How is homebrew preserved when bottled?

Robms88 · Feb 10, 2012

If you emptied a store-bought beer into another bottle and put a cap on it, I can expect that it would go bad pretty quickly.

How is primed home-brew different? Does the CO2 carbonation process preserve it? Or is it to do with the yeast?

I am just curious. I couldn't find much on this subject.

Cheers. :mug:

unionrdr · Feb 10, 2012

It's the hops in the beer that act as a preservative. But the co2 in the head space & a tight cap help as well.

Yooper · Feb 10, 2012

Even non-pasteurized beer doesn't "go bad" with time, not in the sense that it spoils. It may age past its prime but it won't spoil.

If you put an alcoholic beverage into properly sanitized bottles, and it won't "go bad" or spoil.

NordeastBrewer77 · Feb 10, 2012

yeah, i think the key here is the alcohol. the beer may go downhill and taste bad, but it will never really spoil in the sense that food can.

Taliesin · Feb 10, 2012

And one of the reasons a homebrew can age, or so I have heard, is that the small amount of yeast in suspension in a homebrew will continue to modify the contents of the bottle. These are live ales, and like any living organism, it changes over time.

How is homebrew preserved when bottled?

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How is homebrew preserved when bottled?

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

Robms88

Active Member

unionrdr

Homebrewer, author & air gun collector

Yooper

Ale's What Cures You!

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NBA Playa

Taliesin

Well-Known Member

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