Longer term cold condition question.

[Peter Smith]

I had a beer that was men to be an Armageddon clone, lots of hops in the kettle and dry hop,  A friend bottled his 23 L and I kegged my 9L back about 1 dec 2013 , I thought it was TOO bitter at the time , left it in keg at back of fridge at 2C since, poured a pint today and it has balance like its lost its harsh bitterness and tastes great  going to do a side by side test tomorrow night,  have you ever seen this in a beer, It was in carboy for 5 weeks before kegging but it really matured while being kept in a keg at 2C at say 8 psi?     2nd question how long do commercial breweries keep a beer on cold condition before release?

[Barry]

It'll be a combination of a few things.
The beer will definitely mature, get more well rounded and any harsh malt graininess should disappear.
At the same time the hops will also drop away and thus the beer will get more balanced.
Things will absolutely get cleaner over time.

[Peter Smith]

Is bitterness lost by a chemical reaction?

[Barry]

I honestly couldn't tell you, I don't know whether isomerised alpha acids chemically change to reduce their potency. The non-isomerised hop compounds – aromatics and flavours – definitely drop away over time which could give the perception of less bitterness.

Hopefully one of the 'proper' brewers/chemists can chime in, I'm curious now too!