So I finished up secondary fermentation and finally put my batch of Double IPA into the bottles. I used corn sugar for carbonation. Generally, it is 2 weeks I think for the carbonation to do it's thing in the bottle, but since I put so many hops into this beer I want to drink it as fresh as possible to savor the flavors and bitterness. How long does the beer need to be in the bottle in order for me to put it in to my fridge, let it sit for a day and then drink it? Is 2 weeks the general consensus?
You can drink open one up after 2 weeks to see how its carbing, and taste. If it is fresh and has the carb, then throw em in the fridge and enjoy! I've also heard of people tasting them after 1 week too. Cheers!
You can get away with a couple days if you absolutely have to, but they will not taste as amazing as they should. They will be under carbed, and have acetaldehyde. I would wait the two weeks then get a couple in the fridge to chill. If they are carbed up and taste right then move the rest to the fridge.
For my hoppy beers I typically keep them in warmer temps while carbing, and I also spin the bottles twice a day. I can typically drink a fully carbed beer in a weeks time. With other style's I take my time.
If you absolutely cannot stand the idea of waiting, then keep all of them warm at least until you open a bottle that is fully carbonated. You will regret not waiting once you get that first bottle that is finally ready. After you swallow your regret, then you can chill and enjoy the rest of them.
I may catch flack foe this, but I try mine within 3 or 4 days of bottling. Most if the time they're just slightly carbed, but it does give me an idea of how it turned out
Thanks boys. I also tasted the beer pre-bottling and it was quite flat (to be expected) but also had very little bitterness, even though I have 12 total ounces of hops on this one. Does the carbonation help the bitter factor? Will I get some up front bitterness once it's carbed up?
I enjoy tasting the beer flat when bottling, and yes I do find that bitterness is enhanced with carbonation with a beer tried before and afterward. Also, I don't fault anyone for trying the beer early. But you will wish you had waited when you are enjoying the last one several weeks later, more often than not.
I usually try one after 5 or 6 days. It's usually about half carbed by then. Keep it warm, room temp or warmer, to ensure fast carb.
I try my first bottle after one week, then after week two. Two weeks is a standard for good reason and all of mine have been perfect by then. However... Don't be too finicky with age. Today I cracked open my DIPA that I bottled July 3rd... So about two and a half months old. Probably the best bottle yet... Sadly, only three bombers remain now. The aroma is more impressive, the flavors, etc... It has matured, I suppose... But I like it better now than my fresh bottles two weeks old. The hop aroma was incredible. I am sure it depends on the hops used and all that... I had a pretty hefty variety of cascade, citra, amarillo, chinook, simcoe and I am sure another one or two. So it will probably hold up better than say a citra hop only brew. Give it the two weeks to fully carb and another few days in the fridge prior to having them... They will be perfectly fresh three weeks later or so...
Carbonation helps with the aromatics, and aroma is a huge part of the taste of anything, so, yes, your hop character should show up better once the beer is carbonated. I agree with a couple mentions above about waiting past the carbonation phase and allowing the beer flavors to condition a bit more in the bottle. I think hoppy beers especially begin to mature at about the third week after bottling. The carbonation is likely going to be okay for drinking after 10 days, but if you can sit tight another 10 days or so, you'll maximize the flavor experience of your beer. Have a few after the 10th day, but save the bulk of them for drinking after the 20th day or so.
FWIW my hoppy beers seem to become noticeably better at 3-4 weeks post bottling compared with 2 weeks. But my latest IPA is now 9 days post bottling and I still have a hard time not sampling it...
This is exactly why I started kegging. My IPAs got much better when I started kegging. I think it has a lot to do with avoiding the two week sitting at room temp to carb. Also, reduced oxidization.
I try mine after 7 days to check the carb. and so far they have turned out great. I will not open another one up until after 2 weeks and you can really taste the difference that 1 week makes on the flavor of the hops and bitterness.
Wait it out for at least a week. I generally try one of my bottled beers every week to see how it's carbing up. I don't taste any noticeable difference in the freshness of an IPA after 1 week compared to 4-5 weeks. I brewed a DIPA that still had fresh hop character even after 5 months in the bottle. It really all depends on how much oxygen was exposed to it when transferring/bottling. I also noticed that priming with simple table sugar or brown sugar carbs beers up quicker than those packets of corn sugar. I'm guessing it's just a simpler sugar for the yeast to munch on, and they get to it quicker? Not really sure, but I've had lighter beers carb up within a week using table sugar.
Corn sugar (glucose, a monosaccharide) is simpler than table sugar (sucrose, a disaccharide). Sucrose is actually Glucose bonded to Fructose. If anything, yeast should be able to deal with corn sugar faster, because they don't have to break it into simpler sugars first, but in practice, I doubt there's a significant difference.
I have been lucky, I use lallemand cask conditioning yeast for sours and big beers and have carbonation within 2 weeks.
