I need a LONG aging beer!

My old man and me want to brew a beer that's planning on aging at least a couple of years. I was thinking about BrewPastor's Dark Night of the Soul RIS. Anyone have any other ideas for BIG FREAKIN' BEERS!

I have a Belgian Dark Strong Ale that's been in secondary for about 13 months...one of these months, I'll keg it.

OG = 1.103

Actually, I dont think I can do the Dark Night of the Soul because my mash tun is only 10 gal and the beer is 24 lbs of grain and a single infusion of 9.5 gal!

Barleywine

eschatz said:

Actually, I dont think I can do the Dark Night of the Soul because my mash tun is only 10 gal and the beer is 24 lbs of grain and a single infusion of 9.5 gal!

Click to expand...

thinner mash or multiple sparges...or it is christmas...splurge on a bigger mash tun. You could do a wine/mead/cider. They can take alot of time to age

Just curious, why set the aging time and then find a beer to fit it? Special occasion coming up in a few years?

+1 for barleywine. But I dunno if they can be aged for years, but you could certainly get away with one year maybe 2. Hopefully someone with a little more knowledge than me will chime in.


:EDIT: The Sun Also Rises...pg 18

I made monster sized variant of this beer that recently scored a 40,42,44 at the AHA October National Club only Competition in Michigan, and won a gold medal at the Belgian table at 2008 splitrock beer festival. For all grain you can just change the extracts to 2row and add grain until you hit the OG. Aged for about 11 months before judging. Its a sweet beer with awesome dried fruit flavors and a chocolaty finish.

QUAD Pistoles
Belgian Dark Strong Ale
Type: Extract
Batch Size: 5.50 gal Brewer: JD
Boil Size: 4.02 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 90 min Equipment: Brew Pot (4 Gallon)
Taste Rating(42 out of 50)
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
10.00 lb X-Pale LME (3.5 SRM) Extract 58.65 %
3.30 lb Gold Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) Extract 19.35 %
1.00 lb Lyle's Golden Syrup (0.0 SRM) Extract 5.87 %
0.70 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 4.11 %
0.70 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 4.11 %
0.25 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 1.47 %
0.10 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 0.59 %
1.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (90 min) Hops 9.2 IBU
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (15 min) Hops 1.4 IBU
0.25 oz Saaz [4.00 %] (5 min) Hops 0.3 IBU
0.13 tsp Anise, Star (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
0.13 tsp Anise, Star (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
0.25 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Dark (275.0 SRM) Sugar 5.87 %
1 Pkgs
Belgian Golden Ale (White Labs
#WLP570) [Starter 3000 ml]
Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Measured Original Gravity: 1.104 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.019 SG
Bitterness: 10.9 IBU Calories: 466 cal/pint
Est Color: 32.1 SRM"

Anything over 1.100 should age pretty well. I did a RIS similar to Brewpastor's about a year ago and it's just smoothed out quite nicely. If you feel up to it, a 1.1+ OG Golden Strong ale would be seriously awesome. Biggest thing to worry about on these bigger beers that I've found is fusels and the like. Make sure you've got good temperature control, otherwise you'll find yourself with a tasty beer and a wicked hangover.

Yeah, be absolutely sure to cool that wort down into the mid 60's and hold it there through primary. Once you see signs of active fermentation slowing, churn the fermenter and let it warm up. Let the bulk of the action happen at low temps, and get the temps up to eek out every last point of gravity. Temp control for these bigger beers is paramount.

also, mash temps really play a big role in the final product. Your typical mash temps get thrown out the window. With a regular beer you can mash for a medium body beer, but that would translate into a cloyingly sweet mega beer. Mash low and really shoot for high attenuation. If you have a 1.100 beer and get 80% attenuation, you're still left with a 1.020 beer!