How long to secondary high gravity ales (barley wine etc..)

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permo

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I have two bigger beers, both 1.095 OG, one a barley wine and one an imperial oatmeal stout. I currently have these beers in glass carboys sitting in the dark at 65 degrees. I am in absolutely no hurry to drink them, I want them to be as perfect as possible when I bottle them.

How long should a guy condition beers this big for optimum flavor? My barley wine is already 4 months into conditioning...2 months for the stout. I was thinking 9-12 months.....
 
I'm not a huge secondary guy at all. If it were me, I would have bottled those as soon as they were done fermenting. Let them age in the bottle, much less chance of infection and oxidation. ****IMO secondary nazis!!!****

:mug:
 
Are you kegging or bottling? I agree that after fermentation they should be in an oxygen free environment for conditioning. Keg/bottle em up and throw in a fridge if you have space, otherwise just keep it cool and constant. A year sounds like a fine idea, but I'd start tasting them each month and keep notes to see how they progress for your future cellaring know-how.
 
THey are in glass carboys filled up to the neck. The airlocks indicate that escaping C02 has purged any oxygen from the environment. I am bottling these beers.

I will certainly repitch yeast, I like to add about a teaspoon of yeast slurry to the bottling bucket on my big beers after such a long conditioning period.

I just wanted to know if I am doing my beers a disservice by bottling early. My gut feeling says the longer I wait the better, especially on the stout...but they arent that big...only 1.095 or so.
 
For my barelywine I did 1 month primary, 1 month secondary, and then bottled. Tried one or two about 4 months is just to see how it will age (I'm thinking about 16 months before the next taste test).
 
My Belgian dark strong has been aging cold in the keg for 8 months and my barley wine 5 months. I am going to carb them here in June.
 
I have found that bulk aging my high gravity brews tends to have a more mellow and consistent flavor profile than early(er) bottling and conditioning in the bottle. By bulk aging, I mean aging in a single container, either a carboy or keg. This is just what I have experienced. I have done no thorough testing on this, this is just my anecdotal experience. Take it as my opinion only.

If you have no O2 in your carboys, you should be fine bulk aging and leave them in the carboy for upwards of 6 months. I would leave them in the bottle for awhile longer when ready to allow proper carbonation of the brews.

-ZB

It looks like you will have a couple delicious brews to savor for awhile. Enjoy!
 
ZenBrewer said:
I have found that bulk aging my high gravity brews tends to have a more mellow and consistent flavor profile than early(er) bottling and conditioning in the bottle. By bulk aging, I mean aging in a single container, either a carboy or keg. This is just what I have experienced. I have done no thorough testing on this, this is just my anecdotal experience. Take it as my opinion only.

If you have no O2 in your carboys, you should be fine bulk aging and leave them in the carboy for upwards of 6 months. I would leave them in the bottle for awhile longer when ready to allow proper carbonation of the brews.

-ZB

It looks like you will have a couple delicious brews to savor for awhile. Enjoy!
Click to expand...

That is exactly what I was thinking. I will likely bottle the barley wine after 6 months in primary and the stout after 9 months. I will add a dose of yeast to both at bottling time. Sometimes I actually forget I have these beers aging, then I open my closet downstairs and it's like my birthday!
 

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