I am thinking already towards a good fall beer, and noticed the Spiced Winter Ale kit from NB, or perhaps another similar recipe.
What I am unsure of is if I brew this beer in the next month or so, will it be ok to let it " age" a bit in a keg in the cellar ? I would purge it and charge it up with co2 of course. I am not sure it would make sense to leave it connected to the gas for 2 months until I am ready to drop the temp and carb it(?).
The temp in the basement stays around 60, maybe 65 in the heat of summer. I could put it in the chest freezer but I will also be brewing up more summer batches so I will need the temp controller freezer for fermenting.
I have no experience brewing beer for the future… I tend to be waiting for it to carb so we can drink it asap.
I will also plan an Oktoberfest to be drinkable in the October/ November timeframe so I will have both on tap going into the winter.
I do this all the time. Rack it to your keg and seal it up with co2 and let it sit it’s perfectly safe. What I do is hit it with co2 once in awhile. If I have room I’ll it it in the kegorator here and there so it’s ready when I am. If you have room carb it up
Thanks brewcat! It would be nice to have a few kegs on deck to have over the winter.
Would an ipa store well if I waited until a week before carbing to dry hop, or would the kettle hops lose too much flavor/ bitterness over the storage time ?
I would rack the brew off its lees about .05 points above theoretical termination… into the the keg… Yes, hit it with CO2 to be sure the lid is sealed… Now cellar it… its becoming cask conditioned, do shake it from time to time to get the yeast back into suspension … IF you have a picnic tap… pull a snit from time to time… When your close to serving you can refrigerate it, add more CO2, or just pull on it cellared temp and all… I think you may really enjoy it this way… Maybe… Sneezles61
Depends on the type of beer, but some don’t reach their potential until after they’ve aged for some months. Before I got too busy to brew regularly, I’d build up a stock of beers in the spring so I could drink fresh beer in summer and aged beers in the fall, with an occasional long-aged beer for winter. System worked great; and a Scottish ale was often a part of the line up, one of the last beers brewed in the spring so it would be perfect to tap in September or October.
