Conditioning technique

[Nottsbeer]

Hi, I'm just getting back into brewing after a 10-15 yr gap! I'd appreciate feedback on my proposed method.

I'm planning to make a kit beer soon and want to bottle it due to space issues. Notes I've found from past brews mention conditioning in a barrel with priming syrup (releasing gasses after 4 days, leaving for 3 weeks, then releasing gasses again 2 days prior to bottling). Once bottled, leave for 1 week before drinking (I have no mention of priming the bottles here so not sure what I used to do).

Does this sound reasonable, or OTT?

Thanks, john

 

[obscure]

Conditioning really isn’t that complicated, basic rule of thumb for kits is the 2-2-2 rule, two weeks in primary, followed by two weeks somewhere warm followed by two weeks somewhere cool to condition.

This of course isn’t absolute some beers take longer some a bit less, (you should ideally wait until you have a stable gravity reading before bottling) but for your typical 4-5% beer kit this tends to work, and produce decent beer.

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

Terminology is never easy, depends on what you mean by conditioning

Temperature is also key

After brewing, of course, you need to ferment in order to convert the sugar to alcohol - this is called primary fermentation - not sure where in your process this is happening. For most yeasts this needs to be at about 20C - but check what your instructions say

Once it is alcoholic it would usual to bottle it, add a little more sugar. This means that fermentation will start again, this time it is to create a fizz (carbonation) in the bottle - otherwise you would have a flat beer. This is called secondary fermentation. Most people would leave the bottles in a warm place (same temp as primary fermentation) for two weeks to carbonate them properly

Finally you need to condition, this is important as it allows sediment to fall to the bottom of the bottle and clear your beer; the other thing that it enables is development of flavours

It is generally best if the conditioning happens in a cold place as this speeds up the process of clearing the beer

I would leave beer conditioning for longer than a week

 

[An Ankoù]

Hi, I'm just getting back into brewing after a 10-15 yr gap! I'd appreciate feedback on my proposed method.

I'm planning to make a kit beer soon and want to bottle it due to space issues. Notes I've found from past brews mention conditioning in a barrel with priming syrup (releasing gasses after 4 days, leaving for 3 weeks, then releasing gasses again 2 days prior to bottling). Once bottled, leave for 1 week before drinking (I have no mention of priming the bottles here so not sure what I used to do).

Does this sound reasonable, or OTT?

Thanks, john

Hi John, and welcome to the forum. I've never heard of conditioning like that: I presume you mean conditioning in pressure barrels and then transfer to bottles after 3 weeks. I don't see why it shouldn't work, but you're likely to get a lot of foaming as you try to transfer the conditioned beer to bottles. It does depend on there being some vestige of fermentable sugar left in the beer, too, just to bring the fizz back a bit after bottling. It could work, but it's touch and go. Why not let the beer ferment out normally and then rack it into primed bottles and let them carbonate and condition for 4-6 weeks?

 

[Nottsbeer]

Hi, thanks for the replies. Your suggestions sound good. As im just getting back into this I'm ove-reaing too much, and relying on my bad memory. Will stick to the instructions with the kit on this brew and hopefully enjoy a nice pint. As I have 2 barrels I may just keep it in the barrel and bottle the next one. Thx.

 

[dad_of_jon]

Hi John, once your beer's gravity is stable you can bottle. how you prime that beer either via bottling bucket or priming individual bottles is up to you. In either case the conditioning time should be the same whichever method you choose.

 

[jof]

If you have barrels from your previous attempts, you may find you need to replace the seals.
So if using the barrel, be prepared to transfer it to the bottles if the seals don't work

 

[Nottsbeer]

Hi Jof, yes thanks. I've been inspecting the barrels today and they need a bit of attention before use. I found a very good thread here for sorting this. Both barrels have labels from 2003 on them, possibly my last batches (Taylor's Landlord and Big Lamp Bitter....both very nice beers!!).