Why age homebrew?

[ru41285]

I recently read Bill Owen's "How to build a small brewery" where he outlines how to go from grain to glass in 10 days. Now that is for kegged beer, which is obviously different from bottled brew since you force carb it. But bottled brew does not take longer than a week to fully carbonate if stored at room temp. Given this, why does everyone always suggest that we age our beers? Sometimes for months at time.

I typically make session beers (4.5-7% ABV) and have always felt that they never tasted much different after a week in bottle to months later after i get around to finishing the batch. And if Bill Owens, who obviously knows his stuff, turns around beer in 10 days, why can't we turn it around? He doesn't filter his beers either.

Any insight? Anyone want to help me start a revolution?

 

[wildwest450]

It's style dependent. Go ahead and drink a mild in 10 days it will be good. Drink a barleywine after 10 days when its still at 1.050 and get back to me.

 

[RDWHAHB]

Yuri's got a thread along those lines:

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

 

[Jaysus]

lol @ 7% session beers

 

[ru41285]

I'm not trying to be rude here at all...trust me. But obviously i'd only bottle after the FG has stopped lowering. And keep in mind, like said i'm not making barley wines..rather just pale ales, hefes, and IPAs as thats what i prefer to drink.

 

[ru41285]

lol @ 7% session beers

thats why we brew our own, right?

 

[remilard]

I'm with you 100%.

 

[cheezydemon3]

I have not had one brew that wasn't better after 3 months.

Pale beers in particular need to lose the green.

Just because someone goes to glass in 10 days doresn't mean it's better. The fact that they are advertising it proves that it is a bad idea, but that they just barely manage to pull it off anyways.

Evil Keneevil was an expert, but that's not how I'm going to get myself to work.(flaming hoops and jumping off buildings etc.)

 

[babalu87]

So much depends on the beer

A German Hefeweizen or Dunkelweizen is NO WAY better at 3 months than it is at 3 weeks.

Baltic Porter, RIS, Barleywines on the other hand arent even done in secondary after 3 months.

 

[abracadabra]

I'm with Cheezy!

Taste is like eyesight, and hearing some people's is just better than others

And some poor folks are blind and deaf

Taste like any of the other sense's varies from person to person

 

[Grinder12000]

A German Hefeweizen or Dunkelweizen is NO WAY better at 3 months than it is at 3 weeks.

+1 what babalu87 says!

It's all about taste. I don't keg because bottled beer tastes MUCH better then kegged beer. Aged stout tastes much better then fresh stout.

The more complex the brew the longer it needs to all blend together, like wine. Beer is a living thing and changes.

 

[Bobby_M]

Expert testimony aside, try it yourself. Cut the ingredients for a recipe in half or buy twice as much. Brew Day 1, put it in the carboy and let it go for 2 weeks, bottle and brew it again exactly the same way and keep everything as similar as possible including ferment temps. Wait 2 weeks, bottle. Now, on day 45, throw one bottle each from sample one and two into the fridge and taste test them 2 days later.

If you really want to push the time forward on a regular basis, you'll have to stick to session beers, pitch about 3x the recommended amount of yeast, and then filter or use post-ferment finings. Of course, you'll also have to keg so you can burst carb in 24 hours to get guzzling.

Of course the real answer is to brew more frequently and establish a pipeline. I still find full kegs of stuff in the basement that I forgot about.

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

Of course the real answer is to brew more frequently and establish a pipeline. I still find full kegs of stuff in the basement that I forgot about.

Hmmmm wish I had that problem...lol

 

[Revvy]

I think a lot of new brewers stress this out too much.

I mean, I sort of understand, you want to drink your beers, now.

But honestly, the difference between good beer, and great beer, is simply a few more weeks.

When you brew a lot, and start to build a pipeline, you are used to waiting, because you have batches at different stages, fermenting, secondarying, lagering, bottle conditioning and drinking.

And you can't drink everything at once anyway.

For example right now I have a red and an ipa that I am drinking currently. I have a chocolate mole porter that is sort of coming into it's own, that I am entering in a contest the first week of Feb.

I have a few bottles of my year old Belgian Strong Dark, that is still aging, and I pull one out every now and then.

I Have a vienna lager in a secondary lagering for at least another two weeks, if not more.

I am going to probably bottle my Belgian wit this weekend, or I may give it another week to clear, but more than likely I will bottle sooner rather than later since it's coming up on a month in Primary, and I'm on a wit kick right now (in fact I've been buying wits lately rather than drink my red and ipa.)

I also have a 2.5 gallon barelywine that I partigyle brewed on New Years eve which more than likely will get racked to a secondary for a few months, and then bottle conditioned for a few more.

The second runnings, which is sort of a dark amber ale, I will more than likely bottle soon, I'm not sure. I really haven't looked at it and the barelywine since I brewed it.

And I am thinking about brewing something this weekend, maybe another lager.....

As you can I have beers at all stages or fermentation, so if something needs a few extra weeks to carb, or condition, I'm not going to sweat it. I'm about quality beer anyway. If nothings not to my liking/readiness, then I go buy some.

I've only ever made one mild, most of my beers are 1.060 or higher, so they're going to take longer.

I'm not out to win any races, I'm out to make tasty beer.

Hell I once found a bottle in the back of my fridge that had been there 3 months. It was pretty amazing; crystal clear and the cake in the bottom was so tight that you could upend the bottle over the glass and not one drop of yeast fell in the glass.

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

Tasty beer is a good thing there Revvy

 

[springer]

lol @ 7% session beers

thats why we brew our own, right?

He was ribbing ya. Session beer is in the states maybe up to 5% , lower in the UK 4%..



It all depends on the beer I have Orfy's Mild brown on tap right now 17 days from boil to tap. Some beers just can be drunk young Heffe's for example are usually best 3-6 weeks and then they go down hill. Others need to age like my IIPA its too harsh at 1 month better at 2 fantastic at 3 ... I don't know about 4 months they never last that long in my house

 

[springer]

+1 what babalu87 says!

It's all about taste. I don't keg because bottled beer tastes MUCH better then kegged beer. Aged stout tastes much better then fresh stout.

The more complex the brew the longer it needs to all blend together, like wine. Beer is a living thing and changes.

Well if you force carb and drink it early then the aged bottles will taste better . But beer aged in the keg will be MUCH better than the bottled beer bulk aging baby ..

 

[user 22118]

I have not had one brew that wasn't better after 3 months.

Pale beers in particular need to lose the green.

Just because someone goes to glass in 10 days doresn't mean it's better. The fact that they are advertising it proves that it is a bad idea, but that they just barely manage to pull it off anyways.

Evil Keneevil was an expert, but that's not how I'm going to get myself to work.(flaming hoops and jumping off buildings etc.)

I had an IPA that was awesome until about the 3 month point, when the dry hops all started to fade away and turn into a rather mundane beer. Now, that said, there are many beers that do benefit from 3+ months worth of age.

OP, I think that you are slightly missing the point. A commercial outfit is really trying to get beer to the people because the more that they sell, the more money they get. So if you can turn over a fermenter three times a month, you are making some serious cash. If you only ferment one beer a month, are you doing your business the best. Sure, we all have made beer that is drinking by day 14 and it tastes like beer, but it hasn't mellowed at all and is rather separate in its flavors. After another month it has had time to become an interesting and smoother beverage.

Don't age those IPA's a long time though. I had a year old Pliny the Elder and it tasted like a horses anus.

 

[Bobby_M]

Well, there's a huge difference between 10 days and 6 months right? 90% of my beers undergo an insane transformation between the 4 week and 8 week mark and I'm talking about actual session beers under 1.060.

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

love the session brews....

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I make the same sort of beers and I can definitely tell a difference between when my beers are three weeks old or two months old.

 

[Drumhaggart]

love the session brews....

All my beers are session beers...

Some just make for shorter sessions


-steve

 

[ecojack]

I treat my beer like I treat homemade chili. It tastes pretty good once it's done, but if you give it a while the flavors tend to marry and certain tastes become more obvious...and more delicious. "Aged" or "fridge conditioned" chili > fresh chili... and in my opinion, home brew follows.

 

[jacksonbrown]

I'm on board with what most folks have said. Most beers I brew are better after a month of conditioning than they are after a couple weeks. I have a 1.060 stout I'm drinking now that after 6 weeks was good, but after 9 was great. An APA that after even 2 months was not so good, certainly not enjoyable. But after 4 months it's really come together nicely.
I also like making som bigger beers that will age well. Such as a Strong Scotch ale that's been aging for a year. It'll be even better in another year.
Don't get me wrong, I love session beers, too. I actually use them as starters for standard size batches. I brewed 10 gallons of a 60/- a couple weeks ago that I'll be pitching an Irish Red on to this weekend. I plan to be drinking the 60/- in a week.

 

[SeamusMac]

A local brewery (Propeller) markets their beer by using "freshness" as a selling point. I believe they used a quote that said something like "brewed last tuesday, a fine vintage". It's great beer though so there must be something to it.

 

[Denny]

I have not had one brew that wasn't better after 3 months.

I couldn't make that claim. My Rye IPA, for instance, has started to lose a lot of character by that point.

 

[jlpred55]

Yup, there are some beers that have a sweet spot. Like Denny said his Rye IPA. It is still very good with some age but it is a let down when you compare it to the fresher version you were just drinking! It is the hops after all! I also notice this with Jamils Evil Twin. I love it from 5 wks to about 2 months, then to me it seems to fade very quickly or the balance goes away. This is also true of all the bitters I brew....none have ever been better the older they were. Now Oatmeal Stouts, big chewy american stouts, scotch ales, etc all seem to have a long sweet spot but it takes more patience to get there!

 

[humann_brewing]

Get a 100 barrel conical and the rest of the equipment and I will show how you can go from grain to glass in 10 days

It is dependent on your system, I doubt you are fermenting under pressure etc... but that being said.


I like to drink my Pales and IPAs at about 5 weeks while they are fresh and enjoy them for the month or 2 following.

A young wheat is not bad either but I don't drink a heavily body represented beer under 2 months.

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

I aged my oatmeal stout for over 8 months and wow was is good.