Conditioning English Bitter

[Mick56]

Very new to modern homebrewing and would appreciate some advice. Kegging my bitter tomorrow and wondered what the best method of conditioning is. The recipe states to condition for 6 weeks at 12°C. I thought the best method would be to put some gas on top and leave in the workshop for the full 6 weeks and then into the keezer under 6-8 psi for a couple of weeks. I must admit 6 weeks conditioning does sound quite a long time to me and wondered what the you guys do. All help is appreciated.

[alexlark]

I condition for about 4 weeks but once it's in the keg and tastes good I normally get stuck in.

[Rick_UK]

Depends on the beer and yeast to a large extent. Faster working more flocculant yeasts will drop out quicker and finish working sooner so less need for longer conditioning. Also hoppier beers lose aroma and flavour as time progresses and may best be drunk younger. Darker beers usually improve more the longer you leave them.

I find most beers I make are fine after 2 weeks conditioning with a slight improvement when left for 4 weeks. TBH conditioning is one area where there's a lot of room for variation and idiosyncrasies. Just keep sampling it and drink it when you like it!

Rick