Questions about proper aging of beer

Txlbbguy

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I have seen so many different threads and discussions on exactly how long I need to age different styles of beer. Does anyone have any charts or guides or something I can use for a reference? I have started kegging all of my beer so it will be bulk aging, but most of the discussions I have seen are about aging in the bottles. I would appreciate any guidance on this!
 
You'll figure out what works for you. The longer you age, the bigger your warehouse. I tend to keep ales in a secondary for two weeks before I keg them. I used to keep lagers in the secondary (lager phase) for a month before kegging. I became impatient, and shortened that period to two weeks as well. Do a google search on how your favorite big brew, like Budweiser or Yuengling is made. They don't age very long.
RDWHAHB.
 
It's totally dependent on the beer. A lager gets better for as long as 2 months but a hoppy IPA pale is at it's peak in as little as 2 weeks. All will benefit from 3-4 weeks total in cold temperature either in secondary or in keg. After that it depends on how much beer you have in your pipeline.
 
It's totally dependent on the beer. A lager gets better for as long as 2 months but a hoppy IPA pale is at it's peak in as little as 2 weeks. All will benefit from 3-4 weeks total in cold temperature either in secondary or in keg. After that it depends on how much beer you have in your pipeline.
I guess that is my point...I know it all depends on the beer type, but I have no idea what the recommended aging time is for different beers. That is what I am needing direction on.
 
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There really aren't hard-and-fast rules for aging. And you're not likely to go through a keg in less than a week, so it's aging as you drink it...if it's really a hell of a lot better by the time you get to the last pint, age it longer next time before you tap it. :)
If you're letting a lot of beers age in a keg for a substantial length of time, you have more patience and storage space than most:D

A good starting point for total cold-conditioning would be this:
Basic low-gravity (< 1.050) ale - 2 weeks
Mid-gravity (<1.060) Pale Ale, etc - 3 weeks
IPA, Porter, etc - 4-weeks
Basic Lager, DIPA, Stout etc - 4 weeks
Complex Lager 4-5 weeks
Higher-gravity Ales, lagers, etc - 6 weeks +
Barleywines, big Scottish Ales, etc - many months

Others may advise a little differently, but you wouldn't go too far wrong with that.
 
I think age can also be to the detriment of the beer as well depending on beer style of course. I tasted a few pale ale beers on the weekend that everyone at the table thought were aged a little too long and incorrectly they were lifeless and had lost their hop aroma and therefore recieved a poorer score than if they were fresh hoppy and vibrant. One in particular to me smelt like an old sock:eek: maybe oxidation too the extreme and infection.
 
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IPA, Porter, etc - 4-weeks

It should be noted that hop-juice NEIPAs tend to not be aged at all, even though some may be pretty strong IPAs. Pretty much as soon as they're out of fermentation, they're kegged and carbed. They might get a week or two of aging, but most, at least in the home-brew world, are going to be consumed pretty fresh.
 
Biggest reason I don't brew IPAs at home is by the time I can drink them, the hop flavor has aged out and I'm left with something that tastes vaguely like quinine. Maybe that's why I don't do Belgian IPAs.... Hmmm....

Old socks is definitely NOT oxidation! Infection. Or old hops used to brew.
 
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Biggest reason I don't brew IPAs at home is by the time I can drink them, the hop flavor has aged out and I'm left with something that tastes vaguely like quinine. Maybe that's why I don't do Belgian IPAs.... Hmmm....

Old socks is definitely NOT oxidation! Infection. Or old hops used to brew.
Regardless nosey it didny score well on aroma its was also merky as, not an inviting drink but in the name of beer tasting i drunk some anyway. All in all i was wondering why it was even submitted into the comp but as i found some peope want some feedback on where they went wrong.
 
ll in all i was wondering why it was even submitted into the comp but as i found some peope want some feedback on where they went wrong.

One of my brewing buddies is a BJCP judge and has gained a little experience at competition judging as well as entering beers. He notes that 1/3 to 1/2 of the beers submitted to any given competition will be tossed out in the first pass (I assume with some notes given) because of obvious faults. What's left is deemed worthy of scoring and is subjected to more scrutiny.
Also he says that most of the faults come not from someone cluelessly submitting a bad beer but from bottling or other problems that detract from its original character. Excess aging would definitely fall into that category. If someone had bottles of a very good beer sitting around for a while and not stored particularly well and decided that they might as well enter them, the results could be pretty awful.
 
We have a local comp ( Best of British ) coming up and i already know some of the brewers are going to re enter last years entries
I'm working up a few recipes now because none of my regular beers fit categories being judged
we have 12 A and C but no B which i make a solid example of
Should be a busy few months of brewing to get enough entries brewed and bottled at the correct time so they're peaking on the day of judging
 
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There was one pale ale in that comp thay really threw me it smelled nice and hoppy on the nose looked nice but when tasted was the total opposite. Or thr 18 beers tasted if i was at tye bar i would probably order more on about 6 of them the rest were low thirties and below.
 
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I tasted some fine examples of the darker side of brewing headfirst like a Shiraz barrel aged porter that was a club beer aged for a year I also tasted a Brett wild beer inoculated with different wild yeast strains now there is your horse hide leather thing my pallet isn't ready for this one lol:rolleyes::oops:. I've got a new respect for brewing I tasted more different homebrewed craft beers than I could brew in a life time it definitely is a hombrewers nirvana!

All I can say is soon I'll know where I stand in the brewing schem of things:p. I take my hat off to all the skilful Brewers out there join in the conversation.
 
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