Properly Aging Home Brew

Perhaps the most common slip-up that individuals who are new to home beer making is they drink it too soon. When you’re too impatient and don’t let your brew age long enough you’re occasionally disappointed with the results. Based on the recipe you used, most home brew beers require that, following the fermentation process, you allow beer to age for a period of no less than two and often as much as six weeks. Take note that these would be the least recommended times. Should you let your home brew beer alone for longer periods you’ll get better results.

While it appears nothing is happening throughout this period nothing could possibly be further from the truth. During the aging progression the yeast continues to ferment making use of the sugars that are still in the beer after the bottling process. This naturally enhances the carbonation of your brew. It’s this that gives your beer bubbles. The other thing that’s occuring is the yeast will start to settle out from the brew itself. This will allow the resulting taste to be smoother and further enhances the flavors of the recipe you chose to start with.

This aging process will be different widely depending on recipe brewed. The main reason for this is the fact that flavor ingredients in each recipe will vary and require different amounts of time to mature. You can easily find some beers recipes that will be ready to drink within two weeks but others might be recommended to age for four months.

Once you’ve bottled your beers, if at all possible in brown or amber tinted glass bottles to guard the beer from Ultra-violet radiation, you’ll need a safe, undisturbed location to store them while they age. Your new home brew beer needs to be stored in a cool, dark place where they will not get shifted around and where the temperature never goes higher than the suggested limit appropriate for the recipe you used. Different yeasts call for different temperatures. This is usually 72 to 74 degrees and is never higher than 76 degrees.

Once your brand-new brew has aged and you are now ready for that first sample, make sure to record the length of time you let the batch age before sampling. Actually, good record keeping about what happens with each batch you brew is a very good plan. As you try something new and get different results, you will be building a diary of the techniques that work better for you and your home brewery. These records can help stop you from repeating mistakes and they are also a great resource for more ideas about what to try on the next brewing adventure.

Home Beer Making is a great hobby and is legal in all 50 states. You can learn more about this fun and rewarding pastime by visiting Brew Beer Today.