How to make a beer that can be bottle conditioned for a long time?

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BarleyAndApple

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Despite my love for beers (and ciders), one problem that I often face is the storage.

I drink about 200-300ml daily and I simply can't consume enough before the beer goes 'off'.

Therefore I've been considering brewing beers that can be bottle conditioned and suitable for drinking upto 3 years (and plus)


Led me to wonder, what's the characteristics of beer that can be stored for a long period of time without being filtered/pasteurized?


From What I've seen, it's either or both of high alcohol content and hopping.

Saying, that how is Weihenstephaner bottle conditioned considering it's 5.4% alcohol content and not-so-strong hopping?


Thanks in advance.
 
You're right. Barley Wines, Big Belgians, Scotch Ales, and RIS will age for a long time because of their high alcohol level. Hoppy aroma will mellow and smooth out with time. I think what the Weihenstephaner "bottled conditioned" means is that priming sugar/dme/etc was added to the beer and to the bottle versus having CO2 pumped into it.
 
Right, all bottle-conditioned means is it was naturally carbonated in the bottle.

Hoppy beers don't age well. After a year, most of the aroma will be gone.
 
BarleyAndApple said:
Despite my love for beers (and ciders), one problem that I often face is the storage.

I drink about 200-300ml daily and I simply can't consume enough before the beer goes 'off'.

Therefore I've been considering brewing beers that can be bottle conditioned and suitable for drinking upto 3 years (and plus)


Led me to wonder, what's the characteristics of beer that can be stored for a long period of time without being filtered/pasteurized?


From What I've seen, it's either or both of high alcohol content and hopping.

Saying, that how is Weihenstephaner bottle conditioned considering it's 5.4% alcohol content and not-so-strong hopping?


Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I guess the real question is: why is your beer going "off" so quickly? If you are drinking 300mL of day (10oz) then a 5 gallon batch should last a little less than 2 months. Even if your homebrew was a lightest of light lagers, it should be fine for way longer than that.
 
High alcohol and bottle conditioning will be two of the biggest factors. Hops have preservative qualities, but unless the hops are backed up by a nice big malt backbone, a hoppy beer will not age well as the hop flavors/aromas will tend to fade over time. Some hoppy beers age well, many more don't. Barleywines, Russian Imperial Stouts and a number of strong Belgian Ales tend to do the best over time in my experience.
 
my first beer, a recipe kit for a ~4.5% ABV brown ale, got more and more grossly bitter as it aged (only 5 weeks in the bottle before i finished it all, at which point it was getting pretty bad).

I attributed the creeping bitterness to not straining the pellet hops out of my wort prior to fermenting -- not sure if that's the real cause, but I've strained every batch since and haven't had the problem at all.

Also, you could try giving more beer away to your friends -- works for me!
 
I assume it was the Brewer's Best Brown Ale? I just made that one too. Mine gets better and better with no strange bitterness. I'm about 6 weeks in the bottle. I didn't strain anything out of it. I'd guess you're dealing with some other factor.
 
LOL, yea, on second thought the strange growing bitterness probably had more to do with that hydrometer reading I took by dunking the hydrometer tube into the primary along with a couple of my fingers.

Learned my lesson and got a turkey baster the next day
 

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