Aging in bottles vs. aging in secondary

[Reindeer]

Just brewed a Tripel, and I want to age it before drinking. I've seen reference to bottling after a couple weeks in secondary, and waiting 6 months or so, or just leaving it in the secondary for 6 months then bottling. Is there an advantage to doing it one way or the other?

OG was around 1.080, and I'm using Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity

 

[rodwha]

It's best to bulk ago so that it all ages together, the same, whereas if you bottle it it's possible each could have a minor variance.

 

[Yooper]

Bulk aging is ideal in many cases, but in cases where there is going to be a lot of headspace in the carboy, infection and things like mold can grow. In those cases, I'd prefer bottle by a large margin!

 

[GrogNerd]

bottling frees up the ferment vessel for another batch

 

[brewkinger]

All 3 of these answers are spot on! The open fermentation vessel is a great point.

 

[rodwha]

If there was too much head space I'd add sanitized marbles or something, whatever it is that's used for wine, to bring the surface area back to the small neck of a Better Bottle/carboy.

I'm not sure, but I don't think bulk aging is good in a bucket for an extended period of time, though if it has CO2 then I'd guess that would solve your problem. Maybe transfer and add a small amount of sugar to restart a small fermentation to get a little CO2?

 

[Reindeer]

So basically the only difference it should make is bulk aging eliminates any potential variances. How about carbonation?

I've got a 5 gal glass carboy for a secondary (its a 5 gal batch). How much is too much headspace?

 

[rodwha]

You want it to go right into the neck of the bottle so there's a minimal amount of air touching it.

 

[buzzno]

Great question. I have been wondering the same thing but I didn't ask before I did it. I have been bulk again a barley wine for 6 months. I transferred it to a secondary in July and added CO2 to rid the vessel of oxygen. It seems to have done the trick. I just tested it last week and couldn't detect anything suspicious.

I want to bottle soon though and have heard that you need to add some yeast to help with the carbonation since most has probably settled. How do you know how much to add and what kind should I use?

Hopefully you don't mind me jumping into your thread and asking questions ;-)

 

[rodwha]

I'm not familiar with this, but were it me, I'd either make a small starter to use a liquid yeast I had in stock at home (I keep them going), and just use a small bit, or, as now I don't have any liquid stock, would use a small portion of dry yeast and make a small starter for the dry yeast to make up for the loss.

You'll have to check the yeast's ability to handle the alcohol level your beer is though.

 

[GrogNerd]

bottled a 14.6% ABV pumpkin barleywine 2 days ago that had been bulk conditioning for a month.

I used Danstar CBC-1, about 2.5 grams in a pint of water, added to the bottling bucket along with the priming sugar

I'll let you know how it's going when I test it in a month, but it won't really be ready until next Halloween

 

[Calichusetts]

I don't have a co2 system so I get a little leery raking to a secondary for an extended time. If I do, I often add some sugars to jumps start it and get a new blanket. Otherwise, a week to a month and I bottle to avoid oxidation. My 15% barleywine did two months in the primary and two weeks in a secondary on bourbon oak. Fantastic!

 

[Calichusetts]

Oops..double post, please delete

 

[rodwha]

How long did you age them in the bottle? Detect any differences?

I've been eyeing a Better Bottle for when the time comes for me to brew a barley wine.

 

[Reindeer]

I think I'm going to try aging in bottles, I've got plenty of bottles and not enough carboys, and then I don't have to worry about oxidation.
I'll probably to around 3 weeks primary, 3 weeks secondary, then bottle condition for 4-6 months.

 

[Mr.sipsy]

Great question. I have been wondering the same thing but I didn't ask before I did it. I have been bulk again a barley wine for 6 months. I transferred it to a secondary in July and added CO2 to rid the vessel of oxygen. It seems to have done the trick. I just tested it last week and couldn't detect anything suspicious.

I want to bottle soon though and have heard that you need to add some yeast to help with the carbonation since most has probably settled. How do you know how much to add and what kind should I use?

Hopefully you don't mind me jumping into your thread and asking questions ;-)

While I don't know if you should add yeast, I did have a batch that I accidentally aged longer than normal in primary, and quite a few bottles had 0 carbonation. To this day, I don't know what would prevent this. I'm thinking intentionally stirring in some of the yeast on the bottom into the bottling bucket when bottling. However, I don't know how viable this yeast will be, perhaps you should add fresh.

I'm planning on making some sort of stout, and a spruce pilsner, then maybe a dubbel or trippel, all of which will want to sit for extended time. I'm interested in how bulk aging these while affect the amount of viable yeast left in suspension when bottling after x months and the common solutions used to ensure proper carbonation.

 

[TestTickle]

While I don't know if you should add yeast, I did have a batch that I accidentally aged longer than normal in primary, and quite a few bottles had 0 carbonation. To this day, I don't know what would prevent this. I'm thinking intentionally stirring in some of the yeast on the bottom into the bottling bucket when bottling. However, I don't know how viable this yeast will be, perhaps you should add fresh.

I'm planning on making some sort of stout, and a spruce pilsner, then maybe a dubbel or trippel, all of which will want to sit for extended time. I'm interested in how bulk aging these while affect the amount of viable yeast left in suspension when bottling after x months and the common solutions used to ensure proper carbonation.

Using CBC-1 yeast at bottling as @GrogNerd mentioned is the way to go if bulk aging for extended periods. If you use the bottle conditioning calculator on Lallemand's website, it'll actually tell you how much CBC-1 to use.

https://www.lallemandbrewing.com/en...brewing-tools/bottle-conditioning-calculator/

 

[MaxStout]

Any time you age big beers like that it's likely the primary yeast will be shot by then. CBC-1 is designed for bottle-conditioning, but if you don't have that, any neutral ale yeast will work, such as US-05, Nottingham, etc.

I use about 1/3-1/2 packet in a 5 gallon batch of finished beer. Carefully stir to mix it evenly without adding too much air, along with your priming sugar solution.

 

[bracconiere]

I'm thinking intentionally stirring in some of the yeast on the bottom into the bottling bucket when bottling. However, I don't know how viable this yeast will be, perhaps you should add fresh.

should be viable? i repitch yeast cakes a lot. and i have had to add yeast to get a second ferment going, assuming the yeast just flocculated out REALY good....

 

[estricklin]

I personally prefer to age in the bottles, at least given enough time that the beer is clear going in.