Set aside time for aging?

I've seen various threads that recommend setting a few bottled beers to one side so you can see the difference (hopefully improvement) after X amount of time. It strikes me that this will be different for different styles of beers, lower ABV beers are better drunk young etc. is there a rule of thumb to guide us?

For example my first brew is about ready for drinking, it's a 4.5% approx 40 IBU so to my taste quite hoppy (brews number 2 and 4 are or will be similar as I'm trying to find my go to brew), will sticking 6 bottles of that first batch aside for 6 months be a good move or should I expect them to be at their peak sooner?

Someone who's more experienced will probably have something more specific to contribute with, but generally, higher ABV beer tends to age better than weaker beers. That does however depend on several factors, such as (consistent) storage temperatures, exposure to light, style and so forth.
Typically, the hop aromas fade with age, so a beer that is intended to be hoppy would most likely be better when it's fresh.
Beer with a complex grist and malt-heavy aromas also tends to age better, as the aromas mellow out over time.

Most importantly; your beer won't really expire, aged beer won't go bad and make you sick, but one beer might hit it's peak a week after bottling, while another is best six months after it was bottled.
What applies to one beer might not apply to another beer, even if they are quite similar, so my advice is to set aside a few bottles of every batch to experiment with aging.

I personally woundnt try to age anything under 8%. Think of it like leftovers in your fridge. Some food like chili or lasagna most the time will even taste better the next day as leftovers, the flavors meld n such, same happens with some beers. Hops will fade pretty fast so its not generally a not good idea to age beers that rely on hop flavors like IPAs. The high alcohol will help preserve and will mellow with the rest of the beer so you can age a 12% stout and after a year it will be smooth and tasty and the flavors will just blend and be delicious and the alcohol will not even be noticeable. stouts and barleywines and other "Imperial" styles of beers will age well, just dont plan on hop flavor or aroma sticking around long. lower abv beers from what I have noticed dont benefit much from aging, like your 4.5% I wouldn't bother at all, unless it has some off flavors your are trying to fade away.

As a general rule the more alcohol it has the longer it can/needs to age, but the exception to that rule is the really hoppy bears. You want to drink something like a Pliny when it's young so you get all of the hop flavor and aroma the brewer worked so hard to put into it. Big malt forward beers generally improve with age to a certain extent. Barleywines for instance can improve for years. Every beer will peak at a certain point, then fall off from there. Some styles like Hefes and Pilsners degrade alarmingly fast. Drink them right now and don't let them age. Your porters on the other hand age extremely well. Sour/Bret bears require aging to develop their characteristic flavor profiles. So yes, style is very important when it comes to aging, but it is pretty easy to figure out which styles want aging and which don't, after all, you are in the right place to find out!

My rule is the more based on late hop additions, hop stands, dry hopping, etc, on how quickly i want to drink it.
I brew a 9% american strong ale that I age for years because it's mostly bittering hops. I also brew a 9% IIPA that I start to drink at 14 days old. It really just depends on the style and the brewer's intentions on how they want the beer to be enjoyed.

Most beer doesn't age well, just like food (as mentioned above- lol at the lasagna reference!).

You may age something really special- a certain balsamic vinegar, a great wine, a barleywine, but age doesn't do anything nice to "regular" beers except make them old and stale.


A 4.5% ABV hoppy beer should not only NOT be aged, but it should be gone by now!

Wischylini said:

Someone who's more experienced will probably have something more specific to contribute with, but generally, higher ABV beer tends to age better than weaker beers. That does however depend on several factors, such as (consistent) storage temperatures, exposure to light, style and so forth.

Typically, the hop aromas fade with age, so a beer that is intended to be hoppy would most likely be better when it's fresh.

Beer with a complex grist and malt-heavy aromas also tends to age better, as the aromas mellow out over time.



Most importantly; your beer won't really expire, aged beer won't go bad and make you sick, but one beer might hit it's peak a week after bottling, while another is best six months after it was bottled.

What applies to one beer might not apply to another beer, even if they are quite similar, so my advice is to set aside a few bottles of every batch to experiment with aging.

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its always a good idea to set aside at least a couple bottles from each batch so you can just see what they taste like a while down the road.. even hoppy ones i tend to do it and i really like it when i can compare an old batch with a fresh one to see exactly what the time did to the style..

I think in the beginning as you are starting out, its all about the learning. Drink a bottle 2 weeks after priming. Save 3 or 4 to drink monthly between 3 and 7 months from brew date. Through this process you will perhaps be tasting green beer in the beginning, tasting a fully carbed and peaked beer a week or two later, a beer that is starting to lose aroma, a beer that is starting to meld its flavors, and a beer that may be oxidizing. Not bad things to pick up along the way.

In general wheat beers should be drank quickly. Pale ales, Kolsch's, Cream Ales, IPA's; all good beers to drink fairly young. Porters and Stouts are sometimes best a few weeks later on. Wee Heavies are great between 6-12 months old. Same for Tripels and Quads. RIS and Barleywine can be good between 6 and 18 months. Lambics and wild ales maybe even longer.

I'm probably getting the numbers wrong but I think it was Yooper who suggested a general rule of thumb:
For every 6 points above 1.060 it should age one week. So if a beer is 1.072 it would be 2 weeks.


- ISM NRP

Kegworks has a fairly good article about aging. If you are not brewing one of these, don't age:

http://www.kegworks.com/company/kegworks-community/beer-cellaring-basics-a-guide-to-aging