What's the advantage to bulk aging?

[mythbustingpyro]

Is there a significant advantage to bulk aging vs bottle conditioning or split aging?

I have a 5 gal BOMM that Im about to rack or bottle. Im splitting off 2 of the gallons to experiment with (one pineapple, one bacon). Should I buy a 3 gal carboy for the other 3? Or would I be fine splitting the 3 into 1 gallons (buying full of apple juice) or straight to bottle?

 

[Homercidal]

I think most bulk aging is for clarifying purposes. 2-3 months is usually good for beer, then I bottle, even if the beer is meant to drink in a year. For mead, it's when it's clear or when I stop being lazy and decide to bottle.

 

[BBBF]

I'd say the advantages are consistancy and fine tuning. The bulk aged stuff will all be the same, but the bottle aged stuff might not be. And you can still make adjustments (adding oak, acid, back sweetening, etc.) to the bulk aged stuff, but it isn't easy to do if it's already bottled.

 

[fatbloke]

Bulk aging is about consistency of product.

If you were a commercial maker, you'd likely have to bottle as an intermediary stage (unless you have traditional facilities, like a cave big enough to manage barrels).

Materials handling is much easier, as is quality control, as well as climate control etc.

We often suggest bulk, because it's a good compromise i.e. consistent product that ages evenly (climate/temperature), 5/6 gallon carboys are manageable, glass means it can be de-gassed relatively easily and you can see what's going on.......

Bottling is really for the final stage, once it's clear and close to being ready to drink.......

Either way, it's up to you.......

 

[fuelish]

I find it "easier" to bulk age if I have several batches in various stages of ferment simultaneously ... takes all of the obsession over a batch and spreads it out to several....I've become much more patient now that I have several fermentors in different sizes and batches of varying age....if you think about it, it has to age before it tastes REALLY good, so one benefit of bulk aging is it reduces the temptation to drink it too early

 

[revjester]

You can take a small sample to see if it is done.

 

[mythbustingpyro]

Thanks for all the information. I ended up getting 5 more 1 gallon jugs since was splitting it anyways. For an extra dollar they come full of juice vs empty.