Homebrewing a beer specifically to age

Rules of Thumb for an aging beer:

• Go big (11+%)
• Go hoppy (hops are a preservative after all)
• Use a lot of yeast (nothing worse than an under attenuated big beer)
• If you bottle, bottle condition and with care (purge your bottles with CO2 and check your crimps)
• Wax doesn't really do much, but it looks pretty

As for an Impy Stout to age - try this recipe out. It's my old brewing partner (and ex BA forumite) Jonny Lieberman's ridiculous Black Wine

 

47% Roasted Barley? That is interesting.

For my RIS I usually clock in somewhere around 1.110 and finish 1.025. I mash 148-150 for 90-120 min. I add 100IBU or so at 60 minutes, but should probably add some more IBU near the end too to ensure saturation.

Like that Black Wine recipe I boil first runnings. I vorlouf just enough to get bits of grain out then run to the kettle, usually 1.5-2 gallons. Boil that until it is dehydrated, about an hour, then turn the heat down and smolder that lava for another 30 min or so. Proceed as normal.

Use some yeast nutrient, I use WY1968 for my yeast. Make sure you have enough. I usually add some more air after 12-24hours or so by pouring my bucket of wort into my kettle and back into the bucket. Works good enough for me, I do not have an O2 setup.

1 million fresh yeast per ml of beer at bottling never hurt either.

Good luck.

 

If you want to get fucking crazy with it you can split 10 gallons between normal yeast and Belgian yeast, I use WY3787. Feed the Belgian side a pound or two of dark candi syrup near the end of fermentation.

 

While I wouldn't necessarily disagree in general with drewbage's post above, I'll add that my highest BJCP score ever was for a not particularly hoppy Old Ale, just slightly over 6% ABV, that I aged for about 18 months. It scored somewhat lower in a couple of competitions when it was younger.

 

Transcription typo - in the book it's listed as 2.25

 

I personaly have never aged a big Stout,i suppose it would develop a wonderful taste.I just can tell you my Big Dark Belgian(+-9%AV) I aged 20 months was really amazing.It was a batch that gave me 18 Lts ,I bottled 18 bottles that I was sampling during these 20 months, I could figure the flavor improving from the formers to the latters.

 

I thought it might be, then again with Johnny brewing it you never know.

 

I did a Kate the Great clone using the brewer's recipe and it turned out to be a dead on match - if you like dark fruit then this is a good one.

My go-to base (big, sweet and hoppy) stout is 75% two row, 10% C40, and 5% of flaked oats, chocolate malt and roasted barley - Columbus for bittering and EKG for flavor. I scale it up and down depending on what I'm doing with it.

 

General suggestions:

• Go big on OG, 1.100 or bigger if you can. This gives the yeast a lot to eat and to make more flavor compounds. The body of the beer will be thicker as well
• Get at least 65 IBU but really shoot for 100 calculated. You will want the extra bitterness because with a big beer like this the balance is important. However, over time the perception of bitterness will definitely go down
• Stay away from high color crystals and caramel malts. Don't put in anything more than 40 or 60 Lov. As the beer ages and slowly oxidizes, you'll get a lot of dark fruit and sherry flavors. If you add 5% Special B or C-120, the cherry and prune flavors may dominate
• Bump up roast and chocolate malt. I learned this from the Brewing Network. A lot of the flavor of roast malt is in the tiny microscopic particles of ground up roasted malt that make it into the beer. Over extended periods of time they stick to yeast and other sediment and drop out of solution leaving the resulting beer less roasty.
• Larger bottles have a reputation for oxidizing slower and aging more "gracefully." This has not been scientifically test for beer AFAIK, but it's worth considering using 22oz of 750ml bottles instead of instead 12 oz.
• Try to stay away from adjuncts like molasses or brown sugar. They can a "tangy" flavor that seems to amplify over time.

 

Esteban, I have a Belgian Strong Dark Ale (BSDA) of 9.7% ABV cellaring right now. I bottled it in 5/14/13 and at only a few months of age it is already drinking beautifully. I hope to do the bulk of my drinking this fall (with 6 months plus of bottle age). I really hope that I can save some bottles for up to 20 months but since this batch is so tasty I doubt that any bottles will last that long.

Cheers!

Jack

 

I am also drinking a Belgian Dark Strong at 10.2%. It has been in my basement at 66 degrees for 22 months. This beer has been good all along but now when I have a bottle I say... Wow I brewed this!

 

“This beer has been good all along …”

Have you noticed any flavor changes over the 22 month timeframe?

Cheers!

 

I put 2# of dark brown sugar in my BDS and it has no tang. It did have some hot alchol for the first 6 months. I will use it again along with Special B,80L, and 120L

 

Yes. The beer has become more complex. It seems to have blended into its self where its hard to pick out the ingredience compared to when it was young. I am not the best at describing tastes and when I take notes I only write down what I want to change with the recipe for next time or I write "keeper." My notes for this beer was to cut the Dark brown Suger from 2 to 1 pound. I think I might re-label this one a keeper. Take care.

 

5.5 gallons, 54.75 pounds of malts/fermentables? Nearly half of it roasted barley?

That is friggin' awesome.

 

Yeah, I've got a RIS aging now.. 1.120 to 1.029

Tasted pretty good, a little hot. Plan to drink it around Christmas probably and from then on, a couple times a year and see how many years I can keep it.

Plan to brew it once a year, same recipe pretty much, and have some verticals in the coming years.

 

Can I make an "other" category: I hope so, but I'm still waiting!