When does your beer taste its best

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

from brew day, how many days does it take before you say "this is a dam good beer" , I generally say 30 days from brew day and its good, but lately 20 has been working for me what about you

 

[jeffpn]

From brew day may not be a fair comparison. My lagers aren't even packaged at that point. And even with bottling, it's 2 maybe 3 weeks until it's properly carbed. Given that the beer is carbed suitably, I think I liked the 3 week mark after that. I've noticed before that the beer is at the height of my enjoyment of it. At a minimum, my ales are 7 days in the primary, 2 weeks in the secondary, and 2-3 weeks to bottle condition. Knock a week off of that now that I'm kegging.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I guess I should have stated that was for my ales

 

[oliver]

For ales, 14 days in the primary. 14 days glass secondary. 14 days in the bottle.

 

[J A]

I've sort of settled into a 21+21 cycle for beers. I have a Kolsch yeast that likes to sit a little longer in primary and goes closer to 4 weeks before bottling, but everything else is good and ready at 3 weeks. Depending on the beer, I start chilling and drinking at 3 weeks, leaving some to condition for a few more weeks as I replenish the beer fridge.

I'm not sure when most beers are "best" but they definitely change for the better with longer conditioning and longer chill time. For English Mild or other small beer, 14+14 and chilled overnight makes for quite drinkable beer, but I'd guess 4 weeks in the bottle and a week in the fridge is a sweet spot for most.

Then there are those beers that just don't seem to be right and just get ignored for a while. I've got an IPA that had a pretty bold hop balance and was maybe slightly soured on top of that. It was never undrinkable, but just not really enjoyable. After 3 months in the bottle, it seems to have improved so much that it's actually an interesting beer now. I'll leave some in the fridge for as long as I can to see if it really gets good.

 

[Head First]

A good hefe is best IMHO 14 days in primary, shaken into a 48 hour force carb and is excellent for a week then you lose some of the suspended yeast.
A barleywine sometimes takes a year to mature properly.
IPA's and Pale Ales 2 weeks primary, whatever dryhop schedule, 48 hours chill and about a week to carb, but sometimes a little longer.

 

[J A]

A good hefe is best IMHO 14 days in primary, shaken into a 48 hour force carb and is excellent for a week then you lose some of the suspended yeast.

That's exactly what I was hoping to pull off in time for a 4th of July party, but my hefe is poking along. Still bubbling pretty conistently and only down to .012 as of yesterday. Maybe it'll stop in time for me to keg by Sunday, but it'll be a push to get it carbed. :?

 

[DanC]

OMB: I find, for my ales, after 30 days from brewing has been very good but it may get better as it matures.

 

[hoosier buddy]

This year my SMaSH beers seem to all have an arc to them, so that two weeks after bottling they are often a bit aggressive (especially my Citra SMaSH), but two or three weeks later they mellow a bit and become very popular with my cohorts.

 

[LlewellynBrewHaus]

I typically primary for 6-7 days, rack off yeast if dry hopping for 5-7 days , then cold crash 48 hrs to drop hops and yeast and then keg. We just blew a keg of my A.D.D. IPA and the last 10 pints were the best(6 weeks post package)
My ESB was put together well at 30 days

 

[sbaclimber]

I ferment for about 2 weeks at min. temp. (US-05 @ 15°C), bump it up to max (~22°C) for another week, then bottle. I would say my beer tastes best between 6 and 8 weeks in the bottle (stored at room temp). It is drinkable at less then 4, but not really "done", and after about 10 the hop aromas / flavors start to really drop off.

 

[jeffpn]

My beer tastes best when I talk the boss into letting me off four hours early. Happy Saturday to me!!

 

[Vallka]

Just before there Gone!

 

[GFHomebrew]

yep last pint in the keg is always the best.
about a month i recon after kegging the beer is treating me real good carbonation is sweet the beer has melded together. ive gota quick turn around imbusially kicking the keg 40 days after brew day.

 

[The Rev 71]

When I bottle, I tend to make 5.5 gallons (20L for us metric folks) so that when I bottle in 550ml bottles (22oz) I can bottle 24 of them and have at least 4 extras to test out.

I leave them out to carb up then I will open 1 each week and see if the carbonation level is where I want it, cold crash them int he fridge and then let them carb for another week.