Conditioning

[m_rawdin]

So I'm eventually about to start my first AG brew after a couple of weeks of owning my kit. I just wondered what people's thoughts are on conditioning, I am brewing an American double IPA. I was going to wait until the primary fermentation was complete, then transfer it into another vessel for conditioning and put it in my garage until complete. I was then going to batch prime it and bottle it.

 

[Covrich]

This will spark debate but personally I would leave it in the primary, once fermentation is complete I would leave it a few days then move it to your garage, this time of year will cool it and actually help it clear.. I would leave it there for a couple of weeks.

However if you plan on dry hopping I would dry hop at room temp and not in the colder garage temp

 

[clibit]

I would leave it in the FV for 2 to 3 weeks at fermentation temperature, then put it somewhere cold for a few days, and then bottle. I've tried different regimes and I am happy with this one. Also, though I don't have the Yeast book, I believe it says something like this, and that American brewers are becoming less inclined to use a secondary fermenter as a result. Using a secondary runs the risk of introducing oxygen, and also exposes the beer to possible infection unnecessarily.

 

[m_rawdin]

So you wouldn't bother transferring to a second vessel to condition, just keep it in the primary fermenter? I assume I still need to prime before bottling?

 

[Cwrw666]

So you wouldn't bother transferring to a second vessel to condition, just keep it in the primary fermenter? I assume I still need to prime before bottling?

Yes to both.
By the way, hoppy flavours (rather than bitterness) fade with ageing, so hoppy beers shouldn't be conditioned for too long. After bottling you should probably start drinking them after just a couple of weeks.

 

[m_rawdin]

At what stage do you generally dry hop?

 

[geetee]

Following fermentation, once the yeast has died back you can leave the beer on the yeast for up to 2 weeks however you don't have to. Once fermentation is over I generally reduce the temperature of the FV to around 14°C to allow the yeast to clean up any diacetyl, a possible bi-product of fermentation. After 36 hours I then drop the temperature to about 5°C to condition until clear about 7 days.

Conditioning does 2 things it allows the green beer to mature as yeast eats up all of the bi -products, fusil alcohols that you don't want and also allows the protein to settle out giving a clear beer. I tend to use auxillary finings which clears the beer quickly and is aided by the chilling. This reduces the conditioning phase but can be achieved by chilling alone.

Once your beer is clear you can bottle as soon as you want, I usually then transfer to a second vessel containing all of the priming sugar dissolved in boiling water. Bottle and keep at 17°C for 5 days and then chill to clear.
the good thing about cooling to as low as possible is it makes it less likely that you will have chill haze at serving temp

Dry hopping is usually done in the conditioning phase for 5 days or so before bottling. As indicated earlier the longer you condition in bucket or bottle the hop aroma and flavour will fade. I did hear recently of one microbrewery that dry hops just as fermentation is taking off but it's horses for courses,trial and error will tell.

 

[m_rawdin]

Is there a general rule of thumb for the amount of sugar to use to prime like a certain weight per litre?

 

[clibit]

Is there a general rule of thumb for the amount of sugar to use to prime like a certain weight per litre?

For English styles I have settled at 5g brewing sugar per litre. Roughly equivalent to about 4g table sugar per litre, I think.

Some beer styles are much more highly carbonated and use more sugar - wheat beers, saisons for example.

 

[Fil]

for a 5 gallon batch, a priming charge of 80-160g or perhaps even 200g of sugar depending on the level of condition you want , so for an apa 160g-200g as they lke their beers fizzy in the us.

Generally conditioning is the period in the serving vessel when the co2 is infused in the beer under pressure either naturally via a priming charge or artificially by applying pressure from a co2 bottle (think kegs)

A secondary fermentor to emulate the brite tanks used by commercial brewers has gone out of favour with many home brewers due to the additional risk of racking off the beer in a domestic environment, it exposes the beer at a vulnerable point which can be avoided..

Maturing the beer is another aspect, some beers will benefit from a few weeks/months in the bottle/keg to round off its flavour however an apa especially one dry hopped is intended to be drunk green in order to benefit from the hopping. You can serve a mature beer through a hop rocket or a randal by installing it inline between a keg and tap to add thet fresh hop aroma to a mature pint too.

:whistle:

 

[m_rawdin]

That's great, thanks for all your advice, I'm still relatively new to all this so will probably be asking a fair amount of questions over the next few months.

 

[geetee]

That's what it's here for so keep asking.

I know you were also looking for a Homebrew group on Facebook, not sure if you know but the Brewhouse Collective operates out of Brewdog in Newcastle,They have a monthly brewing session and competitions so have a look at the Facebook page also linked to NE Homebrew Network site.
Next brew 26th January or so.