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Bottle Conditioning .....3 weeks vs 5 ?

KWT62

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I brewed my 2nd batch of beer in early March ( Easy Street Strong Ale ........... a 7% ABV / Hoppy recipe,  purchased from the "Brewer's Apprentice " in Freehold NJ ) it spent two weeks in the primary fermentor , than I bottled it. I am approaching 3 weeks in the bottle. How much improvement in taste can be expected if I continue to leave it " conditioning " ? I would like to drink this for Easter which would take the conditioning period to 5 weeks.
 
Maine Homebrewer said:
Have you tried one? That's the only way to be sure.

Yes , last night & it wasn't bad, just thought it would taste a little more hoppy. Will additional conditioning time improve/help this ?
 
yes, hops usually peak when freshest; sometimes more carbonation can elevate the perception of hops, so if the carbonation strengthens over the next two weeks, you might seem minute gains.  Probably not enough to blow your socks off. 
 
You are probably close to full carbonation unless you are storing at a temp too low for the yeast, so you are unlikely to get more hop aroma. Some of the other flavours in your beer may mellow out slightly with continued aging which may help bring the hop flavours out. There are many possible reasons why the beer is not as hoppy as expected some down to you and some down to the hops itself and how old and how well stored they are.

In my experience my beer is best tasting somewhere between 30 and 60 days (longer for higher gravity brews). I don't have cold storage so I don't want to keep the beer around too long. So far this has not been a problem!  :D
 
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