I can assure you that that little bubble of air has a pronounced oxidized impact on my big beers, in the MOST delightful way, and within a few weeks. Develops luscious dark fruit and sherry notes.
Though this goes against everything I was ever taught about beer.
Didn't Kai say something about that recently, along the lines of the German malt character that seems elusive to create on the homebrew level is some kind of small-scale oxidation of melanoidins (or Maillard reaction products)?
Seems plausible to me since darker beers will have more Maillard products/melanoidins, and those are the types of beer that develop those desirable oxidation flavors, where paler beers just seem to get papery.
Don't know the chemistry behind it or if it's been researched; I have my doubts since defining "that rich German malt character that homebrewers can't seem to reproduce" is hard to describe and quite subjective.
Anyone else see what I'm describing?