To age or not to age - and how long?

[muthafuggle]

Okay, I've seen all kindsa people on here talk about "short-term" beers- Beer that's out of primary in 3-5 weeks, in the keg for a coupla days and bam! you're drinking it.

I've heard other people say that for SOME beers, older is better (at least until about the two-year mark or maybe a skosh longer). Hefeweisen is good young, Belgian strong is good kinda young, some wheat beers age really well... Porters need to age, Barleywine REALLY needs to age. The video I got with my brewing kit makes it sound like I should bottle condition EVERYTHING for a year at least to get max benefit. I don't know if any of this is right. There seems to be a lot of discussion and debate on what to age and for how long.

Is it alcohol content or color or complexity that makes a beer a good candidate for aging? What should I age and what can I drink as soon as the SG is stable and it's carbed up?

 

[daveooph131]

Good question, I'll be curious to see what people have to say. To add to it as well what about IPA'S how long?

I think it would be good to post a general rule of thumb for every style.

 

[Pommy]

I will follow this thread with interest, most of my beers last two months tops atm Ive got some of my better ones at the back of the cupboard waiting for a day far away though. In answer to your question Dave Ive read on here that three to six months is best for most IPAs and not more than a year. As I say ill be watching this thread to see what more experienced brewers have to say.

 

[amh0001]

Read this

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/aging-beer-facts-myths-discussion-84005/

 

[muthafuggle]

Read this

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/aging-beer-facts-myths-discussion-84005/

I read that thread all the way through about a week ago. It has alot of conflicting information and assumptions that everyone knows which beers are best when bottle conditioned and/or aged. With quotes like

"Now, that's not to say that my beers and many, many others would not or do not improve with time. Of course, they do, even many of the smaller ones. Commercial breweries often move their beer due to financial concerns. They still move good beer within a month of the boil, but that doesn't mean it their product is at its best."

-from TexLaw, I'm still confused and I bet a lot of other people are too.

 

[Poindexter]

My rule of thumb is OG first and complexity next.

A basic pale ale at 1.040 and under OG is gonna be a little bit better after six weeks in the bottle than it was at three weeks, but come on.

This week I am enjoying a stout I bottled on 07-28-2009, I gave it three months in the bottle and it was very rough. In early December, four months, still rough.

March 2010, bottled six months, now I have a good beer. This one OG'd around 1.070 and included 1.5# of dark mo9lasses at the beginning of a 90 minute boil.

Basically, if your beer sucks, don't pour it out; let it condition for two more months and then try it again.

I am reminded I left a bottle of this stout at moose camp autumn 2009, up around 4000 feet. It is buried under several feet of snow right now. Looking forward to rooting around under that tree this summer...

 

[disconnex]

All of my brews have tasted better with age. I have given some out, only to have the person I gave it to rave about how good it tasted when they drank it months later. My thoughts were always something along the lines of "Shoot, I wish that I would have kept that bottle". But the good news is that I've never had a bad "last beer" from any batch. They just seem to get better no matter how rough they started off.

 

[Pommy]

+1 to disconnex, I havent had any beer last me more than 6 months but the last beer has always been the best.

 

[Chuck_Swillery]

I read that thread all the way through about a week ago. It has alot of conflicting information and assumptions that everyone knows which beers are best when bottle conditioned and/or aged. I'm still confused and I bet a lot of other people are too.

Like any hobby its as much/more art than science and is all upto the tastes of the person doing it. General rule of thumb - bigger beers benefit from longer aging. That, however, is the tip of the iceberg and I don't believe there is any finite answer to your question outside of follow your taste. Crack a beer and if it isn't where you want it to be, let it age.

PS - FAR easier to underage a beer than it is to overage a beer! Just something about the way it calls to you from the closet, "DRINK ME!"

 

[Lunarpancake]

The key to brewing is to keep brewing more batches. Once you have a batch going every few weeks or so you will find that it is MUCH easier to let beer sit around for a few months.

When bottled label each bottle to make sure you know what is in it and when it was bottled. Make sure you brew another batch so that you have only finished drinking about 1/4 of the previous batch. By the time the new batch is drinkable you should hopefully still have half of your first batch.

Keep repeating this process. You will soon have some pretty old and tasty beer.

 

[remilard]

Things that make a beer more suitable for aging (in no order).

1. darker color
2. less residual sugar
3. higher alcohol
4. more hopping (in terms of bitterness)

Things that make a beer less suitable for aging (other than the opposite of the above):

1. lots of hop character that you wish to be present when drinking
2. used german wheat beer yeast
3. age related character would not be welcome (eg you want the beer to taste "fresh" as opposed to "aged", think of a beer like RRBC damnation which can handle some age but most people would rather drink young)

 

[Grinder12000]

When looking at aging I look at the amount of different variables there are in a brew. I have a 6 malt brown a week away from being bottled and I believe from experience this ill need more aging then a SMASH which has 1 malt and one hop.

The more ingredients the longer you can age. but it's all to your taste and gaining knowledge of what works and what does not.

I've had some brews that I aged too long and regretted not drinking them. A National Tragedy

 

[jjones17]

Personally, I have not had the self control the age my beers before cracking the first one.

On my APA's, I find they taste best at 3 weeks in the bottle (after a 3 week ferment) and the hops/malt profile marry well at that point. Usually I have only a few left However, after about the 5 week mark I find the flavour actually is LESS preferrable, at least to me.

On my IPA's of which I make alot of, I drink them after 1 week in the bottle and I love them. After 4 weeks or so the flavouring/dry hopping mellows CONSIDERABLY, and I find I do not like them as much.

On my english browns, stouts, porters, I do not enjoy them much at all until about 5 weeks in the bottle. They all taste the same to me (green beer 'taste') until after about 5 weeks.

As for bigger beers, I have only ever made an IIPA and it definately kept getting better until the 9 week mark when I drank my last one... HAHA! I should have waited that long to have my FIRST one, but I had no other hoppy beers on hand and I love hop flavours.

 

[slowbie]

Things that make a beer more suitable for aging (in no order).

1. darker color
2. less residual sugar
3. higher alcohol
4. more hopping (in terms of bitterness)

Things that make a beer less suitable for aging (other than the opposite of the above):

1. lots of hop character that you wish to be present when drinking
2. used german wheat beer yeast
3. age related character would not be welcome (eg you want the beer to taste "fresh" as opposed to "aged", think of a beer like RRBC damnation which can handle some age but most people would rather drink young)

Although I agree with everything you said, I have heard that in meads (and IIRC, wines too), less sugar content means you need to age it longer before it's good, but sweet meads last longer before dropping off. Traditional Polish meads are the best examples of this, some of which are aged 20 years or more. I'm not sure if this transfers to beer or not. Any thoughts?