Beer Storage

[daman]

I have brewed double IPA last March (IBU 114) so believe me, it has quite an amount of hops inside.
Yesterday I tasted one of a couple bottles left (it has been maturing for a 10 months or so). And a problem was very much bobbles, the foam was flowing of the bottle, I really fought that it got infected or something. But after tasting... It was totally good, everything was acceptable except CO2... Don`t really understand what happened to my beer. After 2-4 months maturing it was perfect, low on C02, high on hops.
And it happened not for the first time, my milk stout - the same story, after 5-6 months it was foaming from the top tasting good. After a year it was foaming and tasting bad, got sourness...So the question is: Can the CO2 somehow increase? I mean while maturing? And does somebody know what really happened? How are you guys maturing your beer for a 2-3, even 5 years? I really thought that double IPA would last longer.
P.S. I Store my beer in a cellar, the temperature is about 12-14C.

 

[jimmyjjohn]

Wine is not the only drink that can be aged for maturation. Many beers benefit from extended aging. We're not talking about your average beer with a mere shelf life of 3-6 months, tops -- before quality begins to degrade. We're talking about beers that beg for maturation and strict storage like vintage beers, barleywines, imperial stouts, Belgian strong ales, lambics, old ales and so on. Ideally, any type of beer that can be laid-down for a year or two, or even more, in order to build a slew of complexities and thus further its character in a positive way.

If you're interested in starting your own beer cellar it's actually pretty easy. First, you'll need to maintain enough patience and will-power to not drink them too early. This, beyond anything else, is the public enemy number one to your attempts. There's nothing worse than thinking about that special beer, just sitting there, as it whispers its sweet song to the pleasure portion of the brain, "Drink me".

 

[daman]

Yeah, I know that Jimmy, but Im wondering about all my attempts to age Imperial IPA, Belgian Strong Ale, so far that is it. So both of them got foaming arround Im wondering why, what is the reason, is it normal, i guess no, so I must be doing something wrong.
Other beers - stouts, pale ales, wheats and so on Im ageing them nowhere more than 5-6 months, and it`s understandable why
Anyway, thanks for a passionate post, Cheers!

Wine is not the only drink that can be aged for maturation. Many beers benefit from extended aging. We're not talking about your average beer with a mere shelf life of 3-6 months, tops -- before quality begins to degrade. We're talking about beers that beg for maturation and strict storage like vintage beers, barleywines, imperial stouts, Belgian strong ales, lambics, old ales and so on. Ideally, any type of beer that can be laid-down for a year or two, or even more, in order to build a slew of complexities and thus further its character in a positive way.

If you're interested in starting your own beer cellar it's actually pretty easy. First, you'll need to maintain enough patience and will-power to not drink them too early. This, beyond anything else, is the public enemy number one to your attempts. There's nothing worse than thinking about that special beer, just sitting there, as it whispers its sweet song to the pleasure portion of the brain, "Drink me".

 

[Likefully]

here is an article on the topic, which I suspect JJ has read

I can't help you but am very interested in this topic (so effectively subbing). I have just brewed a stout and designed the recipe so the beer can age. At the moment the coolest place in my house is over 20C, which according to the article is a bit on the warm side so am going to move them to the in-laws once they have carbed.

The only thing I can think of (from the article) that may have caused a problem is your stored the bottles on the side, which degraded the caps and allowed an infection in.

 

[unionrdr]

Did you sanitize the bottles right before filling? Are your caps being crimped on tightly? Did you clean & sanitize everything that touches the beer on bottling day? These things can lead to gusher infections over time. I had the bell on my red baron wing capper wear out to the point the caps weren't 100% tight. As the beers matured,I got wiffs of maltiness every so often. I got the super agata bench capper & solved that problem. As co2 leaks out during carbonation at room temp,some bottles even absorbed o2 & got moldy cardboard smell & taste. It seems you've got something building up in the bottles over time.

 

[broadbill]

Don't expect imperial IPAs to age well; hop components break down quickly (few months, tops). IPA/DIPA/IIPA need to be consumed fresh, fresher the better.

Not sure what the foaming is about, assuming you have good bottle sanitation in place. Also weird that there isn't any off-flavors to accompany the foaming. That kind of rules out an infection.

 

[unionrdr]

Idk,I've had gusher infections in some bottles but they weren't too bad,more like foam overs. And that was at 2.3 volumes of co2. Or poured with lots of foam. No bad flavors in most,just a few bottles that didn't foam so much as not sealed really well. Like the crimp on the caps wasn't quite what they should've been.

 

[aslander]

Seems like you might be using too much priming sugar and you haven't realized previously because you were opening bottles before they had fully carbed using that sugar. Or maybe they weren't entirely done fermenting.

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[aslander]

Also I've had issues with not mixing the priming sugar thoroughly and having some bottles wind up being over carbed because they got a higher amount of sugar

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