Age In Carboy or Bottle?

So where am I better off ageing my RIS? I've got it sitting in a carboy right now that I have no forseeable need for. My other option is to keg it, get it carbed and then bottle it and put it away until Xmas.

Thoughts?

You can go either way. I would age it a couple months at least in the carboy if possible. I think bulk aging typically works better than bottle aging if possible.

You could do both & note the differences... then tell us

I'm planning a similar experiment. I have a kolsch that's at the tail end of fermentation. When it finishes I'm going to rack half to a carboy, and leave the other half in the primary. From there the primary is going into the fridge to age while the carboy stays @ room temp.

Bottle it up and age it.
Free your carboy and brew another batch right?
Wine and beer has been aged in the bottles for hundreds of years.

I greatly prefer aging in the carboy. If you rack your beer off the yeast and into bottles, the process takes longer. Keep it on the yeast and it will keep working on that beer for you, slowly cleaning it up and improving it.

I have aged stouts and porters and high gravity brews for as long as 9 months, and I am convinced they age better in bulk.

I also prefer to age in bottles (or kegs). That way, I'm done with the brewing. The only thing left is sampling and flat-out drinking.


TL

Drunkagain said:

So where am I better off ageing my RIS? I've got it sitting in a carboy right now that I have no forseeable need for. My other option is to keg it, get it carbed and then bottle it and put it away until Xmas.

Thoughts?

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I tend to split the difference. Seems like the time in the carboy clarifies the beer better and gives me some idea of the final flavors. I then bottle and cellar for some time depending on the style. My Whaleback IPA always seems to finish in the bottle no matter how long I condition it in the carboy.

I'm in the bulk conditioning camp. I'll leave a bigger beer conditioning in the primary on the yeast cake up to 6 weeks then transfer to a secondary for 2-3 months before bottling. The other advantage of bulk conditioning this way is you can't drink it.

GT

I'm in the bottle condition camp. I don't want to worry about adding botting yeast and problems arising from that, and I like to free up carboys to brew more. And for some reason I have much more patience waiting when its in the bottle.

landhoney said:

I'm in the bottle condition camp. I don't want to worry about adding botting yeast and problems arising from that, and I like to free up carboys to brew more. And for some reason I have much more patience waiting when its in the bottle.

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HAH!! It is just the opposite for me. Get it in the bottle and I just want to open em up!

I often squirrel away bottles of brew to see how they age. An average unracked fermented ale/ beer will age perfectly well in the bottle for at least 6 months; a clearer and higher alcohol beer can easily last a year, though the hop profile will change.