Should I age my Barleywine in a carboy or keg?

I recently brewed a barleywine and it fermented fairly quickly. I fermented at just 65 degrees with Nottingham but it had reached terminal gravity in about a week, and after three weeks it's pretty clear, as barleywine's go.

I'm getting ready to put it in secondary because that always seems to be the advice I read on how to age a BW, but I'm wondering if there is any reason not to just age in the keg so I can more easily sample along the way and save a step in the process. Is there some reason that would be a bad idea?

Keg it if you can manage to have it tied up for as long as you want to age it. It'll reduce the risk of oxidation and after you age it, you could jump it over to a fresh keg to get it off the sediment that will settle out.

beersk said:

Keg it if you can manage to have it tied up for as long as you want to age it. It'll reduce the risk of oxidation and after you age it, you could jump it over to a fresh keg to get it off the sediment that will settle out.

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Cool. Thanks. I figured I'd just get it carbed up and keep it there for a few months. And likely sample along the way. Eventually I'd bottle whatever I didn't drink. But I wasn't going to bottle condition anyway so I couldn't see why I shouldn't just age in the keg. I realized there would be a little sediment. But I figured that would be sucked out with the just a couple quick zaps on the tap. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something about the aging process as this is my first BW. Thanks.

Hit with some gas every now and then to keep the headspace filled with co2. Otherwise, sounds like you've got a good plan.

You might be careful and use a shortened dip tube. Having to deal with plugged tubes from the compacted sediment is a pita.