Time and Time again

pvt_ak · Apr 5, 2019

I’m sure I’ve bleated on about this before ... but as a newbee I need to share this .

Conditioning and drinking when it’s ready was a bit of advice I’d previously cast aside ...

2+2+2 means 6 weeks right for drinking ?

No No No No

For any beginner. The latter +2 is the most important in my findings to date .. and why am I rambling ?

Brewed an APA 8 weeks again ...

Week 4 .. sneaky taste .. ok flat ale
Week 5 ... bit better flat ale
Week 6 ... getting fruity
Week 7 .. didn’t like it
Week 8 .. wow what happened . Aroma kicked in ... body to die for . And I’m in love with it .

Time gang time

Covrich · Apr 5, 2019

I think 3 is better than 2 if you can wait on the first part.

But then again I always try one a week after I bottle and continue from there.. in the name of science of course, although I suspect after all these years I cannot wait 6-8 weeks to see if the fruits of my labour taste any good.. not that the outcomes difference.. Ill drink it anyway even if its bad :laugh8:

Zephyr259 · Apr 6, 2019

Yeah I have enough stock now that I'll try a bottle as soon as it's carb'ed but generally not until 2 weeks in the bottle but the majority of the batch get drunk between 6 weeks and 6 months so is well conditioned. My stronger beers often hang around at least a year.

foxy · Apr 6, 2019

There is nothing worse than drinking beers before the aging process has kicked in, when down to the last few bottles they are generally drank with the regret of not waiting. Always try to keep in front with your brewing.

Mavroz · Apr 6, 2019

Some of my first brews over a year ago were hit and miss, others were very good pretty much within about 4 weeks of bottling.

The ones that were "miss" have been in crates in the garage for pretty much a year now and i am really impressed with how they have matured and how they taste.

The change is unbelievable....

xozzx · Apr 6, 2019

I now have 10 corny kegs so I can have a good stock sitting ageing. I like my strong dark beers so usually have about 5 sitting in the garage for a minimum of 6 months before drinking. The lighter fresher beers go into the keezer after 1-2 weeks conditioning, some of these I find lose flavour after about 2 months so better drunk fresh.

An Ankoù · Apr 6, 2019

Zephyr259 said:
Yeah I have enough stock now that I'll try a bottle as soon as it's carb'ed but generally not until 2 weeks in the bottle but the majority of the batch get drunk between 6 weeks and 6 months so is well conditioned. My stronger beers often hang around at least a year.

Yep, that's my experience, too. I have my first taste after 3 weeks, if the indicative PET bottle has hardened up. You've just got to have a big stock of beer in ie. a hundred or more.

matt76 · Apr 6, 2019

Absolutely agree - not like I didn't already know this but...

I had an early taste of my porter a few weeks back, just to see, and it wasn't great.

Fast forward a few weeks and I tried it again last night - wow, what a difference!

Mavroz · Apr 6, 2019

Haha, I have maybe 260 ish x 500ml bottles full now and around another 200 to fill over the next couple of months before the "hopefully" hot weather arrives.

Carbonating bottles takes around 5 to 7 days. The plastic bottle is solid if I keep the latest batch of bottles at around 18 degrees for this time before moving to the cold garage

Martin O · Apr 6, 2019

Has anyone found it depends on the type of beer? I brewed a neipa and after reading heavily hopped beers are best fresh I cracked on after a week. I didnt notice any difference in flavour by wk4.

chrisbjones202 · Apr 6, 2019

I agree the old 2+2+2 is a bit short for bottled beer, but in reality it comes down to style. Staying in front is the hard bit but it’s ready when it’s ready, I just put a hefeweizen in the fridge to try tonight that’s only been bottled 9 days but the fresher the better with this style.

I’m trying to brew every 2 weeks and fill some bottles for summer autumn and store full kegs instead of empty ones.

ACBEV · Apr 6, 2019

chrisbjones202 said:
I agree the old 2+2+2 is a bit short for bottled beer

I see the 2+2+2 as a minimum for most beers and is a good base line for new brewers to stop them drinking the whole lot before it tastes good.

Clint · Apr 6, 2019

Yes it's worth waiting but I find kegged (pb) is ready sooner...bulk conditioning??
Ten cornies....now that's set the bar very high!!! Proper Artist!

MickDundee · Apr 6, 2019

I’m still waiting for my pseudo Pilsner to come good, it’s been more than 3 months in the bottle

An Ankoù · Apr 6, 2019

Just done a quick stock check on bottles and I seem to have accumulated 240 litres in bottle of various shapes and sizes. Did a lot of 11-litres cooker-top experiments over the winter! Decided to have a moratorium on brewing this weekend and try and get through some of it. Trouble is I've got half a dozen recipes already formulated in my brewing book and all the ingredients ready to go. Why can't the French learn to drink pints? I need some help here.

Cwrw666 · Apr 6, 2019

To be honest, if your beer is flat at week 5 - presumably after 3 weeks in the bottle - then you're not keeping your newly bottled beer at the right temperature. Either that or you cold crashed excessively before bottling so there was hardly any yeast left in the brew.

Zephyr259 · Apr 6, 2019

Martin O said:
Has anyone found it depends on the type of beer? I brewed a neipa and after reading heavily hopped beers are best fresh I cracked on after a week. I didnt notice any difference in flavour by wk4.

It can depend on ingredient too, my first Yorkshire bitter was good at 5 - 6 weeks and was gone within another 8 weeks (record), the 2nd batch got 20% Munich II to boost the body and maltiness and it tasted slightly odd until 8 weeks old then was excellent, it lasted longer as the first batch came good right into a heatwave and was the first lower abv beer I'd brewed since running out of anything below 6%.

Sandimas · Apr 6, 2019

I think 2+2+2 get quoted because it's the minimum time, people were bottling/drinking way to early and it's an easy-to-remember formula. Perhap we need to emphasise the minimum, 2 of my recent beers were still fermenting after 2 weeks, one of them was still going after 3.

I just made the deadly mistake of trying my latest brew after 2 weeks in the bottle, a strong dark ale - clearly isn't ready. The most pronounced change I noticed was with a clone of St Austell Proper Job (5.5%) - really sweet to start with but lost the sweetness and the hops shone throught after 8 weeks in the bottle.

Slid · Apr 6, 2019

I memory serves, and it frequently disappoints, the 2+2+2 rule was outlined as a guide to new brewers whose one can kit would suggest something like "Drink this wonderful beer in just TEN days" or some such nonsense.

I feel that there is some logic to the idea and that it forms a sort of "baseline" for all beers. My current practice is 2 in primary, then 1 in a secondary FV, at least 1 week in warm carbonation. What happens then, depends a lot on the beer. A hop forward one (US hops like Cascade, Citra, Amarillo, Simcoe, etc) may be best almost straight away and probably before many more weeks elapse.

A darker, malt forward beer, of high gravity, might need much longer. Most of my beers are at their best at around 3 months from bottling. But, I do make more malt forward beers than the current fashion might dictate.

Harbey · Apr 7, 2019

The majority of my brews are hoppy pales and IPAs. The problem I have is drinking them fast enough. 2 weeks in the FV, including any dry hopping and a day or two cold crashing is enough. Then a couple of weeks carbing up is pretty much when they are at their best. After that, they certainly clear and look nicer but the hop aroma and taste can start to fade really quickly. I've also noticed that additions like grapefruit, orange, coconut and vanilla (those last two were in a stout) fade rather quickly too.

Having said that, it depends on the beer doesn't it? I have a gose which has been in the FV for 4 weeks and is only just starting to clean up, and I have a couple of stouts and a saison which are now lovely after almost six months in the bottle.

Time and Time again

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