Holiday Beer - Long secondary, or bottle and wait?

[ryantollefson]

I'm looking at brewing the Bad Santa recipe from BYO:

Bad Santa — John Zelazny
(5 gallon/19-L, all-grain)
OG = 1.085 FG = 1.018
IBU = 40 ABV = 8.6%
Best of Show, 2010 New York State Open (282 entries)

Ingredients
12 lbs. (5.4 kg) Canadian Pils malt
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) Munich malt
0.50 lb. (0.45 kg) Carahell® malt (19 °L)
0.50 lb. (0.45 kg) CaraMunich® malt (30–40 °L)
1.0 oz. (28 g) black patent malt
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) light dried malt extract
13 fl. oz. (384 mL) maple syrup
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) dried cherries
12 AAU US Northern Brewer hops (60 mins)
(1 oz./28 g of 12% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1084 (Irish ale) yeast
1 vanilla bean (split)
3 cinnamon sticks (3 inches, broken into pieces)

Step by Step
Strong Scotch ale base. Mash all grains at 152 °F (67 °C) for 60 min. Mash out at 168 °F (76 °C) for 10 min. Add dried malt extract and maple syrup at boil. Steep cherries in 2 qts. (2 L) of first wort runnings for 30 min. Strain out cherries and add this wort at end of boil. Ferment at 62–64 °F (17–18 °C). Dry spice in secondary for 2–3 weeks.​

I've read that a lot of people prefer to let seasonal/spiced beers age a bit, so I'm thinking I'll brew it pretty soon (it's end of March now). If I do, should I do an extended secondary for months and then bottle, or should I bottle in the normal time-frame and then cellar the bottles until the holidays?

 

[RM-MN]

I'm looking at brewing the Bad Santa recipe from BYO:

Bad Santa — John Zelazny
(5 gallon/19-L, all-grain)
OG = 1.085 FG = 1.018
IBU = 40 ABV = 8.6%
Best of Show, 2010 New York State Open (282 entries)

Ingredients
12 lbs. (5.4 kg) Canadian Pils malt
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) Munich malt
0.50 lb. (0.45 kg) Carahell® malt (19 °L)
0.50 lb. (0.45 kg) CaraMunich® malt (30–40 °L)
1.0 oz. (28 g) black patent malt
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) light dried malt extract
13 fl. oz. (384 mL) maple syrup
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) dried cherries
12 AAU US Northern Brewer hops (60 mins)
(1 oz./28 g of 12% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1084 (Irish ale) yeast
1 vanilla bean (split)
3 cinnamon sticks (3 inches, broken into pieces)

Step by Step
Strong Scotch ale base. Mash all grains at 152 °F (67 °C) for 60 min. Mash out at 168 °F (76 °C) for 10 min. Add dried malt extract and maple syrup at boil. Steep cherries in 2 qts. (2 L) of first wort runnings for 30 min. Strain out cherries and add this wort at end of boil. Ferment at 62–64 °F (17–18 °C). Dry spice in secondary for 2–3 weeks.​

I've read that a lot of people prefer to let seasonal/spiced beers age a bit, so I'm thinking I'll brew it pretty soon (it's end of March now). If I do, should I do an extended secondary for months and then bottle, or should I bottle in the normal time-frame and then cellar the bottles until the holidays?

I like to think of bottles as little carboys without the chance of infections. I like my dark beers to have time to mature but I've found that spices lose their flavor if you let them have too much time in the bottle. I'd be tempted to give this one plenty of time in the primary and then bottle it. 5 to 6 weeks in the primary would give it quite a bit of maturing time.

 

[ryantollefson]

5-6 weeks in the primary sounds reasonable to me... for a beer like this, how long would you guys recommend leaving in the bottle?

 

[d3track]

I like to bulk age, and basically lager a lot of my big beers. Then at bottling I have used a few grains of CBC yeast and carb drops, or last year I used Prime Dose. Leaves a much smaller amount of yeast in the bottle (I also bottle MAYBE two batches per year, so the extra is worth it to me).

 

[RM-MN]

5-6 weeks in the primary sounds reasonable to me... for a beer like this, how long would you guys recommend leaving in the bottle?

Um.....I'd leave it in the bottle until I was ready to drink it. There's no point to pouring it out to lose carbonation and go stale.

I'd probably want to sample one (only one!) at a month just to see if it was carbonating, knowing that it would be getting better. The next sample might be at 3 months, then again at about 6 to see the progression as the beer continues to mature. If you are patient, this kind of beer will not reach its peak flavor for a year or more.

 

[mrphillips]

I have a bigger beer going right now, and I'm going to split the difference: 1 month in primary, 1.5 months in secondary, 8 months in the bottle.

I like to think of beer in a carboy as a house filled with friends. The longer they hangout together, the better they get to know each other. once it's in the bottle, it's like the friends started to move out of the house; they're still friends and they keep in touch, but they start to evolve on their own. Forgive my long-winded metaphor.

 

[myerstyson]

Which issue of BYO was this in?

 

[ryantollefson]

Um.....I'd leave it in the bottle until I was ready to drink it. There's no point to pouring it out to lose carbonation and go stale.

I thought I was supposed to decant it?

 

[ryantollefson]

Which issue of BYO was this in?

Dec. 2010: https://byo.com/stories/item/2258-winter-seasonal-beers

 

[myerstyson]

Dec. 2010: https://byo.com/stories/item/2258-winter-seasonal-beers

Thanks!