how long do you keep a beer conditioning for??

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craigjoneswales

how long do you keep a beer conditioning for??

Post by craigjoneswales » Wed Feb 18, 2009 4:18 pm

at what stage does a beer become conditioned and not just primed??

and when does it go from conditioned to gone off?

many thanks

farmhousekeg

Re: how long do you keep a beer conditioning for??

Post by farmhousekeg » Wed Feb 18, 2009 4:24 pm

Normally the guideline is to leave your beer to condition for 1 week for every 10 gravity points of the Original Gravity. So a beer which started out at 1040 should be left for 4 weeks. Bottles will keep fresh for months and even years in the case of stronger beers. Keep them out of direct light and especially fluorescent light unless you are using brown bottles. Stronger beers should keep longer than weaker ones. Although I personally don't have much experience of kegging my beer, from what I have learned on this forum and from reading, beers in pressure barrels will keep for shorter periods of time and need to be used up within a few weeks once the barrel has been started.

Hope this helps.

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Ditch
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Re: how long do you keep a beer conditioning for??

Post by Ditch » Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:43 pm

Alternatively; Make Coopers Stout. Keg it. (Get another FV of it going!) Taste the stuff in the keg. Buckle. Get stuck in. Enjoy! :mrgreen:

Hoodlum

Re: how long do you keep a beer conditioning for??

Post by Hoodlum » Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:45 pm

i've managed to condition mine for around 30 seconds so far.

First post by the way - hello :)

Lillywhite

Re: how long do you keep a beer conditioning for??

Post by Lillywhite » Thu Feb 19, 2009 8:02 am

farmhousekeg wrote: Although I personally don't have much experience of kegging my beer, from what I have learned on this forum and from reading, beers in pressure barrels will keep for shorter periods of time and need to be used up within a few weeks once the barrel has been started.
Not correct. Provided you've fermented in a separate FV the beer in a keg will keep for a minimum 6 months and some say at least a year provided there is a layer of CO2 on the beer.

PMH0810

Re: how long do you keep a beer conditioning for??

Post by PMH0810 » Thu Feb 19, 2009 9:37 am

I condition uniformly at 1 week per 1o points of OG and, as I don't drink 40 pints in one sitting and like to have a variety, can confirm that the longer you leave it in the bottle (thick, brown glass) the better it'll taste. Of course, none of my brews have made it past 6 months regardless.

Kegs are fine as long as you keep them topped up with CO2, usually I can get to the point where no more beer will come out before it's actually undrinkable.

farmhousekeg

Re: how long do you keep a beer conditioning for??

Post by farmhousekeg » Thu Feb 19, 2009 4:11 pm

Lillywhite wrote:
farmhousekeg wrote: Although I personally don't have much experience of kegging my beer, from what I have learned on this forum and from reading, beers in pressure barrels will keep for shorter periods of time and need to be used up within a few weeks once the barrel has been started.
Not correct. Provided you've fermented in a separate FV the beer in a keg will keep for a minimum 6 months and some say at least a year provided there is a layer of CO2 on the beer.
=D> Thanks for that Lillywhite - I am always learning and now I don'tneed to be too worried when I use a keg and the beer sits there for a while! =D>

Lillywhite

Re: how long do you keep a beer conditioning for??

Post by Lillywhite » Thu Feb 19, 2009 4:44 pm

farmhousekeg wrote:
=D> Thanks for that Lillywhite - I am always learning and now I don'tneed to be too worried when I use a keg and the beer sits there for a while! =D>
That's OK. I've never put the 12 month period to the test myself, but experienced home brewers on another forum have confirmed this. Some don't start drinking the beer until it's been in the keg for 3 months. They must have a good rolling stock. :wink:

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