Do you keep ONE of every batch of homebrew?

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adamjackson

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My first four batches are done and, even though 3 of them won't keep beyond 6 months, I'm thinking of keeping one of each with labels mostly for sentimental reasons. GF says i'm crazy cause she just sees it as more bottles laying around.

Does anyone here do this? Any advice on regular painter's tape with the style and date written on it?
 
I did for years, until the box of one offs from batches was larger than a case of beer, then decided just to drink them.

Thanks Revvy. Always nice to get your insight on things. What are your takeaways as far as randomly opening things at that point? I imagine Pales were basically undrinkable beyond a year and other weirdness in Wheats and Porters?

Just curious really because the commercial beer drinkers demand you drink IPAs soon due to hop fading and rule of thumb is big ABV = long term cellaring.

Thanks man!
 
I actually keep 2. One to drink after one year and the other as long as I can hold out. But like revvy mentioned I am going to have to re-think this because it is starting to eat up too much space.
 
I keep bottle #13 (my favorite number) from each batch set aside. I plan on opening each at the one year mark.
 
I save one or two from each batch and try them around the one year mark if I can wait that long. I think the plan this year is to drink all the savers on my birthday. Gives me a set date instead of trying to remember what day/month each batch was brewed in.
 
I often hang on to some (depending on style) for a year, two, three if it is a "big" beer - not to keep forever, but just to see how it is as it ages. If I had kept one beer of every batch I brewed, I would now have in the neighborhood of 300 single beers sitting in my basement. Not sure what the point would be in doing that - takes up a ton of space, most beers do not get better over time, and if you are never going to drink them.....why, keep them? Barley wines, RIS, Belgians, etc. - I think that is worth keeping a 6 or a 12 back to try after extended time to see how it ages. Keeping one of your first batch is a cool idea.
 
I started to and kept two of each. I had a case full of old beer when I recognized that most of my favorite beer was best fresh. I randomly began drinking the ones I had saved. An apple cider had gotten a little better, but none of the beer was as good as I had remembered. Most of it was good enough but not as good as before. A chipotle beer I made lost all it's smokey spiciness and tasted very vegetal. Same with the Belgians, they lost their bold earthy spiciness. My hoppy beers were bitter but lacked the flavors and aromas I remembered. These were all average gravity ales. Some did taste better with a little age, but when I tried the ones I saved, they seemed to be past their prime.
 
Yes. Namely because some beer-loving friend / family member who visits once every year or so has something they've wanted set aside to try.

That being said they end up not visiting and there's always the last one of *something* that neither my hubby or I can bring ourselves to crack open knowing it's the last of the lot. Yes, they do eventually get opened and shared - but it is truly a day of high emotion. :D
 
I have tried to save some from most batches, but my success has been rather limited. IPAs etc I don't try to save, but I had a big molasses porter that I saved a few of, and some ciders and meads. The problem is that the ones that were really good dwindled quickle, and then the ones I saved disappeared if there were friends visiting that I wanted to share them with. Seems like a worthy exit for them though, and I can always make more! I have had good luck saving meads though, and they do get much better with some age on them.
 
I just opened a Scottish 80/- a couple years old from my second AG batch. I think I've gotten worse as a brewer :(
 
I often end up with the last one or two bottles of a batch sitting in the fridge because I forget it's back there or decide to start drinking something else. Some of my bigger beers get drank slowly so I can enjoy the beer as it develops but I never have a strict policy on holding on to my beers.
 
I used to keep 1 bomber of each beer I made. I stopped doing so after just over a year, and I drank them all. Some had aged better than others.

Now I have a few recipes that I brew nearly every year. I like to keep one of those around to compare with the next years batch.
 
Yup, I agree.

Some styles keep better than others. I do enjoy the memories too! Crack an older 1 and even the bouquet takes me back!
 
Since I brew mainly low to mid gravity styles....No I don't save them...I drink them!! As others have pointed out if you are brewing barleywines, RIS, Scotch ales, etc....it makes sense. I once found a bottle of an award winning Wit that I brewed in the back of the fridge a year after I brewed it. I tried it but it wasn't any good....total lack of flavor. I believe 90% of beers styles are best when relatively fresh.
 
I never have- don't have the space or the inclination. There are beers I know are going to be great in a year, and I certainly set those aside for aging, but most of my beers can be made again and are better fresh.
 
I keep a few bottles back from some batches: stouts, porters, Belgians, etc....... I like to see how they age over a year. I drink all my hoppy beers right away. No use in aging them.
 
I'm with magno. I save a 22 of each beer mostly because I'm a beginning brewer and I want to see how they'll change over time (at least 6 months) and record that in my notebook for future reference.
 
i don't - but i was kind of excited to learn this winter that a friend of mine still had what was maybe my sixth or seventh beer from 1995 (the only one i ever labeled) and had been holding out to surprise me. I am, however, not speaking to him until he agrees to let us open and drink it, as i feel that if he is not prepared to do that, he should have kept his f-ing mouth shut about it, until he was ready to do so. So if you save beer, don't let it ruin a friendship.
 
The best part about brewing beer is if you take good notes you can duplicate the process and have the same beer. I haven't ever saved beer. I drink it. If it's good I put it in rotation to brew again. With experience will come consistency, and a reproduceable product.
I'm not one for sentimentality, plus I keg nearly everything now.
 
This is a really good idea. I have to start saving a beer from all of my brews.
 
I saved a couple of bottles from each of my first 6-8 batches. These sat around for about 14 years before I opened them. Most of these didn’t hold up well. I had a sip or two of each before they went down the drain.

Now, I will occasional will hang onto a couple of bottles for comparison if it is a beer I’m going to brew again with recipe tweaks, but generally don’t keep anything more than a year.
 
I started saving a 22 of each of the brews i made and have about three years worth to date. This summer, I was going to start drinking them, just because they were taking up too much space on my shelves, but my girlfriend said I should hang onto them for "sentimental" purposes. I obliged, but often think it is a waste to save beers, especially those that do not age well or are not meant to be aged.

If I could do it over, I would save two or three bottles of each brew and drink precisely at 1 month, 3 month, and 6 month for the beers that aren't meant to be aged, and 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years for those that do benefit from aging. I am just always curious how long my pale ales or IPAs stay "drinkable" for.
 
When I was a "beginner" i used to save 2 bottles from every batch to age for a year. It was cool to see how they evolved and I ;earned a great deal. I brewed a ton of crazy recipes/styles those first few years. Let me tell you oxidized pale ales dont taste so great after 16 months!!

Now, I save select bottle of special occasion beers. High gravity stuff, RIS, Triples, quads, sours i brew most likely will end up in my cellar. But most of the session strength stuff i brew now are repeat recipes that have been tried and true, and i drink every last drop of them.
 
My consistency has been to try and drink them til i have a few left up to a year or more.Unless i see overcarbonation that batch will all go to the fridge quick.
 
This is great way to find out how maturation affects your beer, in better way off course..
I keep 2-3 bottles of every brew after bottling it, forget it and taste them after half to one year... actually, few days ago I opened Honey Ale brewed in August last year, and was sad why I didn't kept more bottles..
I have to increas number of "forgotten" bottles.
 

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