Aging & Fining Beer
Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 10:23 am
Last week I cracked open two bottles of my Scottish Strong Ale. One of the bottles had been filled from the fermenter and received no special treatment -- i.e., it just sat on the basement shelf for 9 months of bottle conditioning. The other bottle was from a keg and had been fined with Gelatin & lagered for around 4 of the last 9 months (it was kept at basement temps for about 5 months, due to volume limitations in my serving freezer).
The difference in these two beers was amazing. The one that had been fined and lagered tasted fantastic (very clean, malty, with a rum-raisin character) and seemed like a blue ribbon beer. The other one tasted like run-of-the-mill dirty homebrew and hadn't really changed much over the course of 9 months. I found it fascinating to see how much of a difference the way a beer was aged impacted its flavor, aroma, etc. It would be even more interesting to see how a lagered, bottle conditioned beer compares. Maybe I'll run that experiment next time I brew the beer.
Anyway, I'll try to bring a bottle of each to the next meeting so anyone that is interested can taste them side by side.
The difference in these two beers was amazing. The one that had been fined and lagered tasted fantastic (very clean, malty, with a rum-raisin character) and seemed like a blue ribbon beer. The other one tasted like run-of-the-mill dirty homebrew and hadn't really changed much over the course of 9 months. I found it fascinating to see how much of a difference the way a beer was aged impacted its flavor, aroma, etc. It would be even more interesting to see how a lagered, bottle conditioned beer compares. Maybe I'll run that experiment next time I brew the beer.
Anyway, I'll try to bring a bottle of each to the next meeting so anyone that is interested can taste them side by side.