Is Aging Necessary for a Belgian Golden Strong Ale?

Hi, I'm thinking of brewing a Belgian Golden Strong Ale for the first time. I'm getting conflicting info on whether it is necessary or preferable to age it. Those who have brewed this style, what is your experience for when it is ready to drink? I like to plan out my brewing schedule for the next few months and it would help to know whether I need to include some aging time for this. Thanks in advance.

I've only brewed one, but I was drinking them for years before I started brewing. This style is why I started brewing. I figured if yeast, water, pilsner malt, and sugar could make great beer, how hard could it be?

Depends on what you mean by aging. Needs to be lagered. After lagering and once it's bottle conditioned, it needs 4 to 6 weeks in the cellar. Then the beer should be in it's prime, IMO. I've had Duvel that's been cellared for several years, it's not bad, but not nearly as good as it is fresh. As one of the hoppier traditional Belgian styles, the beer isn't intended for long term storage.

The cellaring time is what I meant - thanks for your insight, that's helpful.

I haven't been brewing for long but I have a Belgian Golden Strong (7% abv) that's been on tap for 11 months. A few months ago I noticed that it started drinking really good, maybe the 6 month point. I cold crashed it but did not lager it prior to kegging. So at least with this batch time seams to have made it better.

Belgian beers do benefit from some aging. The bigger the beer the longer.

I brew Belgians often and I find that Belgian yeasts do develop flavors with time. I usually begin tasting them at 2 months but about 4 months in they really change. I have several that are as old as 2 years and they are great. I bottle half in12 oz bottle to drink younger and the other half in bombers for long term aging. I am always amazed how they change. The darker the beer the better they age. I find that tripels do well younger and BDSA's can age for a very long time.

I have a quick question regarding the lagering. I brewed up Northern Brewers Begian Golden Strong Ale recipe and have now had it in the bottles for about a month. I didnt know that I was supposed to lager it though, as it was not mentioned in any of their instructions. Will this effect the quality of my brew, and also should I maybe let the bottles cold condition for a while after fully carbing up? Just trying to make the most of this big, strong (and expensive) batch of beer.

I have a question about the lagering of this type of beer. I brewed a Trippel in Feb.'012. I racked it to secondary in early April. I kegged it at the end of June for a July wedding, but it was to "green" to drink so it didn't go to the wedding. It sat in the keg, lightly carbed until September when we started drinking it. I came very close to dumping this several times but it ended up tasting really good and got a lot of positive comments. The recipe didn't call for any extended aging but alot I had read said it should stay in the secondary for 6-12 months! In my case it just kept getting better. YMMV.
About the lagering, do you lager in the secondary or are you refering to cold conditioning in the bottle/keg? I haven't seen much about lagering an ale.
Thanks.

I often just let it sit in the primary for a couple of months and bottle. Set them in my basement to age for a few more months. Then give them a good amount. of time in the fridge before drinking. I think the bottle conditioning is the key. The longer in the bottle the more they improve.

all stronger beers generally Benift greatly from ageing, to me its just a rule of thumb

Everyone had their own opinion and that's fine, I'm just going off of the procedure outlined for Duvel in Brew Like a Monk.

I fermented in a 6 or 6.5, when that was cold crashed and transferred to a 5g and lagered 30 days. Bottle condition, then cellar 4 to 6 weeks. At this point regardless of abv, this style is ready and really won't improve with long term cellaring. It should be very clear and smooth from the month of lagering and another month plus I the cellar. Additional aging will result in loss of hop flavor.

I'm not sure about lagering a tripel, but this is another higher abv Belgian that is meant to be drank fresh. An aged tripel is never as good as a fresh bottle.

Having brewed quite a few Belgium's, my rule of thumb now is if the alcohol content is over 8% it is cellared for 3-5 months. Then I put it on tap/bottle and enjoy.

During my cellar stage they are kegged and carbed, only afterwards would I bottle it.

The changes that happen over time is amazing, I have a house Belgium that is really tasty and if you were to taste it fresh(less than 3-4 months old) versus an aged sample, you would guess they are different beers.

Satisfaction said:

Having brewed quite a few Belgium's, my rule of thumb now is if the alcohol content is over 8% it is cellared for 3-5 months. Then I put it on tap/bottle and enjoy.

During my cellar stage they are kegged and carbed, only afterwards would I bottle it.

The changes that happen over time is amazing, I have a house Belgium that is really tasty and if you were to taste it fresh(less than 3-4 months old) versus an aged sample, you would guess they are different beers.

Click to expand...

It is amazing but I agree the 4 month mark seems to be the big change point.


Patience is required when brewing Belgians.

Granted, most beer styles can benefit from a little extended aging, but would the general rule of Belgians need a little extra time that most hold true for a 5-6% Belgian Pale Ale? Or are we only talking goldens, doubles, trippels here? Or are we talking about specific yeasts here? I'm just trying to understand this myself.

I think people have a taste in their mind of what Duvel or Westmalle or _x_ name Belgian beer tastes like. That taste, which to me is a soft, round, carmel hint thing that isn't malt or yeast driven. It's old.

The old taste is because the beer is old. Shipped across in some massive container ship, sat in the port, clearing customs, plopped on an intermodal train, across the country to another inland transfer point, then to a distributor, then to the bodega to collect dust for 2 months. That is the flavor people have in mind and shape recipes to duplicate.

I have never had a fresh Belgian beer, but would be curious to see how it compares to the standard slow boat version.

highgravitybacon said:

I think people have a taste in their mind of what Duvel or Westmalle or _x_ name Belgian beer tastes like. That taste, which to me is a soft, round, carmel hint thing that isn't malt or yeast driven. It's old.

The old taste is because the beer is old. Shipped across in some massive container ship, sat in the port, clearing customs, plopped on an intermodal train, across the country to another inland transfer point, then to a distributor, then to the bodega to collect dust for 2 months. That is the flavor people have in mind and shape recipes to duplicate.

I have never had a fresh Belgian beer, but would be curious to see how it compares to the standard slow boat version.

Click to expand...

If you want a fresh Belgian beer, why not just drink an American brewed version? It's the yeast, not the location that makes a 'belgian' beer, right?

Anyways, just today I bottled a tripel that fermented from 1.079 to 1.005. After 5 months in the fermenter it had some noticeably hot alcohol flavors. I'm priming it to 2.7 volumes and I added a bit of champagne yeast, I'm hoping the hotness ages out in a couple months.

highgravitybacon said:

I think people have a taste in their mind of what Duvel or Westmalle or _x_ name Belgian beer tastes like. That taste, which to me is a soft, round, carmel hint thing that isn't malt or yeast driven. It's old...
That is the flavor people have in mind and shape recipes to duplicate.

Click to expand...

I think this is absolutely right. The classic examples of Belgian beers that we get here in the States are relatively old. They're still great beers, but when we emulate the styles, I think we tend to shoot for these aged flavors (low hop flavor/aroma, slightly oxidized caramel malts and alcohols). Even good examples made on this side pond may be emulating the aged versions we are accustomed to. Until I visit the breweries in Belgium, I can't say for sure how big our age-bias is towards Belgian beers here.

Regarding the OP's question, my Tripel at 9% seems to have already peaked around 4 months old, but we're only at 6 mo now. I don't expect a beer this light to improve with much age, but we'll see.

Oh, and BLaM indicates that many Belgian ales are "lagered" (cold conditioned) for a couple weeks in the mid-50s after primary fermentation is complete.

These beers really shine with bottle conditioning and pilsner malts with a 90 min boil