How long is the right amount of time for fermentation of IPA’s. I’ve leave them for six weeks. Is that too long? Then I keg it and put it in my Keezer.
Aging beers in general can be a fairly hot topic with various opinions and I will give you mine which may or may not work for you
IPA’s not double not triple just IPA’s I would say yes 6 weeks is way too long since you will be kegging and storing some more
For me, now remember my beers will be at the session IPA level. I ferment 1 week, keg ( naturally carbonate) condition 1 week and serve.
I want my beer as fresh as possible as it will mature in the keg.
I like that fresh “punch” of hop aromas and flavors. Over time those diminish. So serving early you get to see how the beer transforms. If you like a more balanced flavor condition more.
How do you like your beer?
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I go by gravity not time.
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This is what I do
All in all, I am usually drinking an IPA 4-5 weeks after brew day.
I segment cellar time to four distinct processes: fermentation and maturation, then afterwards clarification and carbonation.
I use something very similar to what Palmer describes in How to Brew table 6.2. A few points shy of final gravity flatline I raise the temp 5-10°F for the same amount of time it took to get from OG to FG. For example, if the beer went from OG to FG in 4 days, I give it 4 days maturation then keg the beer. Maturation gives the yeast time to metabolize fermentation byproducts. After maturation I closed transfer to a sanitized, CO2 purged keg.
Once kegged, I slowly lower the keg temp 10°F per day to near freezing while simultaneously pressurizing with CO2. Gradually lowering the temperature to near freezing will aid the precipitation of yeast, proteins and polyphenols without causing thermal shock causing yeast to excrete lipids that cause off flavors (soapy) that hurt head retention. Cold beer lasts longer and carbonates faster. I am generally drinking the beer once carbonated to my desired level. This takes a week or two.
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Assuming healthy yeast and a typical ale fermentation temp, fermentation usually is done by day 6 or so once it gets underway. Stable gravity readings will tell you this. This applies to most ales, not just IPAs.
The beer should also clear VDK at this point, i.e. the diacetyl precursor should be low enough that the final beer won’t present diacetyl. You can test for this–google forced VDK test–or just wait another couple of days as insurance. If you want to pad this with more insurance days, then give it two weeks and you’ll be fine. This is what I do.
I remain wholly unconvinced that there is such a thing as thermal shock. I have never encountered it in my career homebrewing or commercial brewing. Besides, if you cold crash in a fridge, then it will take the beer at least 48 hours to reach terminal temp–in other words, you’re cold crashing very gradually whether you mean to or not.
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