Has anyone aged a crowler?

longest ive let one go is about 3 months.

 

I was told by a guy at the beer store they recommend no more than two months. Like the post above I've let one go about three months but I wouldn't go much more than that.

 

If the crowler station that is being used doesn't counter pressurize then aging the contents inside would be waste of time/beer.

 

red94tt brings up an interesting question... I didn't think any canning lines used counter pressure filling these days. Do they?
I thought "under-cover gassing" (which has been the norm since the 1960's according to the Master Brewers Association of the Americas publication "Beer Packaging") was simply "gassing" or filling the bottom of the can with C02 prior to filling it with beer, where it would foam up and the lid would be dropped on top and then sealed. If it was counter-pressure filled wouldn't it just completely foam over once the lid came off and the pressure was released prior to dropping the lid and seaming it?

 

On a secondary note, most crowler fills are simply done by filling the can at a standard draught faucet that's probably not much cleaner than most bar taps, or at the least, not perfect - and then seamed. If the line straight through to the end of the faucet isn't perfectly clean you could end up with infection (even if minor); and unless the person handling the operation isn't good at getting the fill level with enough enough beer in the can and enough foam on top you could be getting some oxidation. I've watched this in action and even under optimal conditions (meaning a non-busy bar) I've seen people fill 3 or 4 cans at once and then carry them over to the filler, allowing the heads to drop.

Final answer = NO ... ... ... as red94tt stated, unless they're counter-pressure filled they're not candidates for aging.

 

Third note, I've personally experimented with aging beers (Chimay, Thomas Hardys, Trois Monts, Fuller's 1849, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, Anchor Old Foghorn, Courage Imperial Russian Stout, Harvey's Gale's Prize Old Ale, etc.) and I don't generally believe that most beers benefit from it.

There can be some upsides, and there are some simple "fixes" (Bigfoot for me with a year on it is much more supple as far as the hops are concerned), but in general I see it as a rich man's game, and not one that really delivers in the end.

On top of that, you need to know what you're doing before you age and taste a beer. If you're not already an excellent taster those beers will be wasted, and worse, you'll probably spread false tasting notes about them - everyone wants to believe that when they're tasting something rare or old that it's somehow improved, and yet the opposite is usually true!