carboys vs bottle conditioning

[StrathclydeTaff]

I’m brewing a 23 litre batch of Robinson’s Old Tom, a very high OG dark beer (OG 1.085, FG 1.016, ABV 9%). For a previous brew I’ve kept the beer for 6 months in carboys under the stairs before bottling, intended for drinking after 20 months of conditioning. It’s currently spending 3 weeks in the primary fermentation bucket, using a high gravity Whitelabs Abbey Ale Belgium yeast. After 6 months in the carboys, it'll be bottled with 1oz dark sugar to prime for a further 14 months, initially at 20c for a secondary fermentation in the bottle. Previous brews have been very smooth and complex but am I getting the best out of the it?.
My question is whether this 6 months in carboys and 14 months in bottles is the right balance, or does it make little difference?
I'm tempted to keep things as the previous brew on the basis of the 'if it isn't broken...' rule.

[IPA]

Don't walk under any ladders or you might not get to drink it.

[MashBag]

I am out of my knowledge zone with big, dark but I am in no doubt that sounds to long to me.

Do you taste it during that time?

[nickjdavis]

What is the purpose of the 6 months in the carboy? what is it that you are expecting to get from such a long secondary maturation period?

Whatever you get from it will surely be partially negated by the secondary fermentation that occurs when you prime the beer for bottling?

For such a dark beer I'd personally let it rest no more than a couple of months in the carboy before bottling....i'm not sure what the extra 4 months would bring.

Once bottled it is up to you how long you keep it for before sampling...14 months seems excessive though...unless you are constantly tasting during this period you have no idea how your beer is developing...it may (though given the strength nature of the beer this is unlikely) have peaked in the interim period and at 14 months is on the decline.

Sure by all means stick a load of the bottles in a box and tuck them away in a dark corner....but keep a few by for sampling/quality control purposes.

[StrathclydeTaff]

Nick
This is all based on previous brews of mine. My plan for this one is based on the results from a brew started in February 2021. This was carboyed for 6 months and then bottled in August 21. I started drinking it from October through to March 2022. Its a big winter warmer for occasional drinking and suited to the long dark, cold wild winters of darkest Lanarkshire. It's not a summer drink and I resumed drinking it last October and still have 15 or so bottles left. The beer has definitely improved, becoming smoother and more complex over the 16 months since opening the first bottle and I intend to keep a dozen bottles back for next winter, hoping that it will not deteriorate. I intend to start drinking the current brew in the autumn/winter of 2024, by which time it should have mellowed to the same extent as the beer I'm currently drinking.
That's some background and it's been influenced by a range of Imperial Stouts produced by Innis and Gunn, cask conditioned for a year or more, albeit in bourbon barrels. So maybe I'll keep to the same plan and keep it in carboys for six months before bottling.

[nickjdavis]

Fair enough...you are the head brewer as the saying goes

I can see how aging in say Bourbon casks, like Innis and Gunn do, might help develop character...but given that you are aging in a glass (? or similar) carboy I wouldn't have thought it would deliver any character...so not sure of what 6 months in the carboy might bring compared to say six weeks

I would have thought that a lot of the aging character might be developed after priming and bottling as the secondary fermentation in bottle progressed and the residual yeast cleared up after themselves.

Still...as long as you are enjoying it and yeah...if it aint broken...

[StrathclydeTaff]

Nick
Your final point about carboys vs bottling, with bottle conditioning being more important, sort of answers my original question so maybe I'll think about cutting back significantly the time spent in the carboy.
cheers