Aging beer: bottles vs. bombers?

[atvince]

I'm planning to brew a behemoth Russian Imperial Stout soon, with approximately a one-year age. (More than likely I'll crack the first bottle for next year's inevitable Snowmageddon).

I'm living in an apartment and space is limited, so I'd prefer to age this in bottles that I can store more easily. Pros and cons for aging in 12oz bottles or 750mL bombers?

 

[Gixxer]

One question you have to ask yourself is if you do age in bigger bottles, are you gonna share your RIS every time you open a bottle, or are you going to finish a big bottle by yerself? I think one tradeoff is the convenience of a lesser number of bottles, but then what to do when you actually open one up? I ran into the same thing when I bottled a Westy 12 clone. I put a few in smaller bottles, but I had to put the rest in corked 750's cause I ran out of 12oz Belgian bottles. So, I always had to share when I opened a big un just cause I dont drink that much in one sitting.

 

[atvince]

Maybe I should add some context: I live 20 minutes east of Lake Michigan, where wind chills are currently somewhere around -25F. As much as I'd like this to be a rarity, it's pretty common to have at least one of these "snowmageddons" every winter.

That said, I'll be tapping the RIS on the first day in 2015 where it's too cold to walk outside or start my car. So yes, I'll have the time and patience to polish off 750mL of the stuff on my own.

I'm simply wondering if size (of bottle) matters in terms of aging? What will give me my best result?

 

[TNGabe]

Larger bottles age better (slower) than smaller bottles. Larger bottles will oxidize more slowly as the ratio of volume to opening size is greater.