Shelf life: How long does a home brew keep?

[Elijah]

Someone who knows a thing or two about wine told me that beer doesn't age that well (like wine does) and has a short shelf life...

A blog post of a nano brewery also confirms that and claims a three month shelf life ...

but this is a bit puzzling for me.

Some belgian beers age very well in the bottle.
The oldest bottle of my own homebrew was about 8 months old and tasted better than the ones before...

So can anyone shed some light on the matter?

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Homebrew shouldn't be much different than any other beer. After all, it's all the same process (especially with all grain). They should probably also diffrentiate between aging and shelf life. I see those as two separate concepts.

It will mostly depend on aging conditions (temperature and how protected the beer is from the light). The one thing that that may factor in is how well you can get that last little bit of O2 out of the bottle before it is capped and stored.

Two other points of note are that it's generally accepted that higher alcohol beers age better (I can't personally back this up) and that hoppy beers will lose their hop character during the aging process. Belgians tick both boxes and thus age pretty well. Barley wines and imeprials would also qualify as good candidates.

 

[b-boy]

A lot depends on the beer. Hoppy beers lose a lot of their hop aroma and flavor fairly quickly, so drinking them quickly makes sense. On the other hand I have a Belgian Quad that I did last November 2013 that is getting better over time. I also have an RIS that I made in August. I won't even think about touching it till May. think hops and ABV are key factors in how long a beer will be good.

 

[bobeer]

As stated it really comes down to what style beer it is. IPA's and hoppy beers are best drunk right away and not aged. Imperial stouts, Belgians, sours, old ales, strong ales, barley wines, etc, etc, can all benefit from aging. There are peak years with these beers just like wines have. Different flavors come out and fade at different times so peak years are all up to the tastes of the person drinking it or the intentions of the brewer.
Aging also can happen at different stages of the brewing process too. Sours you can age in a barrel or secondary fermentor for a long time. So it really just comes down to what you're trying to make/drink.

 

[beergolf]

I'll jump on the it depends on what style bandwagon. Ther is no one sizs fits all approach to aging beers.

IPA's, wheat beers or any other low gravity beer is best consumed while it is young.

Higher gravity beers or very dark beers seem to like to be aged. Stouts especially a big one will improve with age. The time depends on the brew. I brew a lot of Belgians and they do change with time. Lighter styles like tripels age well but not as well as something like a BDSA. I have one that is 4 years old. I had a bottle at Christmas and it is amazing. I still have a few bottles left and will continue to age them to see how they age.

I like to set aside some of each batch for aging and taste them occasionally. Once they reach their peak then I will drink them up. Some I still have not found the limit yet.

Sours are a whole other realm of brewing. Many of those are aged 1-2 years before they are even bottled and then can be aged longer in the bottle.

edit: I forgot to mention sanitization. Aging beers assumes that you had very sanitization during your process. If everything was not sanitized well then all bets about aging are off.

 

[Elijah]

Thanks for the prompt and helpful replies guys.

Can anyone pinpoint the difference between aging in bottles and in casks/kegs? Would one take more time than the other? Should I worry about yeast at the bottom of the bottle?
Also, when aging in casks or kegs, I assume you will add CO2 later before drinking unlike bottles, correct?

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Some commercial beers in my cellar have best "after" dates that are usually around a year from packaging.

Your wine friend sounds like a wine snob. Both beverages have their place but as Bamforth says, beer is a far superior beverage to wine.

 

[Elijah]

Some commercial beers in my cellar have best "after" dates that are usually around a year from packaging.

Your wine friend sounds like a wine snob. Both beverages have their place but as Bamforth says, beer is a far superior beverage to wine.

Hey, I don't mind being a beer snob myself
No harm of being a snob as long as we can have a drink together

I am very interested in aging beer, anyone can recommend an article/book about it (beyond the basic of "no O2, no light, no heat")?

 

[Elijah]

Reading the following article proves to some extend the claim that beer can be aged:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bottoms-up-worlds-oldest-beer-opened/

BTW, they would not culture yeast, which is a pitty, as we cannot replicate the beer!

 

[myerstyson]

@Elijah, try Vintage Beer by Dawson. Very nice with lots of hints on how to pick the right kind of beer to cellar.

For me, I've got doppelbocks and stouts aging.

 

[VladOfTrub]

The brewing process has a little bit to do with stability and shelf life of the final product. The brewing method should be set up to produce beer that is clean and stable and has the "backbone" to age, in order to reach peak quality in the beer. For beer to age well there needs to be a balance between A and B-Limit dextrin, fermentable and non fermentable sugar, nutrient and protein.

The story about IPA being high hopped and high alcohol in order to survive the six month journey to India might be partially true. The ale that was brewed during the age when it took a ship six months to go from England to India, wasn't brewed with modern malt. Modern malt wasn't invented yet, niether was the English infusion brewing method. The brewing method used to produce world renown IPA was the tri-decoction method, because the malt was under modified. The brewing method produces a more stable beer with greater shelf life, than the English method produces. When modern malt and the English brewing method came about, ships had engines and refrigeration.

 

[Elijah]

Thanks for the advice.

 

[GHBWNY]

"They should probably also diffrentiate between aging and shelf life. I see those as two separate concepts."

Agree. Afterall, which would you rather drink --- a well-aged beer or "an old beer"?

 

[mrgrimm101]

While it is true that hoppy beers lose their hop flavor and aroma over time, that's not to say that they don't keep well. Heavily hopped beers were introduced because hops are a natural preservative. I have a few commercial Imperial IPAs that I put in my cellar just to see what will happen. High ABV beers will generally keep for a while. A beer like an Imperial IPA, while it may lose some/most of its hop flavor and aroma, it can still age into an interesting beer. The sweet malt profiles will be a lot more prominent and may end up being somewhat like a barleywine as the hops fade.

High ABV Imperial Stouts, Barleywines, and Old Ales all age well. These styles tend to develop other flavor characteristics the longer they age. Many times, the fruity esters become more prominent and that makes for some interesting flavors.

 

[Calichusetts]

Since beer doesn't spoil in a traditional food or beverage sense...you can age beer for however long you want. 1 year or 100 years. The conditions it ages in will affect it greatly. In terms of taste and "shelf life" people are spot on in here. Big beers, yeast-based beers like sours and belgians can all do well aging, even over decades. Many styles are geared towards a fresh only approach. This doesn't mean you can age them, but stylistically, its something most wouldn't do.

 

[mrgrimm101]

Since beer doesn't spoil in a traditional food or beverage sense...you can age beer for however long you want. 1 year or 100 years. The conditions it ages in will affect it greatly. In terms of taste and "shelf life" people are spot on in here. Big beers, yeast-based beers like sours and belgians can all do well aging, even over decades. Many styles are geared towards a fresh only approach. This doesn't mean you can age them, but stylistically, its something most wouldn't do.

Exactly. Certain Barleywines can go for decades. Brouwerij Huyghe basically advertises that their Delirium Tremens (one of my favorite beers) just keeps getting better with age (not sure how true that is.) Bourbon County prints on their labels that it "develops for up to 5 years in the bottle."

It really depends on the style.

 

[rodwha]

I have a book on the IPA, and the author dug deep in England going over the history. What he found was what is now called an IPA was an October beer meant to be aged anyway. It later was called a pale ale for India. I'll post the title and author when I get home or even look for the thread and link to it where I talked about this.

 

[rodwha]

Found it:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/pale-ale-india-historical-491904/

 

[sandyeggoxj]

I have a book on the IPA, and the author dug deep in England going over the history. What he found was what is now called an IPA was an October beer meant to be aged anyway. It later was called a pale ale for India. I'll post the title and author when I get home or even look for the thread and link to it where I talked about this.

Pretty sure that book is by mitch Steele and it is called IPA.

 

[rodwha]

Correct!

 

[sandyeggoxj]

I am reading thst one right now. It is good so far.

 

[ruger988]

I will say I didn't read the majority of the responses here.... but...

Anyone who tells you that beer has an iron-clad shelf life of 3 months and won't age well past that.... you need to run away from them, as fast as you can, and don't look back.

 

[Elijah]

I just bought "Vintage Beer: A Taster's Guide to Brews That Improve over Time" - its an easy read and seems to provide a nice and educated insight on beer.

 

[grathan]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f264/vintage-beer-tasters-guide-brews-improve-over-time-dawson-510754/

There is a thread about that book.



As far as homebrew goes... I think in comparing it to commercial beer I have under-estimated the turnover time most kegs sit in drinking establishments as well as how fresh bottled beer on store shelves really is. When I started paying attention to dates on bottles I soon found that the "fresh" flavor was lacking in older bottles and I feel there is a lot of truth in the "3 month" comment above. Not Ruger888's comment, but the other one.


I don't brew fancy beers like sours or high OG (over 1.070), but have noticed that every beer I make hits a sweet spot and it lasts perhaps a week or two at best. It usually comes about 1.5-2 months after brew date.

 

[Elijah]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f264/vintage-beer-tasters-guide-brews-improve-over-time-dawson-510754/

There is a thread about that book.



As far as homebrew goes... I think in comparing it to commercial beer I have under-estimated the turnover time most kegs sit in drinking establishments as well as how fresh bottled beer on store shelves really is. When I started paying attention to dates on bottles I soon found that the "fresh" flavor was lacking in older bottles and I feel there is a lot of truth in the "3 month" comment above. Not Ruger888's comment, but the other one.


I don't brew fancy beers like sours or high OG (over 1.070), but have noticed that every beer I make hits a sweet spot and it lasts perhaps a week or two at best. It usually comes about 1.5-2 months after brew date.

I think this book explains it best, the why and how would a beer mature. Reading the first chapter in this book I understand why I have been told that beer would be best served as fresh as possible.

Most popular beers brewed here, even by nano-boutique breweries, are "light" beer that do not age well and are best served "fresh".

 

[Bobcatbrewing42]

My kegged beer begs for waiting a month to drink it if I can stand it. Best after a couple of months.
Bottles not worth drinking until 1 month. Best after two or three months.
I have had bottles up to a year old that were still OK
I found a three year old litre of chocolate stout in the back of the fridge that was still OK but the flavor had faded.