aging barley wine

Just wondering how long most folks age barley wine. I picked up a sixer of 2011 bigfoots and curious how long to age. Also what temp? My beer closet is about 68f and my brew room is about 64f. Are either one of these temps. good or should I go warmer/colder?

Either one will work fine. I think the goal is to just keep beer below 70.

YES! Bigfoot is awesome. The temps you listed sound just fine, as stated above.

I love Bigfoot as it is right now, but I saved several bottles from last year and it really gets much smoother over the course of a year (and somehow is still exploding with hops). I have 3 more of the 2010 and plan to drink one each year as the next batches come out. I've heard of Bigfoot ageing nicely for many years.

So be sure to drink some now, but ageing is good too!

i bought a case of bigfoot in 2006 or 2007, and it was SKUNKY! just awful.

i like to drink Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine and Victory Old Horizontal Barleywine. the longest i've let them sit was 3 or 4 years, and they definitely got better with age.

cool, thanks for the replies fellas. sounds like I might have to stretch them out for a good while

I recently had a bigfoot from 1996 and it was still awesome. Feel free to age it as long as you can handle

Dogphish said:

i bought a case of bigfoot in 2006 or 2007, and it was SKUNKY! just awful.

i like to drink Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine and Victory Old Horizontal Barleywine. the longest i've let them sit was 3 or 4 years, and they definitely got better with age.

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That is unfortunate. I would suspect mishandling of the Bigfoots you had. Bigfoot is much hoppier than the (very yummy!) beers you listed, but shouldn't be skunky. Give it another try!

/Gotta get my plug in for Bigfoot. Man do I love that beer.

Just found some 2007 Brooklyn Monster...very nice...

Have Olde School, Bigfoot, and a few others aging from last year and this...

I'm new to barley wines. you guys are talking years?!

superjunior said:

I'm new to barley wines. you guys are talking years?!

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Yep. We sure are. I myself haven't been ageing beers very long (1 year on last year's Bigfoot is the longest so far), but I've had the privilege of trying some old beers next to a current batch. It can sure make a difference.

But keep in mind, if you haven't tried the beer, how will you know if it gets better with age?

So drink up a few of the Bigfoots (they are incredibly delicious right now!) and put a few of them back. Then you can pull one out every year or so, and see what you think!

Edit: Also, I've done a year or so on several homebrews, and now make it a practice every batch to put a couple back for at least a year just to see how it shakes out. Normally, pretty darn well...

I have heard that Bigfoot reaches its peak at 5yrs

jeburgdo said:

Yep. We sure are. I myself haven't been ageing beers very long (1 year on last year's Bigfoot is the longest so far), but I've had the privilege of trying some old beers next to a current batch. It can sure make a difference.

But keep in mind, if you haven't tried the beer, how will you know if it gets better with age?

So drink up a few of the Bigfoots (they are incredibly delicious right now!) and put a few of them back. Then you can pull one out every year or so, and see what you think!

Edit: Also, I've done a year or so on several homebrews, and now make it a practice every batch to put a couple back for at least a year just to see how it shakes out. Normally, pretty darn well...

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What kind of homebrews are you aging? Seems odd to pull all styles for aging.

Long time ago (1999, I believe) I did a barter trade where I ended up with the keg of Bigfoot that was at least 3/4 full. It had been bought for poker night, but the poker players soon realized they couldn't play for **** after having a few, so they gave it to me.

I drank on it for quite awhile, but its not something you can finish off easily, it takes a long while to work through nearly 12 gallons of 10% barley wine.

At some point I put the keg in the corner of my cellar and forgot about it. Come 2010 I decided to tap it again to see how it had progressed; damn if it hadn't gone sour. I think it was my fault for not cleaning the ball tap throughly after the last use, bummer all the same.

sounds like I should grab another sixer so I can really space them apart, and try a couple now of course. thanks for the heads up fellas

I just won a vertical 5-pack of Bigfoot at a local bar's charity auction. It has one from each year, 2003-2007. I'm debating on how much longer to age them, but I can be pretty patient.

jlpred55 said:

What kind of homebrews are you aging? Seems odd to pull all styles for aging.

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Yeah, that's why I only put one or two bottles back for a lot of them. I guess I haven't ever done it with my hefeweizen. I don't think that would turn out well.

Definitely pick up some more bigfoot!

I was recently pleasantly suprised to find out that a 1 year old Kolsch was still delicious. I bought a case of 2011 bigfoot to cellar but only have 12 left. I'm going to have to get another case.