ABSTRACT
This chapter refers to flavor maturation. At the end of fermentation, many undesirable flavors and aromas of a "green" character or immature beer are present. The aging process reduces the levels of these undesirable compounds to produce a mature, drinkable beer. This stage in the brewing process follows primary fermentation and involves all the processing required to produce the desired beer in the correct finished condition, ready for packaging. The postfermentation processing stages are known variously by brewers around the world as: aging, maturation, lagering, conditioning, secondary fermentation, cold storage, and so on, and they represent the most variable processes within the various brewing procedures practiced by different brewers globally. The components of postfermentation processing are: aging, lagering, or maturation; clarification; stabilization; carbonation; standardization or blending (including dilution); and packaging. Every process can be accomplished in a variety of ways, but each is independent and can be treated as a separate unit operation.
