When to age

Hey all,
I want to brew an imperial stout for my brother-in-law-to-be’s bachelor party. I found a recipe that I think I will use, but am wondering when I should brew it to get the best tasting beer, or to generalize more- is there some rule of thumb as to when aging a beer will help it’s flavor?

A few other details:
the Party is in April. And I’m using the “Death Metal” recipe found in “Extreme Brewing”. The target ABV is 9.9% and the stout should come in pretty hoppy, (the recipe says 100 IBU, IDK if this will factor into the question at all). Despite being otherwise pretty comprehensive the recipe doesn’t make any mention of aging. I’ve just seen this pointed out in a few other Imperial stout recipies so I thought I would ask.

Look forward to hearing all of your thoughts.

I’d say you could brew it any time.  Probably the sooner the better, but no huge rush.

I agree with this.  I’ve got an imperial stout that I’ve had tapped for about 6 months now.  I’m going through it slowly, and like it better each time I have a glass.  It’s definitely personal taste, but I think this style does better with a little maturing time.

I agree with Joe and Denny.  Imperial stouts always get better with age.  The flavors mellow out more and the roastiness and hops will meld to make the beer smoother.
We brewed one at my local brew clubs.  It is about a month and a half old now and will get better if I can keep out of the keg for that long  :D.  It tastes pretty good now, though.  Someone once said that patience is a virtue.  I just have to keep reminding myself of that!

I currently have a Russian Imperial Stout that I kegged in July to be ready by Christmas. I’m wishing I had kegged it a month earlier. I like to give Imperial Stout’s a good 6 months or more to condition. I have a recipe for another that was posted recently on Ron Pattinson’s blog, Shut Up About Barclay Perkins, in which he recommends conditioning for 2 years!

I know of a very successful homebrewer that routinely enters his RIS beers after a year in the bottle (bottle conditioned) and has consistently medaled with them.

Yep, a well made and packaged strong beer can easily improve with that much age.  I once took a BOS with a 5 year old BW.

Awesome. I’ll get the ingredients this weekend. Thanks for the help!

FIVE YEARS???  Did you intentionally age it five years or did it just get shoved to the back of the shelf and forgotten?  I can’t imagine having the will power to intentionally leave any beer alone that long!  I am impressed…and jealous!  :slight_smile:

No, I intentionally set it aside.  Some bottles made it to 8 years.

The most I made it to was 12 years on a BW and the same on a mead.  Some hold up well; some don’t (I had a Belgian Dubbel that was barely drinkable after 6 years).  Just set them aside in a cool place in a cellar or basement and ignore the calendar for a while…

Most Belgian beers, especially dubbel, aren’t meant to be aged.

I have some 17 year old cherry mead and 16 year old raspberry mead,  both 18%.

Yea - that Dubbel was not intentionally aged.  Just got pushed to the back of a shelf…