Can Home made beer go bad?

[Glongo]

Hi all just got a few questions from a beginner. I just completed my first batch and it came out good. I thought it was gonna be a flop but thanks to good advice it was a success. (thanks all from Fermenting Hot!) Well here it goes......

1. Can My home made beer go bad?

2. How long can I keep my beer in the bottle either cold or hot?

3. If it can go bad how do I prevent it?

Just some things I was wondering about. My beer doesnt hang around long anyway but just incase. I wanted to keep some of each batch for friends or company I want to know how to keep it and how long.

Till Then.....Brew On! :rockin:

 

[scoundrel]

I guess it depends on what you mean by "bad". Assuming you were vigilant in ensuring proper sanitation and depending on the style, it could last for years. That being said, there are many things you can do throughout the process that can cause your beer to have off flavors but you won't get sick. Focusing on a consistent process and expanding your brewing knowledge will not only ensure that your beer will stay fresh but will also improve the quality. Focus on your process and enjoy your beer. You'll soon find that you'll be brewing all of the time just to keep up with the demand.

Also do a search on beers that age well. It may help you on future styles to brew.

 

[Glongo]

I guess it depends on what you mean by "bad". Assuming you were vigilant in ensuring proper sanitation and depending on the style, it could last for years. That being said, there are many things you can do throughout the process that can cause your beer to have off flavors but you won't get sick. Focusing on a consistent process and expanding your brewing knowledge will not only ensure that your beer will stay fresh but will also improve the quality. Focus on your process and enjoy your beer. You'll soon find that you'll be brewing all of the time just to keep up with the demand.

Also do a search on beers that age well. It may help you on future styles to brew.

Scoundrel thank you very much for your advise. By bad I mean spoiled. Can it become sour or spoiled like milk? Does it need to be kept refrigerated or can it sit warm in the bottle?

 

[beergolf]

Keep it in the dark, not to warm but basement temps are good and it will keep for a long time.

I am sure the Revvy will chime in with his story about brews that have been submitted to competitions for the last 20 years still tasting good.

I doubt that it will spoil before you drink it if you store it properly. In fact some beers improve with age. I have a couple of Belgians that are approaching a year in bottles and they are getting better.

 

[jonmohno]

Alcohol does not spoil, It could have an infection of wild yeast making it overcarb/become tasteless depending. It could lose flavor or turn cardboardish if it becomes oxidized, but from my year experience and still having some almost a year old, i would say no.But celler them if you can after 3-4 months, but ive always kept mine 58-70 thruought the year. I dont recommend conditoning around 80 deg though, i think i may have had flavor issues with those temps.Your good with a few months of room temp then if you want decrese to celler temps. But like i said most of mine and a variety of styles, have been fine around 60.

 

[scoundrel]

Alcohol does not spoil

Spoil no, but sour yes. If by chance your beer was introduced to a wild yeast strain it could go sour but this unlikely unless you did it on purpose with Brettanomyces, but that's a whole different discussion. Additionally, if you don't have a good seal on the caps you could get the oxidized cardboard taste, already mentioned, or if fruit flies get to it, vinegar.

If you want to save it for years you can dip them in wax but the bottom line is you'll be lucky if the batch you brewed lasts 6 weeks.

This is just my opinion. If I had to do it all over again, if you want to age beer, I would say ditch bottles (for now) and focus on a kegging system. Think of it this way, you'll clean one bottle (keg) instead of 54 and you can build a beer cellar. I have 8 kegs in my basement, perfectly carbed and some are well over a year old. My barley wine just hit 2 years and tastes great. It's flexible and you can build a big stash. Anyway, welcome and keep it up! Brewing is addicting.

 

[jonmohno]

6 weeks= wrong. Not from my experinece and only a year.Ive had a pumpkin get awesome after 6 months,and not one beer out of many styles get noticably worse, i havnt dry hoppedn much but im shure those lose edge but even my ipa's and pale ales are consistently currently good.
Ive onlly had one beer sour and it was a gruit ale with healthfood store bought yarrow, i think i bittered too much with this dry herb and got a very tart lemon flavor,but very summery and quenching, just tart and puckering, other than that no sour and nothing bad and most of my beers have tasted better over a few months. Even this one is starting to lose its lemony tartness and get a little mellower, ill hang on to it another year to see what happens.
A batch lastin 6 weeks is simply untrue, and if i were scoundrel i would question my brewing habits. I dont even consider my beers at there peek until about 5-8 weeks bottled. Maybe more.

 

[scoundrel]

6 weeks= wrong. Not from my experinece and only a year.Ive had a pumpkin get awesome after 6 months,and not one beer out of many styles get noticably worse, i havnt dry hoppedn much but im shure those lose edge but even my ipa's and pale ales are consistently currently good.
Ive onlly had one beer sour and it was a gruit ale with healthfood store bought yarrow, i think i bittered too much with this dry herb and got a very tart lemon flavor,but very summery and quenching, just tart and puckering, other than that no sour and nothing bad and most of my beers have tasted better over a few months. Even this one is starting to lose its lemony tartness and get a little mellower, ill hang on to it another year to see what happens.
A batch lastin 6 weeks is simply untrue, and if i were scoundrel i would question my brewing habits. I dont even consider my beers at there peek until about 5-8 weeks bottled. Maybe more.

You misunderstood. I meant that as a beginner your beer will only last 6 weeks BECAUSE YOU DRINK IT! But I guess you saw an opportunity to show how "awesome" a brewer you are and $h!T on someone else's brewing habits. Tact=None. Gotta love the know-it-all.

 

[Glongo]

You misunderstood. I meant that as a beginner your beer will only last 6 weeks BECAUSE YOU DRINK IT! But I guess you saw an opportunity to show how "awesome" a brewer you are and $h!T on someone else's brewing habits. Tact=None. Gotta love the know-it-all.

Scoundrel you made me LMFAO= laugh my ****ing ass off!!!!



And then We.......Brew On!! :rockin:

 

[jonmohno]

You misunderstood. I meant that as a beginner your beer will only last 6 weeks BECAUSE YOU DRINK IT! But I guess you saw an opportunity to show how "awesome" a brewer you are and $h!T on someone else's brewing habits. Tact=None. Gotta love the know-it-all.

tact?

 

[jonmohno]

You misunderstood. I meant that as a beginner your beer will only last 6 weeks BECAUSE YOU DRINK IT! But I guess you saw an opportunity to show how "awesome" a brewer you are and $h!T on someone else's brewing habits. Tact=None. Gotta love the know-it-all.

Easy there, just a misunderstand then,Im not an awsome brewer but thanks anyway and how you know that i will never know.Since the discussion was about "how long the beer will last" most normal people would assume this was where you were getting at, Im not here to have a tact to prove people wrong but maybe you should consider being a little more thourough with what you mean. No one can read your mind. So my bad for not reading your mind and knowing what you really meant Im a little for your bit of response But i do apologize for "thinking" you said beer was only good 6 weeks.--->"Bottem line is you will be lucky if your beer lasts 6 weeks" as quoted as your reply.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

All beers reach a point where they start to degrade. Some beers will age for years, others will start to degrade after a few weeks.

 

[Yooper]

You misunderstood. I meant that as a beginner your beer will only last 6 weeks BECAUSE YOU DRINK IT! But I guess you saw an opportunity to show how "awesome" a brewer you are and $h!T on someone else's brewing habits. Tact=None. Gotta love the know-it-all.

Easy there, just a misunderstand then,Im not an awsome brewer but thanks anyway and how you know that i will never know.Since the discussion was about "how long the beer will last" most normal people would assume this was where you were getting at, Im not here to have a tact to prove people wrong but maybe you should consider being a little more thourough with what you mean. No one can read your mind. So my bad for not reading your mind and knowing what you really meant Im a little for your bit of response But i do apologize for "thinking" you said beer was only good 6 weeks."Bottem line is you will be lucky if your beer lasts 6 weeks" as quoted as your reply.

Whoa, guys, settle down. RDWHAHB and all that. No need to get your knickers all bound up. It's beer. It's all good. Chill and go have a beer.

 

[scoundrel]

Ya. Happy brewing. I'm gonna take the high road here. Welcome Glongo. I hope my info was helpful. Please share your experiences so we all can learn from them.

 

[Glongo]

Ya. Happy brewing. I'm gonna take the high road here. Welcome Glongo. I hope my info was helpful. Please share your experiences so we all can learn from them.

Scoundrel and Yooper you have given me some great advise and I thank you! My second batch came out twice as good as the first thanks to your input. The first batch ever was a nut brown ale and was pretty good. The second batch that just went into the bottle was a XX stout and it taste twice as good as the first batch. Your tips have greatly increased my quality and for that I have no words other than THANK YOU! I look foward to sharing my experiences with you and learning from yours. My next batch going into the fermenter wednsday is an amber ale. A few of my friends enjoyed my first to batches but one friend isnt a fan of the dark ales so I decided to suprise him with a lighter batch just for him. Any tips on how to keep the bitterness down. Should I use less hops or a less acidic type?

FYI: did anyone know that while learning how to brew I found out that the first brewed beer came out in 10,000 B.C and the beering process was being used way before the wining process.


SO then we........ BREW ON!! :rockin:

 

[scoundrel]

Any tips on how to keep the bitterness down. Should I use less hops or a less acidic type?

Applications like Beersmith anf the iPhone app Brewpal can help with determining bitterness. You can also look at the BJCP style guide http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style10.php#1b and use an online calculator like this to determine a hop schedule http://www.brewersfriend.com/ibu-calculator/

 

[BeerChef17]

Any tips on how to keep the bitterness down. Should I use less hops or a less acidic type?

Either or will work fine for your bittering hops, but you can leave your aroma hops alone as they wont contribute any countermen amount of IBUs.

My first brew was an BB Amber and turned out great. I will say for certain the beer was best after 7 weeks in the bottle - the change was actually quite extraordinary between the 3 week and 7 week marker. So if you can hold on to some of it for awhile you'll never want it to be gone - saving my last bottle for turkey day lol.

 

[scoundrel]

Either or will work fine for your bittering hops, but you can leave your aroma hops alone as they wont contribute any countermen amount of IBUs.

All hops can contribute to bitterness. The amount of alpha acids primarily determine bitterness. For example, if you had 1oz 16% AA Warrior at 60 min, you could use 2oz 8% AA Amarillo for the same IBU's, even though Amarillo is primarily an aroma hop. To determine the harshness, you would look at the cohumulone level. The lower the level, the cleaner the bitterness.

 

[Hatchbrew]

Yes it can. it can become bad or it can go from un-noticably bad to terrifying awful.

Clean your ****, be vigilant. Dumping a whole batch of beer due to some stupid thing is upseting. I took a picture of my face when I was dumping a batch from bottles to remember and never make mistakes again.

 

[passedpawn]

I took a picture of my face when I was dumping a batch from bottles to remember and never make mistakes again.

Please post. That's a funny story in itself!

 

[edmanster]

All beers reach a point where they start to degrade.

yup

Some beers will age for years,

yup, must be a belgian, sour or lambic here

others will start to degrade after a few weeks.

yup, must be an apa or ipa here...lol

 

[scoundrel]

yup, must be a belgian, sour or lambic here

or Strong Ale, Barleywine, Imperial Stout, Scotch Ale, 90 Schilling

 

[edmanster]

or Strong Ale, Barleywine, Imperial Stout, Scotch Ale, 90 Schilling

I'm surprised it took so long for someone to add to the lists...

 

[scoundrel]

I'm surprised it took so long for someone to add to the lists...

me too! cheers my friend!