aging imperial stout?

zodiak3000 · 12-18-2010, 01:46 AM

i wanted to brew a RIS. ive never aged any of my homebrew yet. I keg, but wanted to bottle this batch using the corn sugar method. my plan was to just leave it in the primary for 2 months and then bottle. does this seem legit? also, wanted to know how long can you age an RIS homebrew. most of my homebrews are long gone before any aging takes place and most styles i brew taste best when consumed sooner than later (ipa's). im assuming i can let it age just like any imperial stout as it will unfold more complexity. what about letting it just sit at room temp though for a year? it this ok?

**weirdboy** · 12-18-2010, 01:52 AM

I have an RIS that is a year old and tastes really damn good. I think for that style that 6-18 month range works well depending on the particular beer. I don't have a ton of places to cellar beer so mine pretty much just sits at ambient temperatures after it gets packaged.

**Revvy** · 12-18-2010, 02:05 AM

If you keg and want to age your beers, just rack it to a keg, and stick it in a closet for 6 months to a year. You can do the prime with sugar method, which will give the yeast some work to do to clean anything else up. But after that, just walk away from it....

zodiak3000 · 12-18-2010, 02:22 AM

i think i wanna just try bottles with this one. so i guess how long can you actually age one, like 3 years or something?

**weirdboy** · 12-18-2010, 03:44 AM

I didn't know there was a limit.

What I do with beers I want to age a long time is stick it in a dark corner where I forget about it, and then every once in a while I'll remember it or stumble across it when I'm looking for something else, and pull a few out to try and share with friends.

Calder · 12-18-2010, 04:36 AM

Why age it. A few months may take the edge of any harshness that there may be in there from the alcohol or roast malts, but I'm not sure any further aging is necessary or useful.

Docjowles · 12-18-2010, 04:56 AM

Have you ever had a well-aged strong beer? Imperial stouts and barleywines in particular just get better and better as they age. All the really strong flavors sort of fade and blend together into awesomeness.

There are some caveats, though. The beer has to be well-made in the first place (duh) and minimally oxidized. You want to store it at cellar temps, and most importantly, consistent temps. If your beer gets up to 90 degrees or fluctuates 30 degrees every day, it doesn't age, it goes bad. But if you can pull that off, you're in for a treat. That 14% barleywine that tasted like rocket fuel will mellow into malty deliciousness.

Jamil is an extreme example, but he talks about finding 5 year old kegs in his freezer, entering them into comps. and winning.

**Revvy** · 12-18-2010, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weirdboy

I didn't know there was a limit.

I think Papzian would say there isn't and I tend to agree.

In the Dec 07 Zymurgy Charlie Papazian reviewed bottles of homebrew going back to the first AHC competition that he had stored, and none of them went bad, some had not held up but most of them he felt were awesome...We're talking over 20 years worth of beers.

This is a great thread about one of our guys tasting 4-5 years of his stored brew.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/revisiting-my-classics-160672/

Beer's like wine, a lot of them improve with age....That's why stone has "vertical epic" with vintage, and people have vertical tasting parties

I made a beer that won't even be opened before 5 years go by on Sunday. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/help-me-come-up-my-50th-birthday-my-memorial-5-year-aged-barleywine-recipe-195096/