Home Brew Shelf Life

[Dave77]

Assuming you have bottled your beer properly, stored it in a cool, dark place, in your experiences, what is the shelf life of a home brewed beer?

 

[mac_1103]

I predict that you will get a wide range of answers to this one. Different styles are going to behave differently, and different people are going to have differing definitions of "bottled your beer properly."

Personally, I have found that most of my brews have actually gotten better with time (up to a point of course). The obvious exception being the really hoppy ones. Caveat: I don't do lagers or hazies or NEIPAs and I do take a couple of extra oxygen-mitigating precautions with IPAs and DIPAs.

Anyway, I've rarely had a batch last longer than about 7 or 8 months, and none of those were left at ambient temperature for more than about 3 months (including primary fermentation and bottle conditioning). The 7 month old nut brown ale was much better than it was at 3 months. The 8 month old DIPA was definitely well past its prime.

 

[MaxStout]

Generally, the bigger, higher alcohol beers will last longer. Imperial stouts, barleywines, some of the big Belgians. Some of those styles actually improve with age.

For lower ABV beers (and hoppy beers), the shelf life is much shorter. I wait until the bottles are fully carbed then put them ALL in the fridge. That buys some time as the cold fridge slows down oxidation effects.

 

[Dave77]

For a generic pale ale recipe for instance, what would you think is 'best case scenario' and 'worst case scenario'?

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

For a generic pale ale recipe for instance, what would you think is 'best case scenario' and 'worst case scenario'?

I think it will be drinkable for at least a year stored properly, though it won’t pack all the goodness of when it was fresh.

 

[RM-MN]

Generic pale ales like I make with no special care for oxygen during bottling and kept at room temp will start to lose the aroma at about 2 months and it will be mostly gone in 3 months. No problem, make smaller batches.

 

[RM-MN]

The longest I have kept a beer at room temp in bottles was 2 years for a stout. It was still improving at that point but....to tell if it was improving I had to sample and......yes, I drank them all.

 

[user 338926]

I just got back into Brewing after a six-year hiatus. I had beer at my old house still in the basement. Some of those brews, lagers, stout and and Imperial IPA varied from 8 to 10 years old. The ones bottled with standard caps were all fantastic. Using the oxygen removing caps, those tended to be unable to hold pressure and were sort of flat, not completely. But not great. The ipa, which happens to be one I won a contest with, was absolutely out of this world. I wish I had more of that. LOL

 

[jambop]

Assuming you have bottled your beer properly, stored it in a cool, dark place, in your experiences, what is the shelf life of a home brewed beer?

Depends on the beer type if it is a strong beer 6- 8 % and the sanitation was done correctly a year should be easy. If it is weak say 4.2% it should not be beyond expectation to get a year ... that does not mean of course that the taste will be the same as at one month old just that it should be perfectly drinkable

 

[hotbeer]

Taste might change as it gets older. Sometimes for the better up to a point. So I always try to save a few to see what they do over the course of three to four months. None that have made it that long without being drank are bad. But they aren't the same as when at their peak. Which depending on the beer might be 2 weeks or two months after bottling.

This is really something that will depend on what you like and don't like as well as what type of beer and your methods.

It's unlikely to turn toxic if that's your ultimate worry.

 

[jdauria]

BrewTan B is a product out there that is sold for commercial breweries to extend shelf life of their products. After dabbling in low oxygen brewing I found it to also be great at dropping wort crystal clear post chilling on brew day and after cold crashing in fermenter. It's a tannic acid that binds to proteins and drops them out. If you are that worried about shelf life, you could always use this on brew day. For a 5 gallon batch I use around a gram in mash and, 3/4 of a gram at 15 minutes left in boil. Note that it needs to be added 5 minutes before adding whirlfloc or Irish moss. Not a lot of places sell it, but I buy online at Williams Brewing.

 

[jsphlynch]

For a generic pale ale recipe for instance, what would you think is 'best case scenario' and 'worst case scenario'?

Sierra Nevada recommends 150 days with optimal storage conditions for their Pale Ale, so I think that should be taken as the best case scenario since they'll have pretty tight control over bottling conditions.
https://sierranevada.com/faq/what-is-the-shelf-life-of-sierra-nevada-beer/
But really it comes down to what is acceptable to you. I have to imagine that Sierra Nevada makes that recommendation while coming from a position of really high quality standards. Maybe at 6 months there's sufficient loss of flavor to no longer hit the thresholds for acceptable for Sierra Nevada and is no longer quite the same as when it was really fresh, but it could still be quite enjoyable to you.

 

[passedpawn]

I held onto a stout for 24 years (not a homebrew), then drank it. Tasted like soy sauce. So for homebrew, less than 24 years.

 

[passedpawn]

BrewTan B is a product out there that is sold for commercial breweries to extend shelf life of their products. After dabbling in low oxygen brewing I found it to also be great at dropping wort crystal clear post chilling on brew day and after cold crashing in fermenter. It's a tannic acid that binds to proteins and drops them out. If you are that worried about shelf life, you could always use this on brew day. For a 5 gallon batch I use around a gram in mash and, 3/4 of a gram at 15 minutes left in boil. Note that it needs to be added 5 minutes before adding whirlfloc or Irish moss. Not a lot of places sell it, but I buy online at Williams Brewing.

what is your process for using Brewtan B? I've got some but never used it. [edit] nevermind, I read the rest of your post. oops.

 

[cmac62]

I have heard that beer aging happens a lot quicker the higher the temp above 50-55 (beer/wine cellar temps). So the plusses and minuses happen quicker. Hope this helps.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I have heard that beer aging happens a lot quicker the higher the temp above 50-55

From a HBT topic back in Feb 2023, a couple of "links to links to PDFs" to read more about it:

• /1/
• /2/

tl;dr?

 

[InspectorJon]

Assuming you have bottled your beer properly, stored it in a cool, dark place, in your experiences, what is the shelf life of a home brewed beer?

I can’t believe nobody has said “until it is gone“.

 

[T Murph]

I really have no experience with old beers except a one year barley wine a few years back. I simply can't keep them around very long. So @InspectorJon nailed it. I do have one 1994 Sam Adam's Triple Bock that is approaching 30 yrs old. I bought a case in 1994 and drank all but one over the years. The last time I had one was about 10 yrs ago and as everyone before it they seemed to get better with age. Next year I plan on drinking the last one, it will be 30 yrs old. But I do indeed age meads. And they always improve with age. I have three now that are over 2 yrs old and they keep getting better, while they last.

 

[passedpawn]

I really have no experience with old beers except a one year barley wine a few years back. I simply can't keep them around very long. So @InspectorJon nailed it. I do have one 1994 Sam Adam's Triple Bock that is approaching 30 yrs old. I bought a case in 1994 and drank all but one over the years. The last time I had one was about 10 yrs ago and as everyone before it they seemed to get better with age. Next year I plan on drinking the last one, it will be 30 yrs old. But I do indeed age meads. And they always improve with age. I have three now that are over 2 yrs old and they keep getting better, while they last.

that's interesting. I was serious above about that stout tasting like soy sauce. It was also totally without carbonation, which means it was leaking gas, in both directions. oxidized.
it seems that your beers might have better containment somehow. are they still carbonated when you open them? bottles or cans?

 

[T Murph]

@passedpawn yes the were still carbonated although only slightly. But being a triple bock they weren't highly carbonated to begin with. I expect this last one to be fairly flat.

 

[bellhp]

I'm worse case scenario , I don't give any thought to minimizing oxygen , keeping the bottled beer in the fridge etc . My beers start to go downhill at 3 months on average ( I just put 'em in the spare room in the house at room temp 72 ish)... got a couple bottles of wee heavy thats 6 months old but even that is past it's prime. I had some of that Sam Adams back in the day ... I should have drank it young too

 

[mac_1103]

I was serious above about that stout tasting like soy sauce. It was also totally without carbonation, which means it was leaking gas, in both directions. oxidized.

I opened a four year old commercial bourbon barrel aged stout a couple of months ago that was completely flat but still delicious which struck me as a little weird.

 

[Closet Fermenter]

Not really qualified to help with this one. Since I started kegging, and then reducing oxygen exposure, my beers have greatly improved. Once tapped, they don’t get much past a month old. I did age a keg of German Black beer for several months once, and it turned out really good.

 

[user 338926]

that's interesting. I was serious above about that stout tasting like soy sauce. It was also totally without carbonation, which means it was leaking gas, in both directions. oxidized.
it seems that your beers might have better containment somehow. are they still carbonated when you open them? bottles or cans?

I stored beers in my basement in my previous house, and some of those were bottled in 2013/2014. The ones using those "Oxygen Removing"' caps, were pretty much dumpers. Not quite like yours, they were not ruined. But, carb level was low, and they were not like new. All the bottles that used the normal caps (which are heavier btw) all sealed perfectly and tasted as good as they did in 13/14, if not better.

 

[user 338926]

Not really qualified to help with this one. Since I started kegging, and then reducing oxygen exposure, my beers have greatly improved. Once tapped, they don’t get much past a month old. I did age a keg of German Black beer for several months once, and it turned out really good.

I've been kegging for ages now too. But I bottle from kegs in order to put beers away if I want to store them long term and use the kegs for the stuff I'm more likely to serve immediately. It's pretty common for me to bottle stouts and porters I want to age.

 

[redrocker652002]

I just got back into Brewing after a six-year hiatus. I had beer at my old house still in the basement. Some of those brews, lagers, stout and and Imperial IPA varied from 8 to 10 years old. The ones bottled with standard caps were all fantastic. Using the oxygen removing caps, those tended to be unable to hold pressure and were sort of flat, not completely. But not great. The ipa, which happens to be one I won a contest with, was absolutely out of this world. I wish I had more of that. LOL

Wait, so an IPA that was bottled 10 years ago was still good? Damn, I need to find out about that. LOL

 

[user 338926]

Wait, so an IPA that was bottled 10 years ago was still good? Damn, I need to find out about that. LOL

Why would that be such a shock?

 

[redrocker652002]

Why would that be such a shock?

I have read many post that hoppy beers like IPA's don't have much of a shelf life at all, so that kinda surprised me. But hey, that's good to know.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I have read many post that hoppy beers like IPA's don't have much of a shelf life at all

Different decades, different recipes, different brew day processes, different bottling techniques, ...

 

[bellhp]

correct me if I'm wrong ( don't think I am) but wasn't the whole point of IPA's ( before Americans went full ******) shelf life?