A fairly plain pail ale homebrew wouldn't benefit from aging so a plain pail lager isn't going to gain anything from aging either. Pasteurizing or not.
Complex and high alcohol beers gain from aging more.
I don't know what something like Black Butte or a really hoppy IPA would do with age? I never let them sit that long.
I would think that year old hoppy commercial beer would get less hoppy? Don't know.
I don't think any of them would benefit from aging. They are designed to be what they want to present when they are on the store shelf.
They may change, but I don't know about improve.
This is a question for some of the chemists on the board. They probably understand what's going on with aging better than me.
Hey I just had a thought; how long are the commercial beers aged? Do they go through any different processes than homebrew? Would they benefit from any extra aging in the brew cellar?
If they aged it like we do
The biggest difference with commercial brew is that most of them (and certainly all the BMC) are pasteurized which is a heating process that kills the yeast and any bacteria. So commercial beer benefits less from aging since there is no active yeast at all.
I would disagree that yeast has nothing to do with the aging process.
I read the following here http://blog.beeriety.com/2009/07/13/an-introduction-to-aging-beer/
"Similarly, beers which are not bottle conditioned and have been artificially carbonated will not age very well. The removal of the yeast from the bottle largely halts the aging process. "
I've seen that other places too. Yeast remains alive in the beer quite some time and is an active part of the aging process for stouts and other high alcohol beers that benefit from aging, much like red wine.
Here is another good link that looks at who pasteurizes and the effects on the aging of beer. http://jarticle.hubpages.com/hub/Unpasteurized_Beers
"Similarly, beers which are not bottle conditioned and have been artificially carbonated will not age very well. The removal of the yeast from the bottle largely halts the aging process. "
This is utterly and completely false. Don't believe me? Send an email to [email protected]. He wrote the book on yeast along with Chris White of White Labs.
I am not trying to go after you in particular. I am just sick of seeing this kind of homebrew dogma related over and over when it is just not true.
freisste said:Dogfish Head Burton Baton. Hope the picture shows up well.
There are some beers, like fine wines, that should age. But for the most part, a "regular" beer is ready to go in about 2 weeks from brewdate (homebrew or commercial). A well-made beer that is not a huge big barleywine or something complex just doesn't need aging. If you don't create off flavors in the first place, they don't need to age out.
Ok, I'm sure I'm only repeating what I've heard. I posted some links where I got my info. It would be nice if you had a link to something Chris or Jamil had to say on the subject. The problem with the internet is research often comes up with conflicting opinions and data.
Is there a difference between a beer aged with yeast in the bottle and one without? I would imagine that there are some chemical processes going on that would make them different. Oxidation reactions would change due to the presence of yeast to take up some of the residual oxygen. I would imagine if you had two bottle of the same beer, one with yeast and one without, you would see a flavor difference. But, the statement that beer will not age without yeast is completely false.
What is the thought on the pasteurization process as it relates to beer flavor and does the process affect how the beer ages?
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