Good beer to brew and age 6+ months?

HBT,

I need your advice.

It won't be easy.

I'm looking for a tasty beer to brew that I can age for at least 6 months, either bulk or in bottles.

The kicker is, I am looking for it to be able to satisfy the BMC crowd.

Kinda rules out IS/RIS, so I was thinking perhaps a simple, slightly carbonated, low ABV mead (obviously not a beer).

Did a quick search, didn't find much help.

Honestly have no restrictions or direction other than not too bitter and with an ABV of <7. Obviously aged beverages are favored in particular because of the higher ABV, but my life would be easy if everything wasn't a challenge.

Any advice, commentary, and ridicule is welcomed.

Cheers

Ridicule = Perhaps an Imperial Bud Light?

Serious suggestion = Something with fruit in it maybe??? Some kind of wheat, Wit, Saison with cherries, or other berries, fruit, let it age?

Maybe a lower gravity barleywine?

Belgian Strong Ale?

I am of the opinion that anything that will please BMC drinkers wouldn't really benefit from extended aging.

Why do you want to occupy fermenting space long term to please people who would be happy with a beer that occupys your carboy for less than one month?

Oooo Belgian Strong ale sounds adequate...

Xpertskir said:

Why do you want to occupy fermenting space long term to please people who would be happy with a beer that occupys your carboy for less than one month?

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In the aspect of a homebrewer I have nearly unlimited fermenting space.

As far as fermentors, I personally have 10 empty and over 100+ available to use from my father in law.

And for reasoning, because I don't like letting beer sit and die while one of my brothers does his god awful nursing schedules that rotate 12hr days and while my other brother goes to NC to catch alligators for the summer. I personally consume maybe half of my homebrew, the rest are freebies to them or other family and friends.

I feel having a beer I could age that would still appeal to them is the best solution. Hell, I might even drink it!

I just finished off a classic American pils that was brewed in about March. It was really great. Or you could try an imperial pils.

Dubbel or Tripel?

ThreeSheetsBrewing said:

Belgian Strong Ale?

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+1
You could lager it for a couple months even if you have an extra fridge.

What I don't understand is why must you 'age' it. It would make sense to me if you said "I still want it to taste fresh in six months".

Because your other criteria is: low ABV beer doesn't really fit in with the concept of aging.

So is your question actually: how do I keep my beer fresh for six months? If so I have no clue.

I don't consider up to 7% ABV low exactly, but your point of fresh beer is sound. Aging, as per my previous post, fits best with what I am personally going for.

Oktoberfest! It even fits into the style history. Six months from march to September. It is favored by the bmc crowd as well. Seems like a perfect fit. Question is if you want to lager it for that long?

Should have thought of it sooner - Helles. Just moved one to a keg to lager. Not sure if it is really a 6 month necessity as far as aging. But I have never brewed a lager that wasn't better at 4 or 5 months than it was at 2 or 3. This would definitely appeal to BMC. Gold color, crystal clear, nice flavor but not overpowering in any area.

The other one would be a maibock.

Could keep a rotation of beers aging and serving:
Spring - Maibock (on the light side)
Summer - Helles
Fall - Oktoberfest
Winter - Alt???

In my experience, these beers have a great deal of appeal to almost all beer drinkers, even the BMC crowd.

Braufessor said:

Should have thought of it sooner - Helles. Just moved one to a keg to lager. Not sure if it is really a 6 month necessity as far as aging. But I have never brewed a lager that wasn't better at 4 or 5 months than it was at 2 or 3. This would definitely appeal to BMC. Gold color, crystal clear, nice flavor but not overpowering in any area.

The other one would be a maibock.

Could keep a rotation of beers aging and serving:
Spring - Maibock (on the light side)
Summer - Helles
Fall - Oktoberfest
Winter - Alt???

In my experience, these beers have a great deal of appeal to almost all beer drinkers, even the BMC crowd.

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Sound thinking. From my experience, all of the German beers tend to go over well with any crowd.

Now I understand. You want a beer you can bottle and leave around for a while with no/little loss of quality. How about Edwort's Apfelwein? Belgian Strong may also be a good choice.

JordanThomas said:

Sound thinking. From my experience, all of the German beers tend to go over well with any crowd.

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Yep - could even throw in pilsner, Hefe, kolsch, dunkel, bock as well. All of the lighter ones have mass appeal. Some of the midrange ones surprise the BMC crowd enough that you might even get some converts, or at least they might be curious enough to try a hoppier pilsner, maltier bock or similar beers.

Braufessor said:

Should have thought of it sooner - Helles. Just moved one to a keg to lager. Not sure if it is really a 6 month necessity as far as aging. But I have never brewed a lager that wasn't better at 4 or 5 months than it was at 2 or 3. This would definitely appeal to BMC. Gold color, crystal clear, nice flavor but not overpowering in any area.

The other one would be a maibock.

Could keep a rotation of beers aging and serving:
Spring - Maibock (on the light side)
Summer - Helles
Fall - Oktoberfest
Winter - Alt???

In my experience, these beers have a great deal of appeal to almost all beer drinkers, even the BMC crowd.

Click to expand...

I dunno brauf, you think it'd turn out better than an Imperial Bud Light?

I'll start with a Belgian Strong Ale and then the Helles, see how it goes over. Any case I'm sure I'll drink it. Now if I could only get them to like anything more complex...

Xpertskir said:

Now I understand. You want a beer you can bottle and leave around for a while with no/little loss of quality. How about Edwort's Apfelwein? Belgian Strong may also be a good choice.

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They go rabid over Edwort's Apfelwein. I make it around 7%, semi-sweet and carbonated. They usually drink it before I think it's any good at all (BMC, remember).

Yeah it's not really Apfelwein at this point but I still use his recipe as my guideline...

I know its not your answer... but convert your BMC drinkers to good beer, then yuo can brew what you like and everyone will enjoy a good beer.
How about and Imperial White/ Wit or something? I am not sure how long youl need to age that. I have and almost 7% Hefe that I just upped the malts and added some dextrose using the Simple Hefe recipe here in the database. After 2 weeks in the bottle, it tastes pretty dang good!

Most of what I brew ends up with part being in the bottle more than 6 months. The only ones that I want to finish quickly are pale ales and wheat beers because the hop aroma diminishes with time and wheat beers are best drunk young. Blonds, reds, browns, and especially porters and stouts age well in the bottle.

For what its worth, Im doing a Honey Porter with Hungarian Oak Cubes and Jack Daniels Honey bourbon. Its been in the secondary for 2 months and i plan to leave it there for about 6 months