Are there guidelines for aging?

[jacksonbrown]

I'm trying to find any sort of general rule of thumb when it comes to again your brew. I know higher OG beers like to sit for longer amounts of time, but how long? What's a good temp for againg ales? Keg or secondary? Gas or no gas?
I just see so much information out there, and none of it really seems consistant, so any input would be great! Cheers -Jason

 

[Revvy]

Interestingly enough the only thing I've ever seen that is remotely comprehensive in terms of style is in the ingredient kit section of the Northern Brewer Catalog....They list the length of time til each beer is ready, and usually mention whether or not a secondary is required....I usually use that as a rough guidline for a style factoring in 2 weeks approx for fermentation (of normal grav beers) and the rest conditioning/aging time. The catalogue is free and can be requested at their website....It's not a great guide, but it's the best I've seen.

For example, their 1.082 OG Barley Wine, they say takes 6 months...

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

I know that Clone Brews has suggested aging times, temperatures, as well as serving temps and food pairing suggestions. It is a pretty good book with many recipes (the few I have made out of it have been good so far).

 

[Beerthoven]

I've seen 1 month per percent of ABV mentioned as a general rule for ales. It seems a bit long to me, but not too far from the truth.

 

[WBC]

In general 4 to 5 weeks for most ales. More for stronger ones.

Lagers take longer due to the yeast working at cold temperatures. 2 months works good for 4 to 5 percent alcohol and longer is better. Let taste be your guide. The longer you brew the more you will understand how long to condition.

 

[zoebisch01]

The rule on aging is this.

Make a batch, and sample at different intervals so you can determine what is best for each particular recipe. That is the only accurate way. Yes you can say higher abv's go longer, but many of my Wheats are around 5% to 5.5% and are in their stride around 4 weeks (just pointing out that there are exceptions to rules). At any rate, higher abv brews are definite candidates for long term storage. Often how complex a grain bill is will determine how long. But again, say with hop-centric beers you don't want to age forever and a day because you lose much hop nuance, unless of course you dry hop shortly before racking, bottling/kegging and consuming. You really really have to know this on an individual case basis. Keep good notes.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

My personal rule of thumb is one month of secondary, plus one month for each percent ABV over 4. So two months for a 5% ABV, three months for a 6%, etc.

Is it an exact science? Definitely not. I view that rule of thumb as being +/- 1 month. So you can subtract 1 month from that and the beer will be good (5% at one month, 6% at two months), but the extra month makes a BIG difference. Adding one additional month to the aging process, though it makes less of a difference, will give you additional improvement. So we have...

4% alright straight out of primary, really good at 1 month, a little better at 2 months;

5% pretty good after 1 month, really good after 2, and a little better after 3 months

6% good after 2 months, a lot better after 3 months, a little better still after 4 months;


The only thing is, as you get even higher on the ABV chart, the beer will continue to improve over a longer period. Anything over 6% ABV starts to age nicely for some time. I think my scale still holds true, for example, that a 10% beer will be good at 6 months, even better at 7 and better still at 8, but you can draw it out even longer... it will really be vastly improved still at 12-18 months or more.

And as zoebisch01 mentioned, wheats are a little different. They seem to taste better when they are a bit fresher. They still fit in my scale, but just at the lower end of it. For example, I made a 7% honey-hefe that wasn't great after a month, was decent after 2, but really hit it's stride at the 3 month mark.

 

[DaleJ]

Are there guidelines for aging?

I believe the sage recommend "as gracefully as possible."

 

[Trencher]

Lots of good responses... I'd say it depends on the yeast as well. I've brewed a few batches with Wyeast 1968 London ESB yeast which they rate as having very high flocculation. Those beers were best after 3 weeks in primary and 2-3 weeks in the bottle, after that they tasted plain and boring. They were lower gravity but didn't age nearly as well as similar batches using different yeast.

 

[jacksonbrown]

My personal rule of thumb is one month of secondary, plus one month for each percent ABV over 4. So two months for a 5% ABV, three months for a 6%, etc.

Are you talking about 2-3 months in the secondary or in bottles? I would imagine bottles, but that's why I'm still learning.

 

[wildwest450]

Are you talking about 2-3 months in the secondary or in bottles? I would imagine bottles, but that's why I'm still learning.

Correct, bottles or kegs.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Correct, bottles or kegs.

or secondary. It doesn't much matter. Conditioning is conditioning. The only thing is if you let it bulk condition in secondary for many months, you may need to repitch when bottling and the mini fermentation could cause some temporary green taste to the beer just like any other fermentation, although I can't think it would matter enough to make much of a difference.