Question about ageing potential?

I'm just beggining homebrewing and of course I love it and am becoming addicted. However, my first passion is wine - sorry if this is blasphemy here. One thing I love about wine is that some wine in my cellar will age/improve for 10-20-30+ years. I just bought a bottle of madeira from 1910! I've read on this forum that some barleywines and douple IPA's(not sure what 'double' means though), etc. are built to age maybe a year or so both before and after bottling. I am looking for beer recipes that you can vouch for that need a long time to age, and beers that will improve with age in bottle(and how long). Lastly, are there beers that will last or improve in bottle for numerous years, have you had these beers, do you have a recipe? Thanks alot. Hope this is clear.

I posted this question in the noob section, but it might be better here. I want a barleywine or other recipe that takes a long time to become ready. Long aging(like a year or more) in secondary, long aging in bottle, etc. Also, has anyone made a recipe that has improved for years(like more than 5-10)or heard if this is possible? Thanks.

Welcome to the forum(s)!

As for recipes I really can't help as I am assuming you are looking for extract recipes, and to boot I haven't done any of these types of beers yet.

In general any beer that is of significant OG (1.065 and up) should be aged. The length of which is determined by a myriad of factors. Some styles of beer that lend themselves to aging are:

Barleywines
Imperial Stout (Export Stout)
Many things with the "Imperial" name are capable of being aged well
Any of the bottle reconditioned (or refermented) Ales

Time frames are usually on the order of 2 to 8 years, with some going well beyond that. However as a caution, attention to detail and a good deal of experience in the brewing process is key before attempting one of these brews because it would be far to easy to make something that was only suitable as lawn fertilizer.

"Double" is the addition of the "Imperial " in the IPA hence IIPA, or Double IPA.

I put both posts together for you here- no need to double post.

I've never made a "big" beer but I do make wine and can see where that would be gratifying. I'm not a big barleywine fan, but I have had some good ones. What kind of beer do you like? That will help us narrow down some ideas for you.

The beers with the best aging potential, generally speaking, are barleywines, imperial stouts, and the big Belgian ales.

I would echo zoebisch's comments, though--none of these is a beginner's style: big beers are a little trickier to brew and ferment, and they're also expensive: you might be pissed if you invest a bunch of coin and a year's aging and find that the results aren't what you were looking for.

Beers go through a life cycle just as wine does (well, unpasteurized homebrews do, anyway)--it's just shorter. "Regular" strength beers will age and change over several months, if you manage to keep them that long. I find that to be a very enjoyable part of the hobby--enjoying the same beer at various stages as it changes.

An IPA, for example, is almost perfumy and bursting with fresh hops flavor and aroma when it is young. (It reminds me a little of Thai food--I'm weird that way). Hops flavor and aroma fade with time, so as it ages you taste the bitterness and the malt profile more.

I have made a few extract beers, and plan on doing one simpler all grain before the barleywine/IPA/IIPA. I make wine for a living and have a large lab and I do fairly well keeping things sanitized so I feel fairly confident that I can follow a recipe and keep things clean. I realize though that I may be moving too fast. Cash for these projects is not a problem. And as far as what I like....I like the brewing process and sharing brews with my buds. I do however, like IPA's, but have not had barleywines though I imagine I'd like them- they sound great. Hope this helps you all make some more recommendations, so far they've been great. I'd like to read your evaluations on some of these beers as they age too - like 1 year in, 2 years in, etc.

In the stout section of the recipe database, Brewpastor has listed two stout recipes. Both of those would be best aged at least a year, could probably last 10. The hoppier of the two could probably age even longer.