Temperature for Conditioning

[lambono]

Hi,
Brewing some St Peters IPA at the min (first brew) and I just have a question about conditioning the beer.
The packet says bottle/barrel the beer, keep in a cool place for 2 days then store somewhere cool for 14.

Does all the secondary fermentation take place in the 1st two days?
The beer has been in the cool room for 10 days now and I just tried some out of the barrel... the beer came gushing out, it had a nice head bit no fizz!

Is this normal? Or is it possible that the room is too cold and the fermentation has stopped early?

Thanks!

 

[graysalchemy]

After you have bottled/barrelled you need to keep it somewhere warm ie at fermentation temp so as the yeast will ferment the sugar you put in for conditioning, probably for 2-3 days or at room temp for a week or so. This will give you the carbonation in the bottle. After that put it somewhere cool and leave it for a few weeks.

Beer improves greatly with time most my beers are left for 3-4 months before i start drinking them, however this isn't always practical when you start out so 2-3 weeks will be OK. The trick is to build up stock of beers so that you are always drinking beer which is at its optimum age.

 

[craigite]

my beers are left for 3-4 months before i start drinking them,.

Now that's just impossible. My wee brain just can not compute such a concept. :wha:
Beer - wait - beer - wait.... Nope, doesn't compute. :wha: How does it work?


I've noticed that brews out of a barrel never have the 'fizz' that bottles do. The barrel conditions very well and you get a great head but not the fizz. If you leave it longer it will get a bit more fiz but you might need to let a little of the pressure off before you pour as the pouring under pressure looses the fiz.

I tend to bottle the beers I want to have a higher corbonation level, and barrel ones I want as a smooth creamy pint.

I condition in the WARM for about 5-7 days than cooler for 14 days. Not that I can ever wait that long. :grin: