Beer types and conditioning

[PawsOfEvil]

So I was wondering if different types of beer require different lengths of time conditioning? It seems from a brief glance that the higher the OG the longer it needs in a bottle/keg before drinking. I know most kits say 2 weeks in the bottle/keg but it seems most people wait longer. Is there a good rule of thumb for planning out brews? I'm thinking of making some IPA/Whit for summer next year, Porter for autumn & Stout for winter 2014. How far ahead should I be planning? I would like to be able to enjoy a bottle or 2 on a weekend with my girlfriend at least once a month - we are apart for long periods due to work I currently brew 1 Gallon batches but will upgrade to 5 gallon soon I think. I would also like to make some seasonal stuff like fruit based/halloween/christmas etc. to give as gifts. Any insight into how you guys plan ahead would be great :pray:

 

[dennisking]

A general rule of thumb is 1 week for ever 10 points of gravity, ie a 1040 brew = 4 weeks. But when bottled if you can wait longer they will benefit.

 

[morethanworts]

As for planning, some do it seasonally, which means using the cooler months to do lagers, which will be ready as the warm weather comes, and using the hotter weeks to ferment Belgian beers and strong ales to be ready for the winter - for example. If you've got a brew fridge or a very cool room/cellar then more options may be available all year.

 

[Edindie]

I've also been thinking about this for a few days; I did an Golden Ale kit 3 months ago and already the hops have completely faded away. Now, that was my first brew and I'm hoping that this short shelf life was down to my lack of knowlege around the evils of oxidisation (is that what oxidisation does??) but people talk about having beers on for ages.

I understand that high abv brews or flavoursome stouts will take a while to come together into one smooth flavour, but what about the others? If I made a good pale ale competently, would that have a 3-6 month shelf life? Do bitters have 6-12 months? Or is this all too simplistic and I'll just have to keep tasting them to be sure (we all have our cross to bear).

 

[NickW]

A general rule of thumb is 1 week for ever 10 points of gravity, ie a 1040 brew = 4 weeks. But when bottled if you can wait longer they will benefit.

I normally follow this, but just want to clarify...

For a 1040 beer, is it 4 weeks in the cool? Or 4 weeks from initial bottling... eg.. 2 weeks warm 2 weeks cool?

 

[The Goatreich]

I've recently done a couple of pale ales, around the 5% ABV mark, that were very very hoppy. I found these actually peaked after about 3-4 weeks in the bottle, surprisingly early. They were utterly drinkable after only two weeks in the bottle. Darker, and higher OG beers will take longer.

 

[markmark]

Just to add to what the others have said.....which I do agree with.
I brewed a pale with galaxy on 6th October....OG 1050, FG 1006 (which was a bit lower than I expected)....40/41 IBU IIRC.
I dropped it to secondary fermenters after 7 days; fined 1 half as I was testing some new finings and wanted to see how effective they were. The other half was dry hopped.
The beer that I fined was put in a corny and force carbed 10 days after pitching the yeast.....of course you have to have a cheeky sample and it was delicious, very drinkable indeed. It has improved somewhat over the past couple of weeks; but the initial sample was so good I wouldn't have batted an eyelid had it been served to me in a pub.

I got talking about this the other day with another brewer and it seems to me that the hops used have a big part to play on how early a beer can become drinkable. I think that anything brewed with hops that have a fruity sweetness (such as the galaxy) can be consumed very much younger than other beers.
Food for thought anyway.......
I will further test this theory when I keg half a batch of El Dorado based pale ale that I fined a couple of days ago. The El Dorado hops smelt really fruity; a big mash up of peaches, plums and apricots.