# Conditioning In Fridge



## PAPPAS (8/4/10)

Is it possible to condition bottled beer in the fridge or must it be in the cupboard at ambient temp,(central QLD).


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## Pennywise (8/4/10)

Once it's carbed up yes you can put it in the fridge to mature. But it must be at around ferment temps for the yeasties to eat up the sugaz or they'll just go dormant.


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## Cube (8/4/10)

I think it was Ross who said in a previous thread that conditioning beer is best done in batches ie: the whole brew in one vessel not bottles. Something to the effect that the more volume the better the conditioning. I condition my beer in a 140L bar fridge in a jerry can. Whilst it's there I gelatine and polyclar. Great clear as beer.


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## the_yobbo (8/4/10)

Homebrewer79 said:


> Once it's carbed up yes you can put it in the fridge to mature. But it must be at around ferment temps for the yeasties to eat up the sugaz or they'll just go dormant.




Um, confusing sets in.

Ok, so conditioning, weather in a bottle or in a cube, keg, whatever, requires the yeast to be active (ferment temps)? 

I'm still new to all the lingo, but I assume when bottling that the first two weeks are beer carbing. This needs to be at ferment temps. After that it is bottle conditioning time. However, I'm unsure the answer myself to the question in mind... is it better to bottle condition in a dark cool place (as per K&K instructions) such as a cupboard at 12-20 degrees, or sitting in a fridge sitting at 2-4 degrees?


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## BjornJ (8/4/10)

I think it depends on if you are talking about "maturing" or "lagering" the beer.

I asked a similar thing on this thread, if you want to read this one as well:

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...amp;hl=bamforth 


After the bottles have completely carbed up and the yeast has fallen to the bottom of the bottles, you can mature the beer by leaving it at room temperature for several months. Like on the Coopers European Lager can, it says "best after 12 weeks in the bottle".

Then you have the book I link to in the above thread, where a brew scientist says there is no such thing as beer maturation, even though most homebrewers seem to disagree and I am one of them  

Then lagering is at cold temperatures, so the yeast has no role to play. It is about subtle changes, but again there seem to be clear changes happening. Lagers are often said to have to be stored at fridge temp for weeks or even months before sulphury tones go away in the taste. I am very new to lager brewing yet, so mostly just claiming what others have said here. My only true lager is still in the lagering fridge and after a couple of weeks still have sulphury tones so hoping they will go away with more cold storage.


Ales are usually not stored cold for extended periods of time after the bottles are ready and carbed as far as I know. You have exceptions like Kolsch beer which is a lager-like ale lagered after it is ready.
But most ales are just kept at room temp, a month or more after bottling you start drinking them and many with me claim they are better after 3 months in the bottle. 

What I have found is that maturing the beer or not, the bottles are MUCH clearer after two weeks in the fridge before drinking them as gravity settle out more and more particles.

thanks
Bjorn


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## kelbygreen (8/4/10)

yeah bjorn pretty much explained what I know. I am only new to brewing to and I done a lager 4 weeks ago it was 2 weeks in fermenter and has been 2 weeks in the cube at about 4 deg. I also figured out even though fermentation has finished that you need to crack the lid a little, I forgot to check mine for 3 days and it looked like the cube was about to burst  

But as said and from what I can gather (not saying I am right, could be few things wrong I say) there is conditioning (usually done at cold temperatures, more to clear the beer), lagering (like conditioning but usually for lagers and kept at low temps for 4-6 weeks) and there is maturing (usually in cube, bottle or keg at room temp or preferred as close to ferment temps as possible, but thats always hard unless you have 10 fridges and alot of money to pay the bill)


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## Nick JD (9/4/10)

Conditioning and Lagering are not the same thing. 

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter8-3.html


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## jakub76 (9/4/10)

I recently did a test with a batch of APA. After a week in bottles at room temp I moved half of the batch into the fridge to lager at 4 degrees C. It was interesting comparing the bottle conditioned and the lagered examples side-by-side. After about 3 weeks the difference was huge, people would think it was a different recipe.
As well as being crystal clear, the lagered example presented more crisp hops flavour. The regular bottle conditioned beer seemed 'softer' on the palette, probably the yeast still floating around. It was also considerably cloudier. 
After 2 months the hops flavour started to dissipate from the bottle conditioned beer, the lagered beer's hop flavour also started to change a bit - slightly less biting/acidic but it was still very hop-forward.
Now I will try to lager everything but my weizens.


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## Oatlands Brewer (9/4/10)

Depends if you mean cold conditioning or bottle conditioning PAPPAS.

I personaly cold condition all my brews once i deem fermentation to have ended.
Basicly my fermenters are always in the fridge under the control of a TEMP-MATE anyway, so once ferm is finished i just adjust the temps to crash chill and the maintain 2degC for a further week or so. ive never had to use fining agents and my beer is crystal clear depending on yeast used and what it throughs in the bottle.

Now bottle conditioning is different in that it starts as a second fermentaion that carbs the beer and then really your beer "conditions or ages" from then after until its drunk, as has been said before the carbing bit needs to happen at fermentation temps and after that its really up to you, the only consideration i make is if the place i store my bottles gets to hot in summer which can affect the beer as can direct sunlight.

i once made a batch and had it sitting on a shelf that i thought was out of direct sun, only to come home early one day and find the bloddy thing was in streaming sunshine throught the skylight


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