drinking time

[stever13]

hi everyone im new to this home brewing and i am so excited about it all. i cant say my partner is but.lol anyway i have a question and it is how long is the best time to leave my bottled beer before i can drink it with it been carbonated and left long enough to taste great.

 

thanks everyone

steve

[GrahamB8]

Welcome to the forums mate,

Your question really depends on the beer style, darker, maltier and higher alcohol beers benefit from time in the bottle, hoppier tasting beers are best drank 'fresh' because the hop taste deteriorates.

 

I have Lambics and Dubbels in the cupboard that I brewed years ago and Im currently drinking an APA which I only kegged a couple of weeks ago.

 

Carbonation times vary with temps, I carb my bottles around 18\xb0c and they can take upto 4 weeks to carb correctly.

 

Good luck mate

[PhilboBaggins]

Welcome Steve.

 

It should be carbonated after 2 weeks, but it won't be anywhere near its best for flavour or head retention. I reckon any time after 6 weeks is okay, but if you can stand buying some store bought and letting it get to 10 weeks or more the difference is amazing. Best idea is to get hold of a massive collection of bottles and brew like mad until you have a couple hundred maturing in the cupboard. You may end up drinking a bit of young beer, but eventually you'll catch up to yourself and be drinking all well-aged deliciousness.

 

Have fun dude [happy]

[stever13]

thanks very much guys i dont mind waiting for it. after i bottle the beer i place them in milk creats and place them inside the house to keep warm for about a week is this right? then i move them to a cooler place of the house. if i leave them for a month in the cooler place they should be ok to drink right. and just keep brewing more in the mean time so i build them up. iv been brewing for a couple of months now and the only thing is im thinking of getting into kegs because i cant see myself wanting to wash and sterilize bottles every time i make beer. i know its only early days and i have a long way to go but thats my plans for later on. but if i can get a stockpile of beer in the mean time all is good.

thaks again guys

[PhilboBaggins]

After a month, there are very few beers I've made which haven't been fully carbonated and awesome. If you've got the patience to leave your VERY FIRST BATCH until a month then you're a far better man than I was!!

 

I've been brewing for about seven or eight years now, and I've always bottled. Sure it's a pain, but you get into a rhythm and I can get all mine washed and sterilised in an hour and a half. If SWMBO has gone out, I crank some killer tunes and have a beer during. If she's home, I wear headphones and have a beer during! It'll get easier once you've got some killer homebrew in your glass to remind you why you're putting in all the hard work.

 

Not that there's anything wrong with kegging either[biggrin]!!

[stever13]

oh dont worrie i do try them i just am going to wait now on lol i really want to do this the right way any enjoy it. and i really am liking it. there is not to many that i know of that live near me that make home brew so im glad people on here are nice enough to help me

 

cheers everyone

[LordEoin]

after 5 weeks I can't taste the difference...

I just stick a brew on every week if possible and have an 8 week backlog now.

Buying a cheapo box of beer everynow and then helps, especially if you're planning on going on a bender. One night's partying can make aserious hit in your supplies. (but it provides more bottlesfor the next brew) [biggrin]

[Otto Von Blotto]

Best idea is to get hold of a massive collection of bottles and brew like mad until you have a couple hundred maturing in the cupboard.

 

That's exactly what I've been doing, it's been helping with allowing them time to age. I currently have 4 batches (well 3 and a half now) bottled, makes it easier to catch up having 2 fermenters, although I am gonna try bulk priming on my latest brew so only doing one batch this fortnight.

 

Cheers,

Kelsey

[Guest]

@ 2 months they are 'getting' nice,

 

@ 3 months they are "GREAT"

 

Im currently heading toward a supply that is 4 months old by the time I get to it..

 

20 milk crates with 14 longnecks per crate [innocent] all stacked nicely in the basement at a pretty cool 12\xb0c

 

as I dont get to them for a few months, Im happy to let them slowly carb in the cooler temps, having said that I do usually have a few Grolsch bottles inside to carb quicker and try them at 6 - 10 weeks.

 

More age (but not too much) is better in my book but is bloody hard to achieve with only a single FV.

 

Im running a constant 3 FV's at pretty much any given point now so am starting to be able to get the stocks up,

 

The end goal is 20-26 crates in stock and then only brew when the bottles become available, which is about every 2 weeks

 

Yob

[King Ruddager]

hi everyone im new to this home brewing and i am so excited about it all. i cant say my partner is but.lol

Hah! I'm going through exactly the same thing at the moment. I get way too enthusiastic when I start something like this and she's sick to death of hearing about it. Poor thing!

[WayneC8]

hi everyone im new to this home brewing and i am so excited about it all. i cant say my partner is but.lol

Hah! I'm going through exactly the same thing at the moment. I get way too enthusiastic when I start something like this and she's sick to death of hearing about it. Poor thing!

 

Haha, my wife is feeling the same way now. She got me a DIY kit for my birthday and has had to listen to me jibbering about beer, going out to the shed to ensure temperature is correct and of course stopping in at the brew store every second day!! [biggrin]