Maturing Beer prior to Bottling

[Calum]

How long do you mature your beer before bottling? Do people go straight to the bottle or do you mature in the barrel for a week or two first.

My beer is still in the fermentation vessel but looks just about ready for the next stage.

[PieOPah]

In general I always rack to bottle straight after fermentating. I suppose if you racked to secondary first you could let the beer clear more which would mean that you have less sediment in your beer.

[Kev.]

I rack to an airlocked secondary and leave it for a couple of weeks prior to kegging or bottling.

[Calum]

I think I will rack off for a week or so. It was a bit of a moot point this evening as the gravity was still 1010 so I'll leave it another few days and check again.

I had a wee sneaky taste of the stuff I tested and it is actually very nice but obviously a little sweet at present. With a little bit of cleanliness and a whole lot of patience the end result should be very good.