Dry Hop/Aging

I'm planning on aging an IPA I'm brewing for 9-12 months. Ideally it'll age in a cornie and I'll add the hops before I seal the keg.

Any problem with letting hops sit in the bottom of a keg for a year?

Alternatively I'll age the IPA in a carboy and dry hop when I'm ready to serve it.

 

Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you generally don't want to age IPAs. The hop aromas and flavors really subside when aged for any length of time.

 

Its going to have an OG of 70 and a boatload of goldings. The point being to let it age out and the flavors harmonize.

Kind of like those long sea voyages from England to India.

 

If you aged it you would want to wait to dry hop until a few days before you drink it, otherwise all that aroma and flavor would be gone.

 

Agree with tmoney. Plus, if your gonna age it for a year and use a ton of hops you should just raise the ABV and call it an English Barleywine.

 

My understanding is the same as the others. Aging will help the malt flavors mellow and develop, but the hop flavor and aroma will dissipate. I'd hate to see all toes hop additions from 20 min to flame out go to waste, but ultimately it's your beer.

As for prolonged dry hopping, most of the things I've read suggest 5-7 days before kegging. Most people report that much longer that that and you'll get very grassy flavors from the hops. Although plenty of people have posted about keeping a hop bag in their keg. Again, it's your beer. If you like the idea of trying it out for yourself, then go for it! I'd never have the patience to wait that long.

 

I'm making a historical IPA from an 1864 recipe in "Old British Beers and How To Make Them": http://www.durdenparkbeer.org.uk/Publications.htm

It calls for a 9-12 month aging and includes dry hopping. Based on the feedback here I'll age in a carboy and transfer to a keg/dry hop when I'm ready to serve it.

Thanks for the comments.

 

That makes more sense. So it doesn't mention when to dry-hop or for how long? For a historically accurate brew, I would guess they would do it before the journey, and that the hops flavors/aroma would be mellowed. Unless they brought some hops with them and tossed them in the cask upon arrival.