fanch75
Well-Known Member
In Nov 2012, I brewed an IPA using extract. My daughter was born around that time, and I never had enough enthusiasm to bottle it. Anyway, this past weekend (on 4/25/15 to be exact), I came across this batch while doing a family "purge old stuff" project and I finally bottled it! The beer smelled fine, there was no mold or any signs of infection, and the beer was very clear.
I'm sure this is an outlier situation, and my expectations are in check, but I'm hoping this beer is drinkable. I named this batch after my daughter, "Gianna's 900 Day IPA."
I'll report back in a few months on how it tastes. Has anyone had a situation like this (similar), and how did it turn out? I assume it is safe to drink since it appeared to be in good shape.
Edit: Here are the specifics, as best I can remember:
- Brew date: Nov 2012
- Bottling date: April 25, 2015. The beer sat in the primary bucket for the full 2.5 years, and I used a siphon to move to the bottling bucket at bottling.
- Extract: Coopers Selection IPA (creates 5 gallons)
- Extra fermentables: Used the recommended amount of DME instead of corn sugar
- Water: Tap water
- Yeast: The packet that came with the Coopers kit (did not re-use yeast from a prior yeast cake)
- Pitching temperature: About 70 degrees
- Storage temperature: About 60 degrees in winter, about 70 in summer (stored in basement bathroom shower)
- Primer for bottling: 2/3 cup of corn sugar. I did not do any dry-hopping at bottling I did not add any additional yeast at bottling. My decided options were to either dump it or bottle it, so I just bottled it. At best I have 50 bottles of drinkable beer, at worst it's awful and I wasted a few hours on bottling day.
- OG and FG: I don't remember the OG, and I could not quickly (key word) find my hydrometer so I did not take a final gravity reading. Remember, it was in the bucket from Nov 2012 to April 2015, so I assumed fermentation was complete)
- I used vodka for the airlock, and kept it full for the entire 2.5 years. If this beer is drinkable, I credit this for that.
- I did not taste the beer before bottling. After pulling the bucket lid off after 2.5 years, I took a look and whiff and it smelled fine and looked fine. Crystal clear. A weaker "beer scent" certainly, but nothing foul. I've never had autolysis occur in any of my brews but I've read that the smell is "knock you 10 feet back" bad, and this beer smelled fine!
- Luck: It needs lots of it! Let's hope it carbonates.
5/14/2015 Update - the taste test!
Alright, I am back. I see a few folks are eager to read about how the beer tastes. Sorry I didn't get on sooner to type up a response, just didn't get around to it.
So on 5/9/15, Saturday night (day 14 of in the bottle), I cracked open a bottle with a buddy of mine. I could not wait to taste it! It did fizz *a little*, not much, but there were signs of carbonation! Very little however, I poured the beer into the glass (half for me, half for my buddy - wasn't goign to waste 2 bottles if it needed more conditioning). We gave each other a salute, and drank up.
It was flat, and I can't stand flat beer (which is why I don't bother tasting out of the primary - I'd throw out every batch based on the pre-conditioned taste). No signs of hops at all, it did have a *very faint* beer aroma. No foul smell, no hops smell, kind of like light beer I guess. Drinkign it, it was hard to get away from the flatness of it and it was not very good. Extremely bitter (I love IPAs but I made a bitter-beer face) but without the tasty benefits of the hops. I don't know what beer tastes like after autolysis occurs, but the beer did not taste good, but it certainly dit not smell bad which makes me think autolysis did not happen. It did not taste sour so I don't believe the beer to be infected. I know this will probably annoy a few of you but the weak carbonation gave me hope and I am going to give it more time to see if those yeasts can reproduce some more and add some more CO2 to the beer.
If you are interested in this story, please give it time. On the day I bottled it, my intent was to just throw the batch away but couldn't get myself to do it since the beer smelled fine and did not have any signs of infection. We feared the yeast would be dead to few, and it would probably take a while to condition if it conditioned at all.
I'm sure this is an outlier situation, and my expectations are in check, but I'm hoping this beer is drinkable. I named this batch after my daughter, "Gianna's 900 Day IPA."
I'll report back in a few months on how it tastes. Has anyone had a situation like this (similar), and how did it turn out? I assume it is safe to drink since it appeared to be in good shape.
Edit: Here are the specifics, as best I can remember:
- Brew date: Nov 2012
- Bottling date: April 25, 2015. The beer sat in the primary bucket for the full 2.5 years, and I used a siphon to move to the bottling bucket at bottling.
- Extract: Coopers Selection IPA (creates 5 gallons)
- Extra fermentables: Used the recommended amount of DME instead of corn sugar
- Water: Tap water
- Yeast: The packet that came with the Coopers kit (did not re-use yeast from a prior yeast cake)
- Pitching temperature: About 70 degrees
- Storage temperature: About 60 degrees in winter, about 70 in summer (stored in basement bathroom shower)
- Primer for bottling: 2/3 cup of corn sugar. I did not do any dry-hopping at bottling I did not add any additional yeast at bottling. My decided options were to either dump it or bottle it, so I just bottled it. At best I have 50 bottles of drinkable beer, at worst it's awful and I wasted a few hours on bottling day.
- OG and FG: I don't remember the OG, and I could not quickly (key word) find my hydrometer so I did not take a final gravity reading. Remember, it was in the bucket from Nov 2012 to April 2015, so I assumed fermentation was complete)
- I used vodka for the airlock, and kept it full for the entire 2.5 years. If this beer is drinkable, I credit this for that.
- I did not taste the beer before bottling. After pulling the bucket lid off after 2.5 years, I took a look and whiff and it smelled fine and looked fine. Crystal clear. A weaker "beer scent" certainly, but nothing foul. I've never had autolysis occur in any of my brews but I've read that the smell is "knock you 10 feet back" bad, and this beer smelled fine!
- Luck: It needs lots of it! Let's hope it carbonates.
5/14/2015 Update - the taste test!
Alright, I am back. I see a few folks are eager to read about how the beer tastes. Sorry I didn't get on sooner to type up a response, just didn't get around to it.
So on 5/9/15, Saturday night (day 14 of in the bottle), I cracked open a bottle with a buddy of mine. I could not wait to taste it! It did fizz *a little*, not much, but there were signs of carbonation! Very little however, I poured the beer into the glass (half for me, half for my buddy - wasn't goign to waste 2 bottles if it needed more conditioning). We gave each other a salute, and drank up.
It was flat, and I can't stand flat beer (which is why I don't bother tasting out of the primary - I'd throw out every batch based on the pre-conditioned taste). No signs of hops at all, it did have a *very faint* beer aroma. No foul smell, no hops smell, kind of like light beer I guess. Drinkign it, it was hard to get away from the flatness of it and it was not very good. Extremely bitter (I love IPAs but I made a bitter-beer face) but without the tasty benefits of the hops. I don't know what beer tastes like after autolysis occurs, but the beer did not taste good, but it certainly dit not smell bad which makes me think autolysis did not happen. It did not taste sour so I don't believe the beer to be infected. I know this will probably annoy a few of you but the weak carbonation gave me hope and I am going to give it more time to see if those yeasts can reproduce some more and add some more CO2 to the beer.
If you are interested in this story, please give it time. On the day I bottled it, my intent was to just throw the batch away but couldn't get myself to do it since the beer smelled fine and did not have any signs of infection. We feared the yeast would be dead to few, and it would probably take a while to condition if it conditioned at all.
