Aging in Secondary or Bottles?

[thenson801]

Hey everyone! I did a little searching about this, but wanted to get all the info into one place that I could...

I brewed a stout and let it sit in secondary for about 8 months, then added bourbon soaked oak chips to it and let it sit for a week, then bottled and it tasted great. The first few bottles were great, but as I started to go through them, they seemed to get more and more carbonated, and would be super heady. I'm assuming I might have used a little too much priming sugar, but, my question is about the "aging".

How would you guys have done this? Would you have done the same as I did, or would you have bottled way earlier, as normal, and then let them sit in bottles?

Any feedback/info is greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

 

[55x11]

Hey everyone! I did a little searching about this, but wanted to get all the info into one place that I could...

I brewed a stout and let it sit in secondary for about 8 months, then added bourbon soaked oak chips to it and let it sit for a week, then bottled and it tasted great. The first few bottles were great, but as I started to go through them, they seemed to get more and more carbonated, and would be super heady. I'm assuming I might have used a little too much priming sugar, but, my question is about the "aging".

How would you guys have done this? Would you have done the same as I did, or would you have bottled way earlier, as normal, and then let them sit in bottles?

Any feedback/info is greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

I don't think it matters much - and bulk aging (as long as it's off yeast cake) could be very good for the beer. But I do think 8 months is a bit excessive, perhaps mostly because it ties up fermenter and you can't taste the aging process. I would have aged for ~2 months (ending with oaked bourbon) and then bottle. Then open a bottle once in a while and monitor how the taste develops over time.

 

[thenson801]

Got'cha! Yeah, that's true. I'm not too worried about having a carboy tied up for a while, but it just makes sense to bottle it after a short while then, as you said, open one up every so often to see how it progresses.

Once I get an actual oak barrel, it'll be a different story!

Thanks!!

 

[obsessedbrewing]

I don't think it matters much - and bulk aging (as long as it's off yeast cake) could be very good for the beer. But I do think 8 months is a bit excessive, perhaps mostly because it ties up fermenter and you can't taste the aging process. I would have aged for ~2 months (ending with oaked bourbon) and then bottle. Then open a bottle once in a while and monitor how the taste develops over time.

That's an interesting question about bulk aging vs. bottle aging. Have you ever seen any research or experiments on it, or have you done any comparisons yourself? I'd be interested to learn about the differences.

I'm also a huge fan of monitoring how a beer develops over time. It's extremely educational. It's a great reason to switch from bottling to kegs.

As for the OP's question about aging, I think it depends a lot on what kind of beer you were trying to make. What kind of oak character did you want? Was it a higher ABV stout, or a lighter one? Oatmeal stout or milk stout?

I think the different ways you can deal with the oak will radically change the beer one way or another. Fresh oak can impart an astringency and dryness that feels like sucking on a wood chip. Bourbon soaking can take a little bit of that away, but then it can also impart some warmth or hotter alcohol feel if too much. Time and amount of oak used will be huge variables, too. They can all be the "right" or "wrong" answer depending on what you're trying to make.