This may be a dumb question, but when a recipe calls for aging a beer (say 30 days), in what state do you age it? Leaving it in the secondary? Kegging it and storing it at room temp? Cold temp? Force carbonate and leave it in the kegerator?
Conditioning/Aging question
- Thread starter ikaris
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If it were me and I didn't add anything to the beer like fruit I'd just leave it in the primary You can age beer in the primary for a few months w/o any problems. Or you can bottle and age in the bottle. I have a RIS that I brewed in 2015 that has been aging for a year in bottles and has become so m uch better.
LLBeanJ
Well-Known Member
If you have the ability, I would definitely age it in the keg at room temp.
Terek
"Did I just drop down a rabbit hole?"
i was kinda wondering this with my barley wine. is it better to age colder or hotter? I can leave it in the ferm chamber at 65* or i can put it in the basement were it is 52* what would be better
LLBeanJ
Well-Known Member
To age a big beer it's better to go warmer, say 60-75°F. Aging will happen faster in a warmer environment, but try to keep it under 75° if you can. Colder will work too, but it will take longer. Aging cool (32-60°F) would be better for lagers or similar styles where you're wanting to clear them, rather than age them. Cooler temps will drop the yeast and other solids, while not having such a big impact on the beer's flavor.
It may be just a mind trick but I feel like when I ferment and condition in the primary, my beers flavors are off and yeasty, sometimes medicinal. Whenever I transfer to a secondary, it seems the beer is much cleaner tasting and clearer as well. I will try to transfer to keg and condition at room temp. Thanks all for the input!
