How long do you age your brews?

I’ve gotten in the habit of giving my brews about 6 weeks from brew day to kegging day (mostly out of laziness). Sometimes, I’ll let it go longer, but usually it’s not more than 2 months (because I run out of beer to drink). Typically, I leave a brew in the primary for 2 weeks, then I rack it to secondary, and let it sit for another month.

I’ve read posts on here talking about how a brew is ready to drink after 2 weeks, and I’m always surprised. I mean, I know that it’s done fermenting, so it’s technically drinkable, but I’d like to think that the extra time in the secondary lets it clear, and lets the flavors meld/mellow.

How long do all of you let your brews age?

If its over 1.050 or requires specialty ingredients in the secondary around six weeks from secondary to pint glass. if its a low gravity beer or requires nothing other then a fermentation/cleaning phase about four weeks secondary to pint glass. most beers I’ll tap into the keg about a week after kegging. Laggering is another story all together. it could be up to four - six months before I tap it.

I go two to four weeks in primary. Secondary for the same amount of time if it’s a high gravity beer or I’m dryhopping. Then at least 2 weeks bottle conditioning. I’ll try a beer after 2 weeks in the bottle and have had a few that are good right then, but most get real good at about 4-5 weeks. I have a Patersbier that was good after 4 weeks primary and 1 week in the bottle. I also have a Rye IPA that’s been in the bottle for almost 4 weeks now and is still green. So it all depends on the style I guess, but 2-4weeks primary, 2-4weeks secondary if necessary and 2-4weeks in bottle.

when i get in the brewing mood i make 25 5 gal kegs worth, so some get drank within a month and some might sit for 3-4 months of longer.depends on how thirsty i am :mrgreen:

That is a ton of beer. I make about 10 gallons per month, and I need my friends and my wife to help me drink it all. You’re brewing enough to have about 25 gallons per month; How do you drink it all? You must either you have 4 beers with every meal, or you water your lawn with it.

I don’t have a set time for aging. It depends on the beer. I taste it and let it tell me when it’s ready to drink.

Pretty much my attitude as well. Drink it when it tastes right to you.

For me, generally speaking, average beers get anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks of aging by the time I start consuming them.
But my porter, IPA, and other stronger beers (including Burton/Barleywine/Old) get far longer aging times…like 6 months to a year. They taste very good as young beers, but they taste incredible after a long rest. Long aging for the strong beers is not a problem, if you brew enough.

My meads get an average of 5 years, but I have aged them as long as 15 years.

3-4 weeks in primary for most of mine. Even been dry hopping in the primary lately after active fermentation has subsided. I primary my big beers for 3 weeks and secondary for 3-4 months.

[quote=“NinjaBob”]
That is a ton of beer. I make about 10 gallons per month, and I need my friends and my wife to help me drink it all. You’re brewing enough to have about 25 gallons per month; How do you drink it all? You must either you have 4 beers with every meal, or you water your lawn with it.[/quote]

10gals wouldn’t work out at my house either. I brew 20+gals a month and have a keg blow once a week.

Man, I’m chomping at the bit because I have a mead that’s nearly a year old.

I don’t know how you guys drink more than 10 gallons / month. 10 gal / month is about 2.67 pints per day, every day. You must have more friends (or thirstier friends) than I do. Then again, I still spend a lot of money at bars; if I only drank my own beer, I’d probably go through more.