Conditioning beer, what temp?

[ssashton]

I've always left my beer to condition in the corny keg in the fridge at 3.5C. I've read that the beer will clear faster when cold.

However, I'm wondering if this is really the fastest way to condition, because it's about more than just clarity or dropping yeast.

Am I doing it wrong, should I be conditioning at 'cellar temp' ~16C?

 

[ssashton]

To be clear, I'm talking about maturing or ageing, not carbonation by priming sugar.

 

[TheOsprey]

I think most people here do the 222 method, of 2 weeks fermenting, 2 weeks carbonating at ~20° and 2 weeks conditioning at fridge temp.

 

[foxy]

To be clear, I'm talking about maturing or ageing, not carbonation by priming sugar.

I think it depends on the beer and style, APA's for instance are bet drunk young while the aroma hops haven't faded.

 

[Madhouse]

I only ever age beers over 10% (ish) and never an IPA, they're kept in a cupboard in the middle of the house that maintains 16-18 degrees all year round although saying that there's a few in the beer fridge too - gotta love the consistency

Everything else is fair game. My mantra on fresh, hoppy IPA's is to drink them while they're still just that - fresh & hoppy.

 

[ssashton]

I think we each have a different meaning for the lexicon being used.

I've always called the stage after priming/carbonation the 'conditioning' stage. About 4 weeks while the beer clears, but more importantly the flavours come together.

However I read a pro brewer talking about conditioning as simply the carbonation stage and the few weeks for flavours to come together as maturing or aging.

I like IPA and pale ale. Mine certianly doesn't taste best until about 4-5 weeks in the fridge after carbonation (recently forced carb, so no time at room temp after the fermenter).

What I'm wondering is if this process of flavours coming together (unpleasant bitterness reduces, taste crisper) will happen quicker if I leave at cellar temp for a few weeks rather than going straight to the fridge for the whole 4 weeks?

 

[ssashton]

I think most people here do the 222 method, of 2 weeks fermenting, 2 weeks carbonating at ~20° and 2 weeks conditioning at fridge temp.

Thanks I had not heard of this 222. My beer is at final gravity after 4 days. I'm not sure it would be good to leave it on the trub for 2 weeks... but I can transfer to the keg and leave it at fermentation temp, there is still lots of yeast in there. If I carb with sugar it's done in 3 days. Unless I put finings in the fermenter before transfer, then carb by sugar takes a week or more because the yeast was left in the fermenter.

I have a complaint to make: People always say "Making beer is easy!" Duck, its complicated!

 

[Galena]

I think it depends on the beer and style, APA's for instance are bet drunk young while the aroma hops haven't faded.

What is your definition of 'Young' or for that matter 'aged' ? I always leave bottles 2 weeks for carbonation then at least a month at cellar temperature before drinking though I sometimes have a taster earlier.

 

[phildo79]

Once my brews reach their target FG, or close enough, I keg. I then put it in the fridge and taste test a day later when carbed/cold. I used to think leaving beer at room temperature was better for ageing the beer but I have since read that it makes no difference what temp it sits at.

 

[PhilBrew]

I think we each have a different meaning for the lexicon being used.
...
I like IPA and pale ale.

... I'm not sure you appreciate the irony in those two statements, in trying to clarify what you're talking about, you've used just about the least well defined terms in the whole beer styles lexicon ... e.g. "IPA" might mean many things to different people, anything from a Deuchar's/Green King IPA to something that resembles an orange, carrot, mango, guava and passion-fruit smoothie, with all sorts of variations in between and "tangents" heading off, including the Red, White and Black IPAs ... and all of those different IPAs might benefit from varying approaches and durations of conditioning

As an extreme example, if you've read Pete Brown's book "Hops and Glory" (link) you'll know that the "correct" way to condition an (19th Century, English) IPA is ... to take a cask of it on a journey along the canal from Burton to Hull; then put it in the hold of a wooden sailing ship and sailing it (taking around 6 months) from Hull via the North Sea and English Channel into the North Atlantic; then down to Brazil into the South Atlantic before rounding the Cape of Good Hope and heading back North across the Indian Ocean; with the cask being continuously rocked by the motion of the ship for the entire (6 month) journey and subjecting it to the cold temperatures of the hold of the ship in Northern (e.g. North Sea) waters, then being warmed as it traverses through equatorial waters to be chilled again to almost freezing in Antarctic waters and then heated up again as it crosses the equator for the second time; before reaching India

People always say "Making beer is easy!" Duck, its complicated!

... yep, not long to learn, but a lifetime to master. Keep practicing

Cheers, PhilB

 

[terrym]

I think most people here do the 222 method, of 2 weeks fermenting, 2 weeks carbonating at ~20° and 2 weeks conditioning at fridge temp.

I'm not sure they do y'know.
Its good advice for new brewers to follow the 2+2+2 rule to start with, but as soon as a little experience kicks in they will change it to suit.
So for me whereas I might usually leave a beer in the FV for 10 days or so, most of my beers are fully carbed within a week. But the biggest variable is the last '2', in that some beers might well be drinkable after 2 weeks conditioning, but some might not for two months or even longer, although I might try one as early as ten days after bottling. And I'll bet I am not alone in that. Finally not everyone conditions their beer in the fridge, I certainly don't.

 

[Slid]

I've always left my beer to condition in the corny keg in the fridge at 3.5C. I've read that the beer will clear faster when cold.

However, I'm wondering if this is really the fastest way to condition, because it's about more than just clarity or dropping yeast.

Am I doing it wrong, should I be conditioning at 'cellar temp' ~16C?

As all chemical and hence biochemical reactions slow down as temps are lowered (fairly basic prediction of the "kinetic theory" that scientists favour) then maturation sort of has be be quicker at cellar temps than fridge temps, does it not?

 

[foxy]

What is your definition of 'Young' or for that matter 'aged' ? I always leave bottles 2 weeks for carbonation then at least a month at cellar temperature before drinking though I sometimes have a taster earlier.

I have made a mild grain to glass in 2 weeks, a bitter in 10 days, the bitter force carbonated the mild bottled. I bottle condition at the same temperature the beer was fermented at, so 17 -18 C
https://sciencebrewer.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/grain-to-glass-in-twelve-days/

 

[Galena]

I have made a mild grain to glass in 2 weeks, a bitter in 10 days, the bitter force carbonated the mild bottled. I bottle condition at the same temperature the beer was fermented at, so 17 -18 C
https://sciencebrewer.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/grain-to-glass-in-twelve-days/

Cool, clearly forced carbonation speeds things up, not something I have the facility for at the moment.

 

[ssashton]

As all chemical and hence biochemical reactions slow down as temps are lowered (fairly basic prediction of the "kinetic theory" that scientists favour) then maturation sort of has be be quicker at cellar temps than fridge temps, does it not?

This was also my thought process. However I didn't want to do it if everyone said they need to be cold to condition. Something I read said being cold doesnt stop the flavour developing, but it didn't say anything about speed.