ReaderRabbit
Well-Known Member
I've got a carboy of the Old Ale recipe from Brewing Classic Styles fermenting. The book mentions, "I like my old ales to have some beer in them that has been around for a few years." Based on that I was thinking I would put aside a half-gallon (a full gallon?) of the beer to add to future recipes, but since then I've been wondering if I took that the wrong way and maybe BCS was talking about making a straight-up blend once you have finished batches, instead of adding some older beer to each new batch of wort.
Anyway, was this a silly idea? Is there flavor complexity to be gained by saving a little bit (any suggestions on what %?) of beer and adding it to the next batch? Are there potential problems (aside from wild yeast) if I do that for too long? Should I just let each batch age on its own?
Anyway, was this a silly idea? Is there flavor complexity to be gained by saving a little bit (any suggestions on what %?) of beer and adding it to the next batch? Are there potential problems (aside from wild yeast) if I do that for too long? Should I just let each batch age on its own?
