Accelerated Aging

Discussion in 'Cellaring / Aging Beer' started by BigPlay1824, Dec 14, 2013.

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  1. BigPlay1824

    BigPlay1824 Initiate (0) Oct 13, 2010 New York

    We all know that different environmental factors affect aging beers in different ways. We also know that keeping them cool and in the dark is considered a "best practice" for aging. My question is this: Has anyone done research into changing environmental factors (ie. temp, light, humidity, etc) to accelerate how a beer ages. For instance, if you were to age an imperial stout for a two years at 52 degrees in the dark and another at 70 degrees for six months, would they come out tasting the same? This could be an interesting way to cut the wait time out of aging beers and could make for a whole different ball game for how breweries release big beers. Thoughts?
     
    #1 BigPlay1824, Dec 14, 2013
  2. TheEvilOnionKnight

    TheEvilOnionKnight Initiate (0) Oct 8, 2013 California

    aging beers isnt even scientificly studied yet. everything you hear about humidity and temperature is carried over from wine
     
    #2 TheEvilOnionKnight, Dec 14, 2013
  3. JasonLovesBeer

    JasonLovesBeer Initiate (0) Mar 27, 2013 Canada (BC)

    It's all postulating on the internet, the lowest form of science. Studies are probably in order if answers are to ever come out of all of it.

    But with a basic understanding of chemical reactions, here's my guess. Different reactions occur at different speeds at different temperatures. At 55F, one type of reaction may occur at some rate while another (let's assume less desirable) reaction at another rate. At 70F, the first reaction may increase by 1.5x but the second reaction may increase by 5x, because they have different energy requirements, etc. This is probably, in a very simplified nutshell, what's going on. Otherwise we'd bake our beers to get 3 years in 20 minutes.
     
    #3 JasonLovesBeer, Dec 15, 2013
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  4. BigPlay1824

    BigPlay1824 Initiate (0) Oct 13, 2010 New York

    Thanks for the response. That makes a lot of sense. I'm not too well versed in science so I'm not sure how a lot of these reactions play out or what type of environments are required to make them happen. That being said, do you think any studies will take place on this? Who would have the best resources to do it?
     
    #4 BigPlay1824, Dec 15, 2013
  5. TheEvilOnionKnight

    TheEvilOnionKnight Initiate (0) Oct 8, 2013 California

    it would have to be quite an extensive study to gain any traction. think of how many variances and factors that could mess with the study. time, temp, humidity, light... then theres theres all the microfactors that will make it 100x harder. like how chocolate, figs, molasses, fruits, or any of the hop variances all handle said factors

    i dont see it happening soon
     
    #5 TheEvilOnionKnight, Dec 15, 2013
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  6. BigPlay1824

    BigPlay1824 Initiate (0) Oct 13, 2010 New York

    Fair point,I suppose it would have to be on individual breweries to conduct studies on their own brews. Given the resources and time that would take, I honestly don't see anyone other than GI, Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, or New Belgium even considering it.
     
    #6 BigPlay1824, Dec 15, 2013
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