How long is homebrew good for.

[Steampunk]

Call it earned paranoia I have had food poisoning 3 times so whenever I have a home brew that alarm goes off in the back of my head.

So the question is how long is homebrew good for before it's questionable to drink.

 

[cyclogenesis]

Depends on how good your sanitisation is and the conditions the beer is stored in.. I have had HB that is ~ 6 months old and it was great!

The thing that impacted the longevity of my brew the most, asides from drinking, was that I got better at brewing and did not like my older brews

 

[bottlebomber]

The oldest "homebrew" I've had was a smoked scotch ale I aged for 3 years. It was actually the 2nd or 3rd beer I made... anyway it lasts a long time. They pulled some brew off a shipwreck recently that was several hundred years old and it was safe to drink. And back then they used to hang a goat leg in the fermenter as a fermentation aid. Nothing that's bad for you can survive in alcohol as far as I know.

 

[pickles]

Presuming its a well made beer to begin with, it will last for many years. It will change, some hold up better than others, etc.

 

[Dogphish]

i've NEVER heard of anyone getting food poisoning from homebrew. in fact, if you follow directions correctly, there is nothing that can grow in 5% alcohol that will harm you (unless you have allergies).

the only concern with old brew is flavor. at room temperature these beers don't age well, in terms of flavor: lagers, hoppy beers, wheat beers, and fruit beers.

 

[Fj3fury]

I've been drinking a year old munton's extract stout brew of late. Age seems to make it better. It's been kept in a cool place and in the dark for all it's life.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Upon returning to homebrewing tonight after a long absence, I opened one of my old homebrews that was at least a few years old. Tasted fine (not the greatest at this point but fine). I try hard to be sanitary as I brew. The beer will let you know if it is bad.

 

[drainbamage]

I've had one of mine that was in the fridge for 2 years and still tasted fine. There aren't any known pathogens that can survive in alcohol, so you shouldn't have to worry about bugs like salmonella, e. coli, etc. (unless, as others have mentioned, you have a food allergy to one of your ingredients).

 

[beergolf]

I am sure that Revvy will chime in soon.....

He talks about brews that were sent into competition and tasted 20 years later.

If they were properly stored they should last longer than we will keep them around.

I have a Belgian that is nearing a year in the bottle and it just keeps improving.

 

[cullen]

I did a barley wine 3 years ago that's still fine. My one batch that went sour I continued to use for cooking for around 5 years (it takes a while to use up 5 gallons of sour beer in cooking). Food poisoning should not be an issue.

 

[Joemama474]

The only microbe that is comfortable in a properly made, stored, and cared for beer is yeast. Improper treatment will result in infections of all types that will make your beer taste terrible, but nothing that will harm you. Due to the processes involved, the only real human pathogen present in beer after the boil is botulism spores, which can't reproduce in pHs as low as beers are, hence no worries.

 

[Revvy]

NOTHING PATHOGENIC CAN GROW IN BEER!!!

You can't get sick from beer PERIOD, old, new, or ancient...It doesn't matter. Nothing that can live in fermented beverages can harm you period....No food poisoning or anything.

The whole history of beer, wine, mead and cider/Fermentation is general is that nothing pathogenic can exist in them They were consumed in places where the water could kill you, or make you sick.

Even slightly fermented beverages were consumed, even by children. Hard ciders were drunk like we drink bottled water.

Why do you think the Catholic Church chose wine as the basis of their sacrament? Because wine was more important to the culture of the desert where Christianity came from than water. Water safe, drinkable water was rare. So wine was the safer, common beverage of the day.

We've covered everything even with some citations in this thread. Dangers of Homebrewing

And some more info here as well.

It covers all the bugaboos that new brewers wanna fear, mycotoxins, e-coli, zombies....