Aging

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

OtherWhiteMeat

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2005
Messages
162
Reaction score
1
Location
Rochester, MN
Hello, im new to homebrewing as you can see from my post count. For beers that need time to age any given amount of time, can you age it in the secondary(glass carboy) or is it better to age in bottles under compression.
 
If you plan to bottle I'd say bottle conditioning would be the better way to go. I keg, personally, so I let it sit in the secondary a little longer before I keg and carbonate. It's a personal preference thing more than anything else. Either way patience is the most important part.


BTW Welcome to the forum!!
 
I intend to bottle, at least for a little while. I was just asking in case i want to make something that takes, for example 2 months to age, while im drinking something else. Basicly i dont want to buy 200 bottles so i can drink one an age another.
 
beg , borrow , and steal alll the bottles you can get your hands on. You'll use them sooner or later. A cheap way out is to use plastic drink bottles. They're not as cool as glass, but can be had for nothing ( ask friends to save them for you ). Make sure the caps are tight and you won't have any problems. They also have the advantage of not turning into shrapnel if one explodes on you.
For what it's worth,
Sudsmonkey
 
I second that.....tell all your friends/family/etc to save any bottles they have...non twist off that is. I had my inlaws give me two cases of bottles....and I only asked them once! Also, if you buy any beer, save those bottles. I have never bought a bottle in my 3 years of brewing. When I started and let everyone know, I ended up with 5 cases of bottles in less than 2 months.
 
Yeah yeah, im still waiting for friends to pull through in the bottle request, but back to my question, will a beer effectivly age in a glass carboy or should it age carbonated in a bottle?
 
Either way it will age. I have never experimented as to which will age better. It usually comes down to whether I need the space or not. If you have a carboy that you can afford to tie up for a while, then keep it int the carboy....assuming we're talking a secondary here. If, like me, you have a single secondary...bottle it and let it condition in the bottle. I would choose the bottle, as that is its final destination. Better to let it age where its last transition is to my glass. Just my 2 cents though. :D
 
I keep my bottles in plastic milk crates,
they hold 25- 12 ouncers and 16- 22 ouncers.
Having outgrown the brewery, I have 14 stacked by my bed.
They stack well, half way to the ceiling.
350 bottles or there-abouts.
One could buy bottles to get started.
But it is more fun to buy bottles, {with beer or ale in them}
My favorite 12 oz bottle is Bavarian.
The labels come off real easy, finish tham with steel wool.
I like the green glass too.

Luck J. Knife
 
Definitely have to agree with the Knife here. If you have trouble getting bottles from others, go to the store and buy some nice craft beers. The benefit is two fold. First you get to taste various beers that may lead you to brew something similar. Second, you get to keep the bottles. Its perfect!
 
vtfan99 said:
If you have a carboy that you can afford to tie up for a while, then keep it int the carboy....assuming we're talking a secondary here.
Actually if you rack it to an available carboy after secondary, it’s called bulk aging and is recommended by many brewers and meaders. I don't own a carboy and age big beers in bottles for at least a month at fermentation temps before cellaring.

Wild
 
Age in the bottle. Get a messload of them. My local homebrew store sells a case for about $8. Not too bad, but you wouldn't want to buy 5 cases if you didn't have to. Also, stay away from green glass unless you can be absolutely sure you can keep those suckers in utter darkness as the green allows UV to come in and can affect the flavors in the beer.
 
So, how do you know when to drop the temp back down? When you first bottle, you are supposed to keep it nice and warm, right? What would happen if you continued to age at the warm temps? What's the ideal temp for aging?

My first two batches were gone before I could consider these kinds of questions, but two recently bottled batches and an upcoming vacation give me the opportunity to be a bit more patient.

- doug
 
befriend a local barkeep and ask if he'll save some empties for you if you provide a tub to put them in and pick them up on a regular basis.
 
Doug said:
So, how do you know when to drop the temp back down? When you first bottle, you are supposed to keep it nice and warm, right? What would happen if you continued to age at the warm temps? What's the ideal temp for aging?
Once a beer has completed conditioning (is fully caronated), it can be ready for cellaring. We're not talking about your average beer with a mere shelf life of 3-6 months, tops -- before quality begins to degrade. We're talking about beers that beg for maturation and strict storage like vintage beers, barleywines, imperial stouts, Belgian strong ales, lambics, old ales and so on. Ideally, any type of beer that can be laid-down for a year or two, or even more, in order to build a slew of complexities and thus further its character in a positive way.

Beer benefits from cool constant temperatures; usually around 50-55°F is ideal for most beers, and most beer collectors. Higher temperatures and you'll risk shortening the lifespan of your beer, lower and you'll induce chill haze (cloudy). Your strong beers (like barleywines, tripels, dark ales) will be their happiest at room temperature (55-60°F), most of your standard ales (like bitters, IPAs, dobbelbocks, lambics, stouts, etc) will be at cellar temperature (50-55°F) and your lighter beers (like lagers, pilsners, wheat beers, milds, etc) will be at a refrigerated temperature (45-50°F). Usually the higher alcohol, the higher temperature and lower alcohol, the lower temperature ... you get the point. Hope that helps.

Wild
 
Back
Top