Aging, Conditioning And Lagering Beers

[Ronin]

However can we refocus the discussion back to temperatures for aging rather than choice of dispensing vessel.

The brewing texts that I'm reading at the moment suggest that storing the beer at -1C for a few days is better than 2C for 2 weeks, etc. From what I'm reading seems like the colder the better for ageing beers.

James

 

[Thirsty Boy]

edit: Here is a link (not the one on homebrewtalk.com i mentioned previously, but I think it referring to the same paper. http://beersensoryscience.wordpress.com/20...-of-beer-aging/

Thank you for that link - the site it comes from looks like it's going to be very very useful to me indeed. Cheers.

OP - really, any changes you might get that you "want" from aging your beer warm - you are talking about a very short period. A few days or maybe a week - and warm is relative. Cellar temperatures, not room temperatures. For the most part, that sort of stuff should really happen more as a part of your fermentation regime. From a home brew perspective, that translates to a a few extra days at fermentation temperatures, raising to a diacetyl rest - things like that. Aside from that, there really isn't much "good" happening at warmer temps apart from carbonation if you are naturally conditioning. Perhaps not a power of bad, but nothing much good.

For the most part, you want to age/lager your beer as cold as you can. Its the cold itself that causes things to precipitate out of the beer. That article talked about polyphenols oxidising, polymerising and binding to protiens. This giving astringent harsh flavours and chill haze... Well, time in the cold makes that stuff fall to the bottom of the vessel, along with a pile of other stuff that is generally less soluble at lower temperatures and which also contributes to flavour profiles that are interpreted as harsh or biting or astringent. And the beer thats left over is "smooth", rounded, integrated, drinkable.

Actually aging a beer warm is generally asking to speed up the "bad" reactions and not get too many of the good.

There are exceptions of course, some higher abv beers need time to mellow and smooth out - and it could well be argued that flavours that would be considered off or aged flavours in lighter beers, are actually desirable in these sorts of beers - so there is no harm done. So you might decide to age a barleywine for a month or so at a room temp to speed up some of the reactions, then chill it down and age it cold for a week or two. And maybe that shorcuts what would be achieved by putting it in a chilled room for six months or a cool cellar for a year. But that sort of shortcutting thing is something that home and pro brewers work out by bitter experience - what works for one might well be a mistake for another.

In general - cold - the colder the better. What happens in a month at 4 happens in a couple of days at -2

TB

Edit - multiple typos ans bad spelling

 

[jonocarroll]

Lots to read there - great link too.

A couple of quick questions to add to the discussion; I now have a cold-conditioning fridge (4 fridges in a house of 2 people isn't too many, right?) so I'm going to start conditioning my beers properly. My plan is to keg and gas as normal, then put the keg in the CC fridge for as long as possible as cold as possible.

1. Will the CO₂ in solution change the clarification/maturation process?

2. Do I need to transfer (or better yet, filter) the beer after this, or will the unwanted stuff stay at the bottom of the keg (needs to be moved from the CC fridge to the keg fridge of course)?

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Co2 in solution probably will change a few things vs non carbonated.... But how i dont know, and the traditional "lagering" process was one that certainly occured with carbonated beer. So you can be fairly sure that a bit of co2 isn't going to hurt anything much.

I filter - and think that thats the best solution. It also means that you need a bit less time too, the filter capturing some of the stuff that you would normally need to let time sort out. I think a filter at 1micron can cut the length of time you need to wait by a good two weeks.

Yu can transfer off the top if you are carefull about not disturbing the keg, and a nice long cold condition will give you beer like its been diltered and polyclared. Plus perhaps you'll get the legendary "creamy" muthfeel of a long lagered beer.

Of you can just keep it in the same keg and serve.... But the stuff in the bottom is a bit fluffy IMO, so you want to be pretty sure that the keg isn't knocked, jiggled etc. Isinglass/gelatin might help a little if youuse them as finings. At the right dose they can help gel together the solids that fall to the bottom and prvent them from being stirred up again.

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

they did an experiment on Basic Brewing radio recently and they demonstrated the huge affect heat has, I think from memory the Cellar and fridge temp come out on top, the really clear thing that came out of the show was don't stick your beer in the roof during summer!!


http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=radio

December 2, 2010 - BYO-BBR Bottle Aging Experiment
The guys endure severe weather to evaluate the Brew Your Own - Basic Brewing Radio experiment aging beer in different temperatures.

 

[jonocarroll]

Cheers. I've had an ESB and a cider chilled down to whatever the fridge gets down to (stupid fridge thermostats - somewhere between -4 and +4 I think) which I'll try tonight to see if there's any difference yet. I've also got a pilsner that might just be good if the lagering works. I plan to eventually get a filter, but for now a gentle touch may have to do.

 

[MeLoveBeer]

This is an interesting discussion and one thats quite timely for me. I've always been one for extended time on the yeast cake with my brews (usually around 4-5 weeks with great results) and have recently been debating whether a keg conditioning chesty or more fermenting space would be of most benefit to my process. In light of this discussion, I think I'm in the market for a keg cold conditioning chesty...

I'm currently starting to brew a few bigger abv ales and am quite clueless as to how to age/condition them. Was thinking that prolonged time in the primary while slowly raising the temp to 24 degrees (approx 5 weeks total time in primary) then racking to a secondary and holding at the same 24 degrees to taste (till it smooths right out), then finally crashing the secondary for a while before kegging for long term cold conditioning. Does this sound about right?