Malty beers a ticking clock?

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vicratlhead51

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I had a red ale I made about 4 months ago last night and it's really starting to taste a lot drier than it did a couple months ago. It didn't taste bad or anything but reds are supposed to be kind of malty and this really wasn't but a couple months ago it tasted perfect (to me at least). If given enough time does yeast start to break down some of the more complex sugars that it wasn't able to break down before or am I just imagining things because my stout is starting to show signs of drying out too and its only about 3 months old. I like my beers a little heavier and on the malty side I'm just wondering if this means I should drink them faster. I don't have fridge space for all the beer I make and my basement is pretty steady around 65 degrees now that its getting late in the fall.
 
It either wasn't done or an infection can cause different sugars to be consumed. Was this an AG batch or extract? If AG what were your mash temps?
 
I made a red ale about 4 months ago and it only seems to be getting better, I havent noticed it getting more dry. It was an extract kit.
 
It's not like the yeast start starving and are like "Oh crap, look at all these leftover dextrins we forgot!"

Yeast or bacteria other than S. cerevisiae can eat those sugars, but our brewer's yeast cannot.

It's like you (as a human) can't digest cellulose. If that happened to be the only thing around does not mean that you are going to be suddenly able to do so.
 
Your taste buds change too.

Hop de-sensetization is the most obvious one, but you can become "accustomed" to malty or roasty or sweet or sour or any flavor profile, to the point that the flavor in question (in this case, malty) tastes different even though the beer hasn changed little or none.

Not saying this is the case, but is it possible?
 
Your taste buds change too.

Hop de-sensetization is the most obvious one, but you can become "accustomed" to malty or roasty or sweet or sour or any flavor profile, to the point that the flavor in question (in this case, malty) tastes different even though the beer hasn changed little or none.

Not saying this is the case, but is it possible?

Maybe this is it. I dunno, I'm thinking if it was an infection it would have been overcarbed and doesn't taste wrong in some way. It was an extract batch. I'm not saying it tasted bad just a lot different. Two weeks after bottling it was ok. Three and four weeks it was great. But now four months later it's just gotten a sharper edge to it that just didn't seem to be there before, not bad just different. I'm kind of a slow drinker, only one to three a day, but I share a lot. I guess I just didn't realize how much flavor could change overtime. The other possibility and now that I've seen some of the replies is that my tastes have changed. I work in chemical plants a lot and I know my sense of smell and taste seriously suffers because of this. I was off for two weeks for my honeymoon and then I was off for the cuts on my fingers so my senses have had a chance to recover. I'm thinking I'm tasting something I couldn't taste before. Was just curious really, I don't know a lot of the science behind it but I knew hops were used as a preservative, I was just curious as to whether beers that used less hops had a shorter shelf life.
 
ABV is more of a concern as far as shelf life.

Hops preserve somewhat if infection is present, but if a brew has fermented and has no infection, and is in a seald bottle, nothing can get in........can it?;)
 
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