What is the best way of ageing a bottle of beer? Is it okay to just put the bottle in the fridge and keep it there for, say, a year or so, or is it best to leave it at room temperature in a dark place? I have a high alcohol beer from last Christmas in the fridge that I am going to open this Christmas, I am also planning to age one bottle of all my other batches.
If you put your beer in the fridge it will not mature at all. The fact that homebrewed beer matures in bottles is beacuse of the yeast working in the bottle. The temperature in the fridge is too cold for the yeast, and it will simply go dormant to the bottom of the bottle.
So the answer to your question is either room temperature or slightly cool place in the dark.
If you're talking about Samichlaus (or any lager for that matter), you should put it in the fridge since it will need to lager, but you say "christmas" and "high alcohol beer" I think of Samichlaus.
If it is Sami, it has already been lagered for a year before it was bottled, but like wine Sami gets better with age.
Actually what you are thinking of is bottle conditioning, allowing the yeast to build up CO2 levels to naturally carbonate the beer inside the bottle.
The original question of allowing the beer to mature isn't academic, allowing an ale to sit at room temp for over a year, it may or may not keep. Any beer will mature when cooled...and lagers should be cooled.
Basically....just sitting around waiting is allowing it to mature. Much like a bottle of wine.
Most don't need *ageing*, and don't benefit. Beyond conditioning, they are ready to drink immediately, and will only improve slightly for a few weeks. Some higher alcohol, and more complex brews will benefit from being kept at around 50F or so, in the dark. They will keep quite a long time, but won't necessarily improve much.
Aging beer, almost qualifies as a contradiction in terms, especially for a home-brewer. brew it, condition it, drink it. If you don't like it, change recipes, then brew it, condition it, drink it. If your are a purest ignore my advice, and good luck.
For the first year that I was brewing, I kept 2 16oz. Grolsche style bottles from every batch in my basement, and opened them a year after bottling. A few tasted better, most tasted about the same, but none went bad.
How is aging/maturing beer a contradiction? All "big beers" (high gravity/high alcohol) and many Belgian beers (Lambics & Gueuze & Barleywine for example) as well as many lagers (look up the word lager some time) actually do acquire better & different tastes as they mature, most mellow and smooth out.
I keep using Samichlaus as an example, this beer has an ABV of up to 14% and has an OG of over 1.100. This actually puts it in a class with wine (aside from being made from grain & not grapes).
Here's a great article
formatting link
as is this one
formatting link
and finally this one
formatting link
that supports aging & maturing beers.
For the most part, yes, most beers should be drunk within a short period of time to retain their fresh tastes but there are many exceptions to the rule. Much the same as I'm the only one who provided any support to my claims.
DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.