[beersk]

I think you should consider getting a barrel to age your beer in for a year before kegging/bottling too if you're thinking long term.

[majorvices]

I have done a lot of barrel aging. IME even is 55 gallon barrels a year is far too long. Smaller barrels can pick up wood character in weeks. There is nothing that taste worse than an over-oaked beer. OK, tat's not true. But it still is undrinkable.

[nateo]

I've never tried an actual barrel before. I've done chips and cubes but haven't noticed a big difference.

[beersk]

I have done a lot of barrel aging. IME even is 55 gallon barrels a year is far too long. Smaller barrels can pick up wood character in weeks. There is nothing that taste worse than an over-oaked beer. OK, tat's not true. But it still is undrinkable.

I don't disagree. Over-oaked beer is pretty gross. But it'd be cool to oak-age a RIS and let it age for a long time. Maybe 10 months in the barrel, then into a keg for however long.

Nateo, maybe instead of the barrel, you could try the charring oak cubes method. It takes almost as long as barrel aging, but simpler from what I've read. Charring the oak cubes yourself then soaking them in bourbon for a while is the key to getting that barrel aged flavor, from what I've read. I've used oak chips soaked in bourbon and it doesn't match barrel aging.

[nateo]

That's interesting I hadn't heard of that method before. I haven't been unhappy with my oaking in the past but I agree it doesn't match the real thing exactly. I've done oak and added bourbon separately because I could never get the soaked chips to turn out right. Interested to hear more about the method you described.

[Joe Sr.]

IME you get more tannins and less vanilla from the chips. And you can’t really char them or you just get char. Trying some cubes right now because I’ve got a split batch I couldn’t barrel. But I think the longest I’ve barreled a beer was two months? Maybe. I’ve had similar experience as Major with aging and I typically bottle some of my big beers just to keep a few fir as long as they last. They tend to hold up until they hit that precipice.  And then they don’t. I’ve had similar experience with wine, though I recently opened an oooold bottle of wine I expected to be trash and it was delicious.

Last thought, I have one old ale in a keg that just needs to be dumped and it’s nowhere near 10 years old. It’s just flaccid.


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[goose]

The most major award I've ever won was for a 5 year old Am. BW. Some beers can age well for years, but I wouldn't count on it.

I agree with Denny here and also with Dave on aging beers for long periods of time.  I have English Barleywines here that date back to 2014.  The '14 is almost gone, but is still pretty good and won a BOS at a competition when it was three years old.  Every once in a while I open one of the ones from past years and they are still pretty good.  This is one style that ages very well.  Some stouts IMHO age pretty well, but I would keep them around for 10 years, six to eight months is probably the max for those.

[denny]

I have done a lot of barrel aging. IME even is 55 gallon barrels a year is far too long. Smaller barrels can pick up wood character in weeks. There is nothing that taste worse than an over-oaked beer. OK, tat's not true. But it still is undrinkable.

I once had a chance to taste a 74 year old Ballantine Burton Ale.  It had spent 14 years in a barrel.

[beersk]

I have done a lot of barrel aging. IME even is 55 gallon barrels a year is far too long. Smaller barrels can pick up wood character in weeks. There is nothing that taste worse than an over-oaked beer. OK, tat's not true. But it still is undrinkable.

I once had a chance to taste a 74 year old Ballantine Burton Ale.  It had spent 14 years in a barrel.

.........................and? You can't make a statement like that and not say how it tasted, Denny. Come on...

@nateo Here's where I read about the charred oak cubes idea. https://www.bertusbrewery.com/2017/01/2016-mellow-midnight-update.html

[denny]

I have done a lot of barrel aging. IME even is 55 gallon barrels a year is far too long. Smaller barrels can pick up wood character in weeks. There is nothing that taste worse than an over-oaked beer. OK, tat's not true. But it still is undrinkable.

I once had a chance to taste a 74 year old Ballantine Burton Ale.  It had spent 14 years in a barrel.

.........................and? You can't make a statement like that and not say how it tasted, Denny. Come on...

@nateo Here's where I read about the charred oak cubes idea. https://www.bertusbrewery.com/2017/01/2016-mellow-midnight-update.html

Didn't taste a lot like beer.  More like watered down Scotch.

[majorvices]

I have done a lot of barrel aging. IME even is 55 gallon barrels a year is far too long. Smaller barrels can pick up wood character in weeks. There is nothing that taste worse than an over-oaked beer. OK, tat's not true. But it still is undrinkable.

I once had a chance to taste a 74 year old Ballantine Burton Ale.  It had spent 14 years in a barrel.

Most likely that barrel was treated with either brewer's pitch or it was so old that it had only remnants of wood left. I have used old wine barrels that I have aged fairly long in. Most dfrshly dumped bourbon barrels (like mostly we get) are going to give a LOT of bourbon character in a very short period. Surprisingly short, actually. The biggest problem with a lot of small breweries barrel program is over aging in barrels. I've had beers aged for years in wooden barrels that tasted like oxidized tannins -- of course a lot of beer drinkers thought they were great! They were not.

Once you move into the smaller barrels the oak flavor becomes overwhelming even more quickly due to the beer ratio to wood surface. A couple of weeks sometimes. I have pulled beer out of freshly dumbed 10 gallon whiskey barrels that had plenty of wood character in under a month. You could taste plenty of wood, plenty of whiskey but it tasted like beer first.

As always, YMMV.

[beersk]

I have done a lot of barrel aging. IME even is 55 gallon barrels a year is far too long. Smaller barrels can pick up wood character in weeks. There is nothing that taste worse than an over-oaked beer. OK, tat's not true. But it still is undrinkable.

I once had a chance to taste a 74 year old Ballantine Burton Ale.  It had spent 14 years in a barrel.

.........................and? You can't make a statement like that and not say how it tasted, Denny. Come on...

@nateo Here's where I read about the charred oak cubes idea. https://www.bertusbrewery.com/2017/01/2016-mellow-midnight-update.html

Didn't taste a lot like beer.  More like watered down Scotch.

Which might be good to some...probably not me.

[denny]

I have done a lot of barrel aging. IME even is 55 gallon barrels a year is far too long. Smaller barrels can pick up wood character in weeks. There is nothing that taste worse than an over-oaked beer. OK, tat's not true. But it still is undrinkable.

I once had a chance to taste a 74 year old Ballantine Burton Ale.  It had spent 14 years in a barrel.

.........................and? You can't make a statement like that and not say how it tasted, Denny. Come on...

@nateo Here's where I read about the charred oak cubes idea. https://www.bertusbrewery.com/2017/01/2016-mellow-midnight-update.html

Didn't taste a lot like beer.  More like watered down Scotch.

Which might be good to some...probably not me.

I found it extremely interesting, but not real enjoyable.

[riceral]

The most major award I've ever won was for a 5 year old Am. BW. Some beers can age well for years, but I wouldn't count on it.

I agree with Denny here and also with Dave on aging beers for long periods of time.  I have English Barleywines here that date back to 2014.  The '14 is almost gone, but is still pretty good and won a BOS at a competition when it was three years old.  Every once in a while I open one of the ones from past years and they are still pretty good.  This is one style that ages very well.  Some stouts IMHO age pretty well, but I would keep them around for 10 years, six to eight months is probably the max for those.

I hope you're right Goose.

I have a 3 year old English barleywine in the NHC this year.

[Fire Rooster]

I have a bottle of Sierra Nevada's, A Trip in the Woods, bourbon barrel aged, 12.1 ABV.
No idea on the date, been aged a few years before being released, and that was a few years ago.
Never had a barley wine, intended to have for thanksgiving, but that didn't happen, family drama's
prevented that. Waiting for cold winter months and a special occasion to have, not sure when,
in the meantime it's aging more.  Originally tried to snag their wine barrel aged one,
nowhere to be found.