Toon Ale Delivered To Your Fridge!

You can now buy Toon Ale online, where ever you are in the U.K. All first orders come with a FREE gift - The Geordie Gizzabit album by Clear Cut. Find Out More...



Beer Conditioning

Following primary fermentation, many undesirable flavors and aromas are present in the "green" or immature beer. Conditioning reduces the levels of these undesirable compounds to produce a more finished product. The component processes of conditioning are:

• maturation,
• clarification, and
• chillproofing.

Maturation of "green beer" involves four general schemes: traditional lagering, bottle conditioning, casking, and accelerated lagering.

Lagering involves secondary fermentation of remaining fermentable extract at a reduced rate controlled by low temperatures and low yeast count. The low temperatures also aid in settling the remaining yeast and precipitating haze-forming material (protein/polyphenol complexes). The evolution of carbon dioxide during secondary fermentation not only carbonates the beer, it reduces byproducts (including sulfur compounds and other volatiles).

Bottle conditioning involves secondary fermentation and clarification in the bottle induced by adding yeast and sugar to the beer. Cask-conditioned beers involve secondary fermentation and clarification in the cask induced by adding yeast, sugars, hops, and finings. In accelerated lagering the beer is fully attenuated, virtually free of yeast, and stored at higher temperatures. Unlike beers that have undergone traditional or accelerated lagering, beers conditioned in a bottle or cask are neither filtered nor pasteurized.