BeaverBrewer1
Member
I'm being a bit impatient, I know, but I made a pretty high OG 1.068-ish stout* that I mashed at 70C. With the high mash temp and the unfermentables, it had a pretty high finishing gravity, around 1.018. I probably could (should?) have cranked the primary fermentation temp up a little further to get it to drop a bit more, but I racked to secondary after 8 days.
We're now a week later, and I feel that this beer would benefit from a decent aging, but I am also planning on splitting a gallon of it off to a growler and innoculating with the dregs of an Orval, and since I this idea occurred to me I'm impatient to give it a shot.
With that in mind, I'm wondering what difference it makes if I allow my aging to occur in the carboy or in the bottle. The carboy has been sitting at 18C in the basement for a week and has already cleared significantly, so that aspect of the secondary is well underway. If I decide to bottle this weekend I could move it over to the cold room where it would get close to 0C and probably be quite clear by Sunday. Would I be missing out on some significant mellowing if I let it sit for 6 months in bottles as opposed to the carboy?
*I'm calling it a stout, but aside from the colour and the percentage chocolate malt, I'm not sure anyone would agree. The yeast is from Unibroue's Noire de Chambly, so probably Trappist origin, and the malts are Pils and Wheat. The straight version is going to be a bit on the sweet side, and the Orval-innoculated version is going to be interesting, to say the least.
We're now a week later, and I feel that this beer would benefit from a decent aging, but I am also planning on splitting a gallon of it off to a growler and innoculating with the dregs of an Orval, and since I this idea occurred to me I'm impatient to give it a shot.
With that in mind, I'm wondering what difference it makes if I allow my aging to occur in the carboy or in the bottle. The carboy has been sitting at 18C in the basement for a week and has already cleared significantly, so that aspect of the secondary is well underway. If I decide to bottle this weekend I could move it over to the cold room where it would get close to 0C and probably be quite clear by Sunday. Would I be missing out on some significant mellowing if I let it sit for 6 months in bottles as opposed to the carboy?
*I'm calling it a stout, but aside from the colour and the percentage chocolate malt, I'm not sure anyone would agree. The yeast is from Unibroue's Noire de Chambly, so probably Trappist origin, and the malts are Pils and Wheat. The straight version is going to be a bit on the sweet side, and the Orval-innoculated version is going to be interesting, to say the least.