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Why Age beer?
So, my German wheat is bottled finally. My instructions (although proven to be mostly full of crap) suggest I bottled, let sit for a week, move to the fridge, and then let age for a month.
How accurate is this? I understand letting them sit for a week to carbonate... but what does aging really do?
Can I drink my beer after a week or is carbonation still in process? The first batch is killer... nothing to drink while the time passes!
You can start drinking them as soon as it's carbonated, hell you can drink it without even fermenting it. If this is your first batch, I would highly suggest sampling a beer each week for the first month and see how it changes. It's hard to explain the ageing process in the form of pallete, since it's different for each person. But in general ageing will give the beer flavors a chance to meld. Some of the more prominent aromas and flavors will give way to more subtle features of the beer. A lot of times it can also help to mellow the alcohol bite in higher alcohol beers.
DT
Generally how long does carbonation take?
That is a good idea to sample one beer a week to observe the changes over time. Thanks for your input
BrewRob wrote:
Generally how long does carbonation take?
Generally one to two weeks, but it depends a lot on the temperature at which the bottles are kept. If you put them in the fridge right away, it might take several weeks to months to carbonate, if they ever did. I usually just leave mine at room temperature, possibly in a warmer part of the house to carbonate since at this point you aren't going to get a bunch of funny flavors from the yeast.
DT
not being the most expierenced homebrewer,i think the ageing process is the hardest part.
after making a fine german lager,a week later i started a rather tasty irish ale ,both turned out to be cracking brews,
two months later they have both reached there prime and i only have 3 bottles left of the irish blend.
the lesson here is to brew alot more,and be more pacient.
I think Wheat is one of the few that is better the fresher it is. I don't let wheats age more than about two weeks before I start drinking them.
The first post and last post are spot on
Biss
Aging the brew I have read and learned on my first batch helps with the carbination and also helps the flavoring. My first batch (according to reciep) was ready to drink 10 days after bottling. I drank one 2 weeks after that and the taste was amazing compared to the first one. Less bitter and more aroma to it as well. I think the aging on most beers is great. I really like dark beers to be aged for a while (from my parents brew they would age beers that were porters and stouts for 3weeks before drinking.)
-DMP
I would think that aging your ale beyond the initial 1 week carbonation period is a matter of personal preference. There is no doubt that the beer mellows with time and takes on a different character. Who can wait a month though? That is just pure and simple torture.
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