Age in carboy or bottle?

[DownstairsBrewing]

Just wondering if there is any reason to rush to bottle. I have racked a couple of batches from primary fermenter to a carboy, and I am starting into the range where they could be bottled. But I am in no rush, and have a lot more carboy storage available than I do bottle volume. Am I better off getting them into bottles, or can I just leave them in carboys (dark, ~17C/62F) for a couple of weeks?

 

[mmb]

Depends on what the brew is, really. Bulk aging in a carboy is perfect for big, malt forward beers. Highly hopped or lower abv would be better served being consumed. I'd move a pale ale to bottle and a robust porter could cruise in the carboy for a while longer.

 

[JPDosey]

Bulk age in a carboy works if you are trying to add flavors...I mean adding fruit, or adding vanilla beans etc.

 

[TurnipGreen]

Bulk aging sound like the best thing for you. Think about the style of beer though. A couple weeks won’t hurt a malt forward pale ale but it will affect a hoppy ipa.

On the other hand bottle aging is more fun ‘cause it’s easy to sample and watch the flavors change.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Bulk aging sound like the best thing for you. Think about the style of beer though. A couple weeks won’t hurt a malt forward pale ale but it will affect a hoppy ipa.

On the other hand bottle aging is more fun ‘cause it’s easy to sample and watch the flavors change.

If you bulk age in a corny, you can sample any time you want, though it's not carbed. That being said, I typically bulk age big stouts and such where the lack of carbonation isn't a big deal. I usually run the pressure up to about 10-12 psi and put a spunding valve on set to 15 psi, but at 60 degrees, that's not much carbonation. I had a high gravity porter that I put a manual valve/gauge on that just kept generating pressure but the gravity didn't drop. I'd drop the pressure to 5 psi an d a day or two later it would be at 12 or more. I was sure it had an infection, but the flavor was good and, as I said, the gravity didn't change. The way that beer behaved during the aging process (about 3 months), is still a mystery to me.

 

[Kent88]

Aging in bulk is good for beers that have a IBU:GU ratio that really favors the GU (original Gravity Units), and that had an original gravity higher than around 1.075 (or even better, an ABV above 8% or 9%). Barleywines, Doppelbocks, Belgian Strong Ale, english Strong Ales, Bocks, and strong Stouts usually age well.

Almost any lager kept in proper lager temperatures can benefit from bulk aging. If you make a hoppy pilsner, I'd probably recommend you bottle that up.

Hoppy stuff or low original gravity / low abv ales, you should probably drink them sooner rather than later. Although I've had great luck keeping moderately strong sweet stouts a while before drinking, and my berliner weisse aged fantastically.

Just remember that yeast can get pretty dormant after a while, so if you're keeping it in carboy for more that a few months you might consider adding a little yeast at bottling, or just giving it more time after bottling for the yeast to wake up, or keg it.

 

[DownstairsBrewing]

Interesting stuff - as it turns out, one is a lager, the other a West Coast IPA, so it sort of splits.

The IPA has been in secondary for nearly a week now, after one week primary fermentation. Sounds like the consensus is I should bottle it this weekend.