Attenuation, Aging and Recipe Design

[bassmosphere]

I was curious what you guys thing about the balance between aging a beer and the actual design of a recipe. I brewed a beer out of Charlie Papazian's book called called Deep Sleep Stout, or something similar. I had it in the carboy for roughly 4-5 weeks, and I've had it in the keg another 4 weeks since that.

When I first had the beer it was OK, if I had bought it at the store I probably would have finished it...eventually. As I've been drinking it, the flavor has definitely evolved. More coffee and chocolaty, its a better beer for sure. I've read the "age it" mantra here time and time again, but I've heard folks on the brewing network mention that if you rely on aging to correct flavor issues, t hen you've probably got a recipe problem.

It's probably not that simple, but what are the indicators of what steps you should take? For instance, I felt like my beer was too hoppy initially. Does that mean I should add less hops next time, or try a different strain? Anyway, curious to hear more on this topic.

 

[marubozo]

Needing to rely on excessive aging for all your beers could be a sign of a problem, but certain styles do require more aging than others. The general rule of thumb is that the bigger the beer, the longer it needs to age in order to reach its prime. As with any rules of thumb there are exceptions, but it's usually safe to say that a 1.035 ordinary bitter will probably taste great conditioning/aging for only a few weeks whereas a 1.100 imperial stout is probably going to taste best after maybe six months.

And if your beer is too 'hoppy' you have to define what that actually is. Is it the bitterness that's too much? Is it the assertive flavor, citrius, etc. that you don't care for? In some cases this could be resolved by simply changing the hops used, but in other cases it may require using fewer hops, shorter boil times, adding/removing dry hopping, etc. So there's no simple answer until you identify exactly what it is about the hops that you don't like.

 

[Got Trub?]

It depends...

"Dark Sleep Stout" is a 1.060 OG beer which I would age at least 4 if not 6 months before drinking. Hop bitterness will fall off over time so you want to start with enough hop bitterness so that it balances out at about the time you would optimally drink it. In that case if you tasted it at 2 months the hops may be more than you like but by 4-6 months it is in much better balance.

GT

 

[effigyoffaith]

I find that the harsher roasted ashy notes from the dark grain, subside and mellow with some time. To me this makes them much more pleasant to drink.