Bottle aging...

[Vindaloo]

Hey all. Hope the weekend is working out good.

I'm about to get my beer fridge operational - I recently found an old fridge out in the shed and cleaned it up, painted it, etc. Here's my question.

Is it ok to age an ale in the fridge? Or will it stop the aging process? I want to put some ales in the fridge to get them out of the way, but they are only about a week in the bottle so far. Would it be ok to leave them in the fridge for the rest of their lives?

I've also got a fruity Blonde going, will it be ok to age this in the fridge also?

Cheers all,

Vinds.

 

[sboulton]

i believe i have read somewhere ( dont ask me where :blink: )
that you can condition a beer quicker in the fridge whether its an ale or a lager

i will try and find where i read it , try lookin up lagering on the net i think that is how i found it
but yes im sure it mentions ales also




simon :chug:

 

[kook]

I was personally under the beleif that refrigeration of an ale whilst aging it would retard / slow the ageing process. I could be wrong on that though, as I cant remember where I read it.

 

[Vindaloo]

kook : That's what I would have thought, ie, lager yeasts function at lower temps, while an ale yeast would not function at a lower temp at all. Hmm.

No doubt there will be conflicting opinions anyway, this is the internet after all

Vinds.

 

[sboulton]

guys i put the question to the aust .craft brewers site and this is what i got back


"To 'lager' means to cold condition the beer, so certainly you can lager your
ales. A lager beer is the term generally used to describe beers fermented in
cold conditions using a lager yeast, which are then lagered."

my thanks to Gavin Scarman for the info.

lets remember that primary fermentation yeast temp is the critical "temp"
cold conditioning ( lagering) is to clear , condition and reduce chill haze

regards simon :chug:

 

[Vindaloo]

I just accidentally deleted this post and had to re-type it.... no, I'm at work, I haven't been drinking

Anyway.

So, in people's opinions, will the taste of the ale crispen out to be more 'lager-like' (for want of a better term) ? I'm aiming directly in the centre of the ale style, not too light, yet not really heavy. The brew has been stored in bottles in a dark cupboard for a week, and has cleared out nicely, with a bit of sediment in the bottom of the bottles. This is due to the fact that I used quite a bit of honey in the brew, and also because I couldn't rack it to a secondary fermentation.

This was due to the fact that my second carboy is wrapped up and sitting underneath my girlfriend's Christmas tree. I'm also getting a fretless bass guitar - which cost about 10 times the amount that the carboy did, my own Christmas and birthday present, to me - but I eagerly await the use of both presents with the same amount of anticipation.

Disturbed, me? :blink:

Vinds.

 

[Vindaloo]

How do I delete posts in this forum? Can't find the button.



V.

 

[PMyers]

This is due to the fact that I used quite a bit of honey in the brew, and also because I couldn't rack it to a secondary fermentation.

Vinds - I would have thought that the addition of honey into the brew would not have been responsible for the large amount of sediment. I make meads on occasion, and have found that honey drops very little sediment (somewhere in the order of about 3 - 5mm's depth in a 25 litre batch of mead using around 6 kg of honey is average). I think the high sediment deposit in your bottles might simply be attributed to not racking to a secondary.
I could be wrong, but I just thought I would point out my own experience in the use of honey. Any one else got any thoughts on the matter?

Cheers,
Pete

:chug:

 

[Vindaloo]

I think the high sediment deposit in your bottles might simply be attributed to not racking to a secondary.

Yes, this is what I thought as well, but I was just pondering the issue - the honey I used was around 82-83% fermentable, and this meant that there were more non-fermentables in the brew, causing more sediment, etc. Is this the correct train of thought? The brew was cloudy when I bottled it - but then again all my brews have been. Looking at my other brews in comparison, however, tells me that honey generates more sediment, all other things being equal.

Vinds.

 

[PMyers]

As for your cloudiness, I can only go once again by my experience with meads which tend to take several months of aging and racking from carbouy to carbouy in order to clear. I would imagine that this would carry over somewhat into beer.

Cheers,
Pete

:chug:

 

[Vindaloo]

On a side note, Pete, I've never actually tasted a genuine mead - can you recommend a good commercial brew (if that's not an oxymoron )?

From what I can recall of the brewing process, it's more like wine, isn't it? pH controlling, and all that. And technically, isn't mead *only* honey & water? Personally, I'm more interested in brewing Braggots, but what the hell, it's all very interesting to read/talk about! B)

Cheers!

Vinds.

 

[PMyers]

Mead does require a little extra care and attention than beer. Honey isn't very acidic so acids must be added, as well as nutrient salts etc... just to make the yeast happy enough to start fermenting. Mead is also slow aging, with some examples taking upwards of eight to ten years to mature. As for the taste, that depends on what you are trying to achieve. I normally go for the dry meads, which tend a little towards that of a white wine. Most of my dry meads have little to no honey character in the first few months of aging, and it doesn't normally come through until at least ten months. Of course then you have the fruit meads, braggots, metheglin etc... In fact the methods of making mead could fill its own forum, but since it definately isn't everyone's cup of tea - so to speak - I'll try not to take up too much space here.
At any rate, you can try the following;
GotMead
or
rec.crafts.meadmaking in your news reader

Cheers,
Pete

:chug:

 

[Vindaloo]

Thanks for the reply and link Pete. The search continues for a commercial mead. <_<

So, getting back to the original question, I'm guessing that lagering my ale won't damage the flavour - or the aging process? Or is that still up in the air? I've tried one of them after only a week in the bottle, and whilst green, it's a promising brew. I would drink it as it is, but I know better than that... hehe.

Vinds.

 

[SIMO]

Vindaloo,

Freltless basses always seem to work better after consuming a few well conditioned beers.
Intonation improves as does tone.

Stick on the Jaco then,
Drink/play/drink/play/drink/play.

Abmin7#5#11

Happy sounding Xmas
SiMo

 

[Vindaloo]

Good idea!!

I think I'd go with Martin, Medeski and Wood though... or maybe some Mingus. Classic.

Or, stick on London Elektricity's "Pull the Plug"/drink/play along/drink/etc.


Vinds.

 

[PMyers]

Vinds - Sorry for not answering your post fully. I got carried away with the whole taste and clearing issues in my last post and forgot you asked for commercial examples. Unfortunately, while there are several commercial meads available in Australia, none of them are what I would call good examples. You can try the meadery at Mudgee, if your ever up (down? out?) that way but I urge you to steer well clear of the Maxwells brand offered at places like Liquorland. Trust me when I tell you it is cats p@ss.

Cheers,
Pete

:chug:

 

[Vindaloo]

Vinds - Sorry for not answering your post fully. I got carried away with the whole taste and clearing issues in my last post and forgot you asked for commercial examples. Unfortunately, while there are several commercial meads available in Australia, none of them are what I would call good examples. You can try the meadery at Mudgee, if your ever up (down? out?) that way but I urge you to steer well clear of the Maxwells brand offered at places like Liquorland. Trust me when I tell you it is cats p@ss.

Heh, it's all good. Hmm. I think there are a few places which keep bees (what are they called again?) around where I live, maybe they make their own. It's worth investigating, I guess.

Cheers for the heads up

Vinds.

 

[SIMO]

Vindaloo,

Three albums you should check out .

John Scofield

AGOGO
BUMP
UBERJAM

THE FIRST TWO HAVE MM&W AS THE RYTHM SEC EXELLENT STUFF for brewing drinking etc

Also Charlie hunter is cool too. Bass and guitar all at once !!!!!

SiMo
Bbm9#5

 

[Vindaloo]

Charlie Hunter isn't cool. He's the new Messiah. But enough of that.

I didn't know that Sco played with MM&W - and Sco is good, yet annoys me sometimes - can't he get rid of that tone!?!?! I mean, I know he's a fusion player, and that calls for certain tones, but I mean.... change it , just once? PLEASE?! hehehe

Heard "Uninvisible" by MM&W yet? It's crazy

Vinds.

 

[SIMO]

Vinds maybe we could do some music swappin. (i've got a burner, protools etc)

Yeah i know what you mean about the Earlier Scofield stuff.
He's turned the chorus pedal off for these albums and they are really funky.
Which charlie albums have you got.
I'd love to here the album you mentioned, I've only got a radio edits cd of mm&w plus the scofield stuff.
Cd's and a couple of stubbies would make an interesting package don't you reckon.
You west or east coast (brissie my self)

Avatar studios in NYC records alot of these artists an interesting place to be.
Anyway maybe we should talk off the site as this ain't really about brewing merely musical inspiration whilst brewin/drinkin.

SiMo G#augb9