Aging Homebrew Poll

[bluesman]

Again as Denny pointed out, it all depends on how the beer is designed.  I like to age my barleywines, the older the better in most cases.  I like most of my lagers fairly young as well as APA's and IPA's.  Old Ales are designed to be aged at least a year or two. We could down the list but I think you probably get the point.  I pretty much go by the book but that's my style for the most part.

[majorvices]

I consider IIPA a session beer...

[beersk]

I have a IIPA from January 2009.  Getting down to about 3 or 4 bottles of that left.  Pretty good stuff.  I don't typically like to age my beers though, especially since I've started kegging.  They age as long as they last in the keg, which is usually about 2-5 weeks.

[tumarkin]

I can't stress enough how important yeast and bottle conditioning are to aging beers. That's not to say that kegged beers won't age well, but in general you really want to bottle condition beers that you're intending to cellar. It makes a huge difference over the long term.

[jaybeerman]

Brews that are eight, nine and twelve years old, I'm impressed!  For the last 5 years I've thought about work and that's about it, no time for brewing.  Now it's time to replenish the aging homebrew that I use to have in storage. 
   

[1vertical]

My older beers are some of my first I ever brewed. My lack of good technique has yeilded some
oxygenated beer.  However in the interim, I have 1 bottle of Flemish Red that is 2+ Yr old ...last
tasting of it was still good.  My current cherry beer in cask will be coming one year this spring
and it is prolly not even started .... the solera is a living continuing project.  

I have some sparkling (?) mead that is 8 yr.old Need to try a bottle and see how that is holding up
to the test of time.

[rabid_dingo]

I have a tradition of brewing my holiday beer the year before I serve it. I has a lot of fans.
I opened a 3+ year old bottle today. It was good. Being that I don't bottle much anymore I
need to make an effort to bottle a handful and squirrel them away and Ron Popeil them!

I have a 3 year old mild...

[tschmidlin]

Ok, I checked the kegs I easily could, and the oldest one I saw is a Fred clone from 2004.

I have some older commercial brews for sure, but those are harder to get to so I don't know exactly what the earliest years are for the JW Lee's and Thomas Hardy, or the Alaskan Smoked Porter.  I have some Jubel 2000, and some Old Boardhead from the late 90s.  Hard to remember.  

[euge]

This is a great subject.

I've got six bottles of my first Barleywine brewed in Feb 08. Also a Saison, a Tripel and a lot Braggot from about the same time. Another keg of cider and Barleywine that is at least 14 months old and 3.5 yo Ginger cider in 750ml bottles.

I don't like the Braggot. Age has "improved" it but can't drink more than one. I think the Saison and the Tripel may be past their peak. Could be oxidation and I've sensed a loss of carbonation in the Tripel. The Saison has won me shrewd looks of reappraisal and complements from my amazed epicurean friends. That made me feel pretty good, because that particular beer showed progressive positive changes in character over the course of time.

Mostly I brew for immediate consumption and have no problem drinking beer that is days old. My average beer is about 3-4 weeks when I officially start on it. Since I tend to brew 12 gallons I get to see how the beer changes (or doesn't) over the course of 2 kegs and various force-carbings in PET bottles.

I planned on extended aging with all the aforementioned beers, but most of my brew doesn't last more than a couple months at most.

[alikocho]

I have no aged beers. They all got drunk, but I have some Saison I intend to age, and will brew an Imperial Stout soon.

I do have cider and mead aging from last year though, both in my house in the UK and in a basement in New York.

[SiameseMoose]

My current oldest is from early 1999. My club planned ahead for a "Millennium Party", for the turn into the 2000's. Members were asked to brew a beer of at least 100 gravity. (Note: this was an overnight party. Bring a sleeping bag, turn in your keys.) I brewed a Belgian "Quintuple", or a "Double Tripel", which fairly accurately describes what I was going for. OG was about 1.130, FG about 1.030. It's bottled in champagne bottles, originally to about 7 volumes CO₂, but the last one I opened (last month) was mostly flat. The biggest surprise to me is how much the color has darkened. It was golden, it's now a medium-dark amber. It's picked up a strong sherry note, but unfortunately has an unpleasant oxidation note also. I've still got a few bottles left, which come out for homebrew gatherings.

[morticaixavier]

IU think I still have a couple of bottles of 'BW' I brewed back in 2006 stashed away in back vermont. It's an extract brew and wasn't really great for the first year or two. Last I tried it was christmas 2009 and it was pretty nice. My mother in law who is keeping them for me has apparently been enjoying one now and again, and she usually is a hefe fan so it can't be all that bad. It's darker than I meant it to be, might even be closer to a RIS. I also have an RIS here in CA that has been in the bottle for about 9 months, also extract. I had a lot of problems with that one including one bottle 'bomb' (not really that bad, just aone weak bottle I think) that is starting to get really drinkable now that there are only 2 bottles left. other than that they don't usually last more than a month or so in bottles.

[rjharper]

I generally keep a bomber of two of every batch for the "archives".  Recently opened a 2yr old bottle of oatmeal RIS that I oaked with Jack Daniels smoker chips.  It was good when it was fresh, but it was divine after two years

[denny]

It all depends on the individual beer.  There's no "one size fits all" answer.

Thanks for pointing out the obvious Denny.

I excel at that!


 

Do you have multiple brews aging long term? If so, I'd like to hear about them.  Thanks

I've got some BW that's 3-4 years old. and some coder that's 5-6.

[tumarkin]

I generally keep a bomber of two of every batch for the "archives".  Recently opened a 2yr old bottle of oatmeal RIS that I oaked with Jack Daniels smoker chips.  It was good when it was fresh, but it was divine after two years

Great to hear that. Sounds like you've got a good plan going.

One other thing to throw out here. For those of you into competition, it's a great idea to set aside beer (of appropriate styles) to age before you enter them. Just think about this example, think about the scores this RIS might have gotten when young as compared to what it would have gotten after aging.