Pet Bottle Conditioning

[pomybstard]

hi all,

while browsing through the forum and other brewing sites i have noticed many of you advise leaving beer to mature in the bottles for up to six months
It never lasts that long in my house i usually start drinking it after about two/three weeks and plough through it.
If i was to leave it for longer how much would it improve,would it be a vast improvement???
Thanks in advance, cheers and beers dave

P.S i usually brew a coopers pale ale style,have tried a fresh wort kit, last night bottled a brewcraft little creatures style and this morning put down a kit & kilo coopers with a few extra hops

 

[blackbock]

I reckon most beer is definitely past its prime by 6 months - except for a few stronger and darker types which need the extra time to condition and age. After about 9 months the oxidised taste usually starts to appear and especially in PET bottles, which are not totally impermeable to oxygen. Kegged beer is a different matter. The combination of refrigeration, stainless and CO2 seems to preserve much better.

At the moment I have a batch of six month old American IPA in bottles and it's already lost its edge in hop flavour and generally headed downhill from here.

 

[joecast]

funny, ive got the same problem. bottles never last long enough to "age".

solution: brew more so you can enjoy different batches in rotation!

to answer your question though, conditioning will have different results depending on the beer. bigger beers will benefit more from extended conditioning, while smaller beers might not see much change after say two or three months.
eventually though, a beer will start to deteriorate if left too long. though even six months shouldnt do much damage to any beer. i would think most will last ok up to a year if kept in good conditions.

as for how they improve, its hard to describe. hops usually lose their "edge" and the malts well...yeah, hard to describe. hope that helps

my routine is to leave the bottles at a warmer temp for two weeks to carbonate, then move to a cool dark place. try a bottle after three weeks (if i can wait) and judge from there. most will continue conditioning for another few weeks to the point that i can notice an improvement. after that, its every bottle for itself.
joe

 

[new2brew]

my routine is to leave the bottles at a warmer temp for two weeks to carbonate, then move to a cool dark place. try a bottle after three weeks (if i can wait) and judge from there. most will continue conditioning for another few weeks to the point that i can notice an improvement. after that, its every bottle for itself.
joe

Thats top advice. Remembering most commercial brewries leave there product to ciondition for about 3 weeks before it hits the shelf, Well at least I know cascade does that

 

[KGB]

You don't have to leave ALL the bottles for that long pomybastard, just try and get your new batch going sooner so you can set a few aside from each batch and see how they change over a couple of months. Like joecast said - you just need to brew more!
I've found a few months can make a massive difference to what starts out as a pretty bad beer, lol, so always keep the crap batches as well and give them some time to age a bit.

 

[Muggus]

I'm not sure whether it had something to do with using PET bottles for my brew or not, but I remember leaving a bottle of brew to age for 9 months on a shelf in my cellar. At some point during that 9 months we had the floors of the room above my cellar polished, which stunk the house out for quite a while etc etc. Anyway, when I finally cracked the bottle of beer it had a distinctive "vanish" like flavour to it that wasn't in any of the other brews.
Is there a chance that the strong smell of the floor polishing seeped through the PET bottle and into the brew? Because all of my other beers bottled in glass were fine after having the floor done.

 

[KGB]

Yep, the PET is porous to chemicals like that. I remember about some dude who stored his in his wardrobe and ended up with mothball flavoured beer.

 

[Wheels5]

Oh Crap!!!!. I have my PET bottled beer sitting at 20c in my home made foam hot box. Problem is the faom smells. I hope my beer is not gunna smell like the foam.... DOH!!!!

 

[ironxmortlock]

I'm sure it's not just me;

I've travelled to many interesting places and I've never bought, or seen, a beer in a plastic bottle. I resisted PET bottles as there just seems to be something unwholesome about beer served from plastic.

M :icon_cheers:

 

[citizensnips]

I'm sure it's not just me;

I've travelled to many interesting places and I've never bought, or seen, a beer in a plastic bottle. I resisted PET bottles as there just seems to be something unwholesome about beer served from plastic.

M :icon_cheers:

Ironxmortlock i totaly agree with you on that one. Even though it may be easier than using bottles i have refused to serve my beer in plastic. Theres something about cracking a crown seal that makes it all worth it.

 

[Dav22]

I'm sure it's not just me;

I've travelled to many interesting places and I've never bought, or seen, a beer in a plastic bottle. I resisted PET bottles as there just seems to be something unwholesome about beer served from plastic.

M :icon_cheers:

Latvia in Europe sell beer in glass and plastic and the plastic bottled beer is always cheap and nasty. Definitely puts me off from bottling with PET bottles.

 

[brettprevans]

for what its worth, i resisteed PET until i read enough forums and opinions to say that it was ok to use. I still mainly use glass but use PET on brews that I know im going to drink pretty fast (within a couple of months). PET has a lot of advantages (like a couple in each batch so you can easily twll if the brew is carbonated).

any long term conditioning beers i make go into glass. I certainly havent tasted any differance between PET and glass, but I also havent let any of my PET beers be left for over 6 months.

as for conditioning in general. I age all my beers. big beer (stouts etc) need conditioning. wheat beers, APAs and highly hopped beers probably need to be drunk fairly early. It also depends on whwether your K&K or AG. You can drink AG a lot sooner without any taste issues (or so im lead to beleve)

 

[Paxton]

Wonderful PET bottles. I have done one (and only one) beer in PET, which was a 4.5% Ginger Beer. Every time I put the Bottles anywhere near the fridge they'd go flat. I had them conditioning for about 3 months before I opened them, as I tried the Carb drops too.

Switched to LongNecks, and the beer is fine. Carbs up nicely, no off tastes, and because I know there is a seal, as I only have about 36 Twist Top Longies.

As for the PET Bottles - well, they went in the Recycling. I don't have much use for them.

 

[Stuster]

like a couple in each batch so you can easily tell if the brew is carbonated

I do just that too. Saves you from trying beers before they are carbonated. I even do it for bigger beers, but those are the testers that get sacrificed early. Also handy if you want to send a beer by post.

 

[Inge]

In defense of PET bottles...

As long as you get the ones which have a vinyl lining, which stops the plastic from being porous, they appear work just as well. Also, they have the added benefit of being almost childproof.

I think plastic has a stigma it doesn't deserve

 

[petesbrew]

Each to their own.

While I do admit it's a lot nicer pouring a beer out of glass,I do love my PET bottles.
They're easier to bottle, which is probably the main advantage for lazy arses like me.
Just don't include them in a case swap. I don't anymore h34r:

 

[dibby33]

Yep, the PET is porous to chemicals like that. I remember about some dude who stored his in his wardrobe and ended up with mothball flavoured beer.

Could this be used to add extra flavours? i.e. dump the bottles in a box of coffee grounds / put a vanila pod in the carton / Store them in a bag with hops?

 

[Plastic Man]

Another advantage of using a few PETS each brew is that you can carbonate them up with a carbonation cap and start enjoying the batch while the glass bottles are conditioning. Sort of an entree....

I usually fill 2 x 2l Pets, put in fridge and gas up the next day. Great if you are a bit impatient !! They certainly don't last long though so no issues there.

Just a tad off topic - but if you condition in a 2 litre PET bottle you get a fair bit of yeast in the bottom - due to the volume. Would be a great source if you wanted to re-use some yeast from the batch.