do beers still age while kegged under co2 cold?

[aaronwillen]

well do they?

 

[davesrose]

yes, they keep longer then in cask conditions or at room temp.....but they still will spoil over time. How long depends on style and how cool/airtight your keg is.

 

[Zen_Brew]

Yep, they still age. Just slower.

 

[gxm]

yes, they keep longer then in cask conditions or at room temp.....but they still will spoil over time. How long depends on style and how cool/airtight your keg is.

I'm curious how long this takes. Have you had a batch spoil?

 

[brewjunky]

I'm curious how long this takes. Have you had a batch spoil?

I had a Kolche spoil in 6 months.

A tell tale sign of spoilage is a plastic smell coming from the beer. You'll get the same chemical plastic smell if your yeast is Old and has not been stored properly.

When you open the keg and empty it you'll have dead yeast on the bottom of the keg and it will be dark like dirt almost.

 

[goatchze]

All of my lagers continue to improve after being kegged and under CO2. In fact, that's usually how I lager them. I've never had a keg last 6 months (or 2 months for that matter), so I can't speak definitively to spoilage.

I would imagine though that if you have good sanitation--and either filter or rack the beer off the yeast from your secondary--beer stored in this fashion would last for a very long time.

 

[ewbish]

Last summer my old man found a mixed case of bottles from various recipes in his basement. IPA's, some pilsners, mostly light ales though. Totally forgotten. Being incapable of having beer on hand, he drank 'em. Told me they were all the best beers he'd ever had in his life.


My old man hasn't home brewed since he was diagnosed with gout in '97. Those bottles of brew were at least 12 years old!

 

[aaronwillen]

woah 12 years? thats insane haha. i remember when i was younger my dad always had bottles of molson XXX chillin in the basement. One day in highschool I drank one....ICK! Those were prob around 10 years old by then....but then again its Molson XXX. My main reason for asking this is I have a tripel I brewed about a month and a week ago and ive been stealing tastes from it and it tastes excellent so I wanted to get it on tap already! So I did it....of course its only been in there one day so its not exactly in drinking condition..but I have my raspberry wit which actually did have the bitterness go away a lot since its been in the keg.....the only thing is the beer is pink! So is the head! I sort of feel strange drinking it! But then again...for any of you Philidelphians..the Manayunk Brewery has a brew called the Schuylkill Punch which is pink and very similar! </rant>

 

[Heineken]

The longest I've had a keg last is about three weeks. Definitely no spoilage in three weeks so drink up. Hope I never have to worry about stale beer!