try one. I pulled a bottle out last night and stared at it. My girlfriend fought with me and told me to put it back.

It's so hard.

I'll be doing All Grain by the time I try my first extract batch.

 

[TBLbrewer]

I must confess, I have a bottle a week from the time it is in the bottle. I like to see how the beer changes over the weeks. And I'm about as patient as my 5 year old son when it comes to my beers.

 

[neuron555]

One advantage of having several types on hand and brewing multiple batches, is that it is easier to leave the newer ones sit undisturbed. It never ceases to amaze me how much change (for the better) I notice after another couple months in bottle.

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

I think it is just yet another attempt to slow down the new brewer to keep them from posting yet another "My first/whatever brew taste like newly mowed grass".
Unless you like that style of beer.

 

[Grinder12000]

I can guarantee that the more brews you have the longer you can wait.

I have been brewing a batch every 2 weeks and each batch sits a little longer then the next when it comes to bottle aging.

I think the first beer a newbie should make should be a British MILD.

 

[adrock]

And I'm about as patient as my 5 year old son when it comes to my beers.

Why is your 5 year old son impatient about your beers? You're sick, man!

 

[TBLbrewer]

Why is your 5 year old son impatient about your beers? You're sick, man!

Well I'm actually safe on this one for now. He doesn't like anything carbinated. Won't even drink soda. But someday he will grow out of it, and I will teach him the art of brewing. My wife is another story. She likes beer as much as I do.