How long can I condition

I was wondering how long I can leave a bottle at room temp before I have ill effects. I only see my brother about once a year and he has asked me to save him a bottle from each batch I brew. Can I do this or will some of the beer start to go bad over time. How long is to long?

A year shouldn't be a problem. I would try to minimize swings into high temps but a year shouldn't be much trouble.

Sounds like a good brother.

Depends on the beer. A wheat will be very long in the tooth after a year. Hop aroma diminishes over time as well. An Imperial Stout or Strong Scotch Ale will last years if handled properly, and will change from year to year as well.

Different styles age differently. A blonde or belgian wit won't be much good a year from now, whereas a RIS will just be coming into it's prime.
Generally though, as beersydoesit said, a year at constant temps should be alright.
Spend the extra dough on the oxy-absorbing caps though, they aren't much more and are ideal for long conditioning.

I only see my brother about once a year and I keep at least one bottle of all my batches in the basement. I have a neighbor protecting our country and when he's in country he gets a bottle of all the beers I've every brewed. Both take some pride in saying they've sampled every beer I've ever made. I've never had one of these beers go bad, in fact cellaring them probably made the bad beers better. Just my thoughts on the whole thing.
Chuck

Well, Hamiltont, you've got me there. I don't do wheat beers. So I could be all wet about them. But the beers I've brewed aged well. Alts, Ambers, pale ale, Scotch ales. Belgians all seem to age well enough.

Sure hops mellow over time and things may not be at their peak, but I think jimmywit's brother will still enjoy good beer once a year.

Come to think of it, I volunteer to sample folk's year old beer to see if it is still tasty.