Putting Beer In Fridge After Fermentation

[jimi007]

Hi

I'm new to brewing and am currently making up coopers pale ale with BE2 and coopers pale ale kit.

Just wanted to know how soon after you put the beer in the bottles can you put them in the fridge. Do you have to wait 2 weeks minimum? And after you put them in fridge will this affect the quality of the beer or is it best to wait longer than 2 weeks?

Any help appreciated

thanks

 

[wambesi]

Hi

I'm new to brewing and am currently making up coopers pale ale with BE2 and coopers pale ale kit.

Just wanted to know how soon after you put the beer in the bottles can you put them in the fridge. Do you have to wait 2 weeks minimum? And after you put them in fridge will this affect the quality of the beer or is it best to wait longer than 2 weeks?

Any help appreciated

thanks

Welcome jimi007 to your new hobby!

Usually they will need 2-3 weeks to carb up, and thats at a decent room temp, no really cold stuff or it might not carb up good.
A handy way (which I and many others do) is use 1 or 2 PET (plastic coopers or similar) bottles when bottling so you can squeeze it and test how carbed up they are.
You dont have to stick them all in the fridge either, I have had lots of bottles in the cupboard for months and as long as the garage didn't turn into an oven they have been fine.
Depending on what you have added to the brew it can get better with age, and then sometimes get worse later on, best way is to test them at different intervals and find out for yourself their "peak" age.

Hope that helps!

 

[itguy1953]

Hi

I'm new to brewing and am currently making up coopers pale ale with BE2 and coopers pale ale kit.

Just wanted to know how soon after you put the beer in the bottles can you put them in the fridge. Do you have to wait 2 weeks minimum? And after you put them in fridge will this affect the quality of the beer or is it best to wait longer than 2 weeks?

Any help appreciated

thanks

Carbonation time depends a lot on temperature and the yeast you used. With the Coopers kit you will have an ale yeast which will stop fermenting at under 10degC, so best to bring the bottles inside and keep them in the laundry to keep warm. Try not to get them to hot. Aim for under 25degC. They should carb up within 2 weeks, but they will get better after 4 weeks as the hop bitterness will mellow.

If you use a lager yeast, they will operate more slowly but remain active down to 4-5degC. They will also appreciate the warmer temp (inside) to carb up the bottles. Lager yeast are great to use this time of the year, as you do not need to heat the fermenter. However, fermentation can take 2 weeks at 10degC.

Best idea is to get a second fermenter asap, and have 2 brews going at once, then bottle up as you go, wait the 4+ weeks and drink some, whilst still building up a stockpile for summer. Sooner or later you will find yourself drinking beer that is at least 4 weeks in the bottle.

Once you get sick of bottling, you can consider kegging. You can drop a brew out of a fermenter one evening, chill it for 24 hours in the fridge, force carbonate the following evening, and start drinking it that night. It is still better to secondary ferment in the keg for 2-4 weeks, but if your desperate for a cold one asap, kegging is the way to go. You also save heaps of time with minimal bottles to wash.

Barry

 

[EK]

Welcome to the obsession hobby.

Up here in Brisbane the temps at this time of year can mean that the beer will need a month or more to carb up.

Personally I try to brew a few batches ahead so that I can easily leave my beer for several months before the beer I just brewed is the 'youngest' of what I have in bottles. This means that there is ample time for carbonation/maturation.

Also, when it is colder I find that if carbonation does not occur in the first month, then it can take a lot longet for it to occur. I would suggest that you leave the bottles in a warmish place in the house and let them go for at least a month.

:icon_cheers:
EK

 

[butters73]

I'll definately back what EK said, I'm in Central Queensland(Biloela), we've had a couple of weeks when temps were down to 6 and 8 degrees and 25 during the day( so I'm not sure what the bottle temp would've been. I've tried a brew that was a month old and tasted very green and just carbed, I then opend a CPA that was 3 weeks in the bottle and was half flat and still sweet with the carbo drops. So I'll have to be patient. Kingo.

 

[quachy]

Kinda off topic but kinda on topic, how do people store their beer for aging in the summer? What temps do damage to our precious amber fluid?

Back to topic, being new to this "hobby" myself, I would definately agree with all of the above. Leave them in there for at least 4 wks, but I think you'll find that that te beer will taste tons better after 3mths.

Quachy

 

[matti]

2 weeks @ 18+-2 degre
6 weeks @12-16 degrees.
regular beer is best @3 months in bottle.
if you keep them refrigerated they last over a year.
But I am drinking my woeful Czech Pils after 4 weeks.


who am I to give advise hiccup
:icon_drunk: