Bulk Ageing a Beast, How Long?

[Savage06]

Well I know there is no definitive answer as to what will work since no beers are the same.

However I have not been brewing long and haven't strayed anywhere near a beer this big.

Any tips or general experience as to when to bottle it from the 5gal carboy and when to actually start tasting it.

I was thinking at the very least 6mos in the carboy then another 2-3 to carb up in bottles.

What does everybody think?


malt & fermentables

% LB OZ MALT OR FERMENTABLE PPG °L
37% 6 10 Briess Pilsen/Light LME correction 37 2 ~
31% 5 8 Belgian Pilsner Malt 34 2 ~
14% 2 8 Belgian Candi Syrup-Dark 32 80 ~
6% 1 0 Caramunich I 30 33 ~
4% 0 12 Belgian Candi Syrup A 36 40 ~
3% 0 8 Belgian Biscuit Malt 35 24 ~
2% 0 6 Belgian Aromatic 34 23 ~
1% 0 4 Special B Malt 30 180 ~
1% 0 3 Chocolate Malt 34 475 ~


Batch size: 5.0 gallons

Original Gravity
1.118 measured
(1.110 estimated)

Final Gravity
1.016 measured
(1.024 estimated)

Color
32° SRM / 64° EBC
(Black)

Mash Efficiency
75%
hops
USE TIME OZ VARIETY FORM AA
boil 90 mins 1.0 Northern Brewer pellet 8.5
boil 30 mins 1.0 Goldings, East Kent pellet 5.0
boil 30 mins 1.0 Hallertauer pellet 4.8
Boil: 5.0 avg gallons for 90 minutes

Bitterness
37.0 IBU / 9 HBU
ƒ: Tinseth
BU:GU
0.34

yeast
White Labs Trappist Ale (WLP500)
ale yeast in liquid form with low to medium flocculation and 78% attenuation

Alcohol
13.6% ABV / 1e+01% ABW
(11.5% est. ABV / 9% est. ABW)

Calories
362 per 12 oz.
misc
USE TIME AMOUNT INGREDIENT
boil 15 min 1 tsp Irish Moss

 

[Toga]

That is a beast of a brew. Well done

With it being that large of a brew If you are bottling I would give it a month or two in secondary then bottle. Then age in the bottle and taste one a month or so until deemed perfect. I would also add in some extremely alcohol tolerant yeast to carb when bottling due the abv being that high just to be safe.

 

[hopsalot]

500 has a high alcohol tolerance but I would still make a starter

 

[bcgpete]

I've bulk aged (out of laziness mainly) for 6 months in the secondary with fantastic results. When I bottled I didn't add any new yeast and it carbed up just fine. I think it was Wyeast 1388 that I used.