Conditioning question

[richardagutteridge]

: Hi all another question ( I know,I know) In AG brewing do you put the finished beer into a barrel/cask for a few weeks then bottle or do you bottle straight away?

If you barrel, do you prime in the normal way, or prime the bottles after filling from the barrel, or both.

The reason I ask is because I have 2 books one suggests bottling straight away, the other, G Wheeler, does the barrel/cask then bottle method :hmm:

Due to previous lack of space ( not anymore converted garage :grin: ) I have always barreled for a couple of weeks, and when space allowed, I then bottled, but this was always with kit brews.

:wha: Richard G

 

[Aleman]

Like the majority of things . . . it depends.

Graham's approach is the traditional one, by casking the beer, then venting and bottling 'undesirable volatiles' are removed, Graham also recommends not priming as sufficient slowly fermentable dextrins should remain to develop condition in the beer.

My approach, is to give the initial fermentation 14 days . . . which allows the yeast to tidy up after itself removing those undesired volatiles. I then cask or bottle . . . . Occasionally I will postpone bottling for a week or two, but then when I am ready to bottle I add priming sugars to a clean corny fill from the cask, swirl to distribute the primings then bottle

 

[Dunfie]

The reason I ask is because I have 2 books one suggests bottling straight away, the other, G Wheeler, does the barrel/cask then bottle method :hmm:

Its all about finding the system that suits you. When I first started I had the Graham Wheeler books and I followed the instruction religiously. The problem I found was that the bottled took an age to condition.

Now I just ferment (10 days to a fortnight) and then bottle without bothering with any extending conditioning. It seems to be quite a reliable method.

 

[beer taster]

As Dunfie says find the solution that works for you.
For me I ferment for approx 7 days and then bottle direct from the FV, priming each bottle individually with 1/2 tspoon of sugar.

 

[corby_brewer]

On my last brew i bottled it just before the FG was reached, didnt bother priming the bottles at all. After 8 weeks the bottles are corbonated just right.

But i agree with both of the above Richard, find the solution that works for you.

 

[richardagutteridge]

: Thanks all. So it would appear that what I do for kits is also the same for AG :drink: