Bulk aging...secondary, tap-a-draft, or bottle ?

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by BedetheVenerable, Jun 22, 2012.

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  1. BedetheVenerable

    BedetheVenerable Initiate (0) Sep 5, 2008 Missouri

    Brewed up a big English barleywine 20 days ago; today I'm putting some other, low-grav batches into my tap-a-draft bottles to carbonate and condition for a couple of weeks and am going to be doing one of the above with this barleywine. This one was way up there, over 1.103 I believe...IF it's actually hit FG (I put this on top of a washed, healthy yeast cake from a recent bitter) should I...

    a) put this in tap a draft (6L rubber-sealed screw cap) bottles to condition/carb until fall/winter
    b) put it in bottles
    c) put it over into a secondary, and choose my next route in a month

    Basically, I have all my equipment out today (and time, which is usually very hard to come by)...if it's actually hit target gravity, should I just put it away, or will it condition differently/better if left in another 5 gallon carboy a month or two longer? Also, if I screw the caps on really tight, do you think I have to worry about oxidation in my tap-a-draft bottles? I want this to actually make it to the cold days of this fall/winter, as I put a lot of work into this batch. What say you all?
     
  2. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Tap-a-Draft...are those tap-a-draft bottles plastic? If so, I'd probably not do a long secondary in them, unless you know that the material is impermeable to oxygen.
     
  3. BedetheVenerable

    BedetheVenerable Initiate (0) Sep 5, 2008 Missouri

    Yeah, it's a substantially thinner plastic than Better Bottles...this is what I was concerned about; for beers I turn around fairly quickly, it's no big deal, cos they're consumed before serious oxidation is a problem, but this wouldn't be consumed until winter....if that's the case then, what about bottling? If I bottle in 22oz bottles, will the beer suffer (again, if at terminal gravity) and should I instead do a secondary?
     
  4. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Bulk aging and bottle aging are both valid methods. IMO it would be hard to say one is inherently better.
     
  5. BedetheVenerable

    BedetheVenerable Initiate (0) Sep 5, 2008 Missouri

    My original gravity was 1.102, my gravity at this point is 1.024...it's actually about a point lower than I was expecting, so I'm relatively certain it's done...decisions decisions...
     
  6. BedetheVenerable

    BedetheVenerable Initiate (0) Sep 5, 2008 Missouri

    Wow...I've also never tasted a big, burly brew super fresh...I hope aging does some good things to this...booze and dark fruit, anyone?
     
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