Bottle conditioning is the act of adding a source of sugar to a beer before it’s bottled in order to have it develop carbonation in the bottle. Some people add additional yeast to the bottle along with the sugar to ensure carbonation but we only add sugar as our already existing microorganisms are happy, healthy, and looking for more sugar to create alcohol and CO2. The actual carbonation doesn’t take all that long (a couple months) but because of the complex range of microorganisms in our beer another full fermentation is triggered when we add the sugar.
As a result of this additional round of fermentation we hold our bottles in our cellar for an average of 10 months until the fermentation is over and the beer returns to a state as good as, or often event better than the original bottling.
How do we check this? Well, we take one for the team and start tasting the bottles at the 3 month point and every couple months until completion. We’ve tasted enough in-progress beers now to have a really good idea of what to expect during the bottle conditioning process. Once the beer is done, we apply labels and deliver it to you for the final taste!
We recently had the huge honor of our Fruitful Pursuits: Cherry being awarded the World’s Best Kriek at the World Beer Awards. But why don’t we call this beer a Kriek? As with all things, it’s complicated, but the main reason we don’t call Fruitful Pursuits: Cherry a Kriek is out of respect for our peers in Belgium. It’s their traditional term, and not ours.
Greg Zeschuk
Author
Greg’s career has ranged from physician, to videogame developer as founder of BioWare, and now trainee brewer. Greg is the prime enthusiast behind the Blind Enthusiasm Brewing Company.