Hi, all. I’m new to this – on my second batch now, but I have the feeling I’m hooked…
One question I have from reading different forum posts.
I’ve read a lot of comments about waiting and being patient.
Is that a general rule of thumb? I’m in NO hurry to drink the beer I brew. There are decent beers to buy in Milwaukee. 
So my question is…
If a recipe says to wait 2-4 weeks in secondary, should I just go ahead and assume wait for 4 weeks?
Would it be better to wait, say, 10 weeks in secondary?
If I can bottle condition for 3 weeks, is that better than 1-2weeks?
I know the answer here is probably to use a hydrometer, but I don’t have that and I’m not sure I’m going that way.
What’s your general advice?
Is waiting always better?
Examples:
Red Ale
American Amber Ale
Rye Porter
Thanks!
[quote=“masquelle”]Hi, all. I’m new to this – on my second batch now, but I have the feeling I’m hooked…
One question I have from reading different forum posts.
I’ve read a lot of comments about waiting and being patient.
Is that a general rule of thumb? I’m in NO hurry to drink the beer I brew. There are decent beers to buy in Milwaukee.
So my question is…
If a recipe says to wait 2-4 weeks in secondary, should I just go ahead and assume wait for 4 weeks?
Would it be better to wait, say, 10 weeks in secondary?
If I can bottle condition for 3 weeks, is that better than 1-2weeks?
I know the answer here is probably to use a hydrometer, but I don’t have that and I’m not sure I’m going that way.
What’s your general advice?
Is waiting always better?
Examples:
Red Ale
American Amber Ale
Rye Porter
Thanks![/quote]
I’ve brewed a handful of batches so far, and if it answers your question at all, the last bottle of every batch has been the best of the batch. So yes, waiting is good…
That being said, once in bottles, anyway, try one a week to see how the beer ages. Yes, save some for long term storage, but don’t deny yourself a homebrew once in a while.
[quote=“masquelle”]I know the answer here is probably to use a hydrometer, but I don’t have that and I’m not sure I’m going that way.[/quote]A hydrometer/refractometer, while not required to brew, is a really helpful tool. Until you know your recipes and your yeasts, if you don’t check your FG you won’t know when the beer is ready to rack (either to secondary or for bottling).
In response to your actual question - there is no one time frame that works for all beers. Waiting a little longer than what some people consider “normal” is usually a good thing when it comes to beer in primary - three weeks is usually plenty of time for all but really big beers. A long secondary is really only needed for bulk-aging or souring or with the addition of new fermentables (like fruit), so if a recipe says “two weeks” that’s probably a good time frame. Once bottled, keep the beer in the 70s, even the low 80s, and assuming that you have enough healthy yeast and priming sugar in the bottles, you should see solid carbonation in 7-10 days. At that point, unless you specifically want to age the beer, go ahead and get them cold.
This is one of the more debated topics and it is because it varies from brew to brew and from brewer to brewer. Some beers benefit for some aging like a good stout, a beer with a lot of flavors going on in it like your rebel rye porter or practically any big or complex beer. Lagering is a whole different ballgame of waiting and aging where it might be good at a month but that doesn’t mean it won’t be better at six months. Other beers are good right out of the primary like a lot of nice hop forward beers. Get that hop flavor and aroma at it’s peak, too much waiting might diminish it. Of course you can even drink these beers too soon in my opinion. Or even wait past the peak point of aging big beers.
And then beyond that debate over style there is the brewer and equipment differences to account for. While a Coffee Stout may be ready for one person pretty quickly because they used great ingredients, pitched a correct amount of healthy yeast and fermented at the lower end of the temperature spectrum it might take awhile for another brewer who did not do these things which resulted in some rough edges for the beer to smooth out through some aging.
So, in short: use good temperature control and follow proper yeast management and then drink it when it’s ready. :cheers:
I should chime in and note that I’ve only kegged about a dozen beers, but every time the keg kicks (last glass) I often wish I would have let the keg condition and lager a bit more before consuming. In fact, as I type, I’m enjoy one of three remaining bottles on NBs chinook IPA. This bottle in particular tastes much better than any previous. It was brewed back in early October. As mentioned though, each style lends itself to a time frame. I always save a bottle or two (if bottling) for a few months to taste flavor development. Additionally, everyone’s time frame is different due to their palate/ taste preferences.
I do kind of wonder, in retrospect (haven’t finished a batch since August), if the “last bottles are better” phenomenon is related to my being sad to see a batch go, particularly a really good batch. I do think that, with moderate gravity beers (say, 1.050 - 1.065) some are “mature” after 2 weeks in primary and 1 week in the bottle, while others are “mature” at 4 weeks in primary and 3 weeks in the bottle. As I made more and more batches, I increasingly found it difficult to discern much difference beyond that amount of aging. On the other hand, 2 weeks primary + 1 week in the bottle is definitely entering crap shoot territory as far as the beer being ready and carbed. So, 3 weeks is my min for primary and I always try to wait 2 weeks after bottling before cracking one…I rarely succeed, though 
.
That said, the one big beer I’ve made was a custom Belgian Dubbel with an OG of 1.074, and it went through some very interesting changes as it aged. I brewed that on 4/21 last year, left it in primary for a month, secondary for another month, and just finished the batch last weekend. 2 weeks after bottling it was pretty good, but not great. 2 months after bottling, it had developed some weird flavor that was almost sour. I kinda thought it had gone bad. Finally, at about 4 -5 months after bottling (so, 6 - 7 months after brewing), it hit its sweet spot and stabilized there. Everything kinda settled down and it became really enjoyable.
