I’m curious if low IBU beers or styles suffer from the “green” time that something like an IPA may have initially.
It has been my understanding that IPAs should be drank fresh. So, I’m assuming as long as fermentation is done and the beer is clear, it’s ready to drink. With that said, is there a green period for IPAs?
I think all my beers are better after a few weeks lagering in the keg. Even IPAs.
I agree, sometimes I’m not very patient and open one after 2 weeks in the bottles. It doesn’t taste as good as it does in another week or so.
I agree. I usually don’t make any hard judgements on a beer until it has been in the keg for a month or so. Many beers that I wasn’t too crazy about improved immensely with some time including my current APA that is hopped similarly to how I would do an IPA.
Most ‘green’ beer flavors are the nature of the beast. They’re a byproduct of fermentation that the yeast will clean up if you give them a chance. Don’t remove the beer from the yeast too soon, or they won’t go away. Even American Ales (PA, AA, AIPA) will typically take about 3 weeks, IME, for optimal flavor. 2 weeks in the fermenter and then a week in the keg. That’s the relax part of the mantra. Don’t get hyper and rush the beer.
Not all IPAs. Traditionally, IPA was a long aged style (even American ones well into the 1960s-70s).
It’s only in comparatively recent years that IPA has been commonly sold and consumed very young. Drinkers these days do seem to enjoy the young, green hop flavors common to the current wave of American IPAs…and this is a fortunate thing for brewers that don’t have the desire or available storage to facilitate the traditional aging that defines the original style.
I get it. When I say fresh, I mean two weeks in primary, one week dry hopping, and a week or so conditioning in the keg, so it seems we’re pretty much on the same page even if our definition of fresh or green may differ a bit.
+1. That’s my version of ‘aging’ for APA and especially AIPA. I’ll tap at 3 weeks minimum, usually 4, to round out the flavors. Occasionally I’ll use a hop combo for IPA that’s still a little ‘green’ at 3 weeks, but is rocking at 4 weeks.
Professor, what changes need to be made to a current style AIPA (drink young) to get an IPA that benefits from aging? In other words, how close are the recipes?
I think 3-4 weeks grain to glass is a fair definition of fresh for American Ales, so we agree on that. When I say green in regards to beer, I’m referring to fermentation byproducts that haven’t been cleaned up yet (things like diacetyl and acetaldehyde) or to flavors from yeast still being in suspension.
He’s referring more to British IPAs. Recipe differences are typically the malts and hops used (and to an extent the hopping schedule). Traditional IPAs use something like Maris Otter with a small percentage of crystal, whereas a lot of AIPAs (especially ‘West Coast’) will use American 2-row with some other fermentables which won’t contribute sweetness (e.g. sugar) to the final product. The hop differences are the main hurdle to an ageable AIPA. Brit IPAs used a lot of hops to get the preservative effect. AIPAs use a lot of hops to showcase the hops. Most of the volatile aromas can fade quickly, though, hence the ‘drink fresh’. The aging of traditional Brit IPAs was not to gain some benefit, it was the nature of transportation by ship.
^^This^^
True to some degree…but the fact is that in those days, many ales and most porters were intentionally and routinely long aged to benefit flavor, even for domestic use.
I’m curious enough about this to ask for your source.
I would be inclined to believe that for beer made for the aristocrats/monastery
For the other 99.99% I don’t think they would have been drinking green water while waiting for their perfectly safe beer to mellow out.
Personally, I prefer taste over historical accuracy. So, I would take which ever route tastes best. Of course, if you are submitting to a contest or if you want to drink your beer as the bourgeoisie or proletariat did, you should age accordingly.
I think I’ve seen references to aging in the book: Amber, Gold, and Black. There are extensive discussions on British styles in there. But I don’t know that the aging subject is specifically covered. It is a very good read for historical beer hounds.
By the way, I feel that ‘fresh’ is the time AFTER the brewmaster decides that the beer is ready for sale or consumption after its maturation phase. Freshness is not necessarily measured from the time it finished fermentation.
I also prefer taste over historical accuracy. My main goal for my question was that I have seen Mr. Professor post about currently aging his IPAS for extended period as in a year I believe he said. I was just curious how that turns out, or what he does differently than most to ensure that it turns out great. My real search is to brew an IPA that I like or love fresh that still tastes great or has great aroma for longer than say the first 2 months after bottling
I understand. I was just messing around.