How long can keep?

[mtk6006]

I have heard stories of contractors finding beer in walls and drinking it after 20 plus years! If varibles are correct how long can you keep a home brew? I want to put together a "special stock" for special occasions Thinking of keeping a 12 pack of everything i brew if its any good for rainy days etc. . . . I mean theres gotta be a cut off limit right? If it makes the PASSHHHHHH sound still good? I read few hours ago a fella drank a barley wine after 15 years. Well how far would you take it and whats best way to store it? and temp? etc. . .

 

[tre9er]

Id like to know this too. We all talk about conditioning for long periods (8 months+ on some stouts, etc) but how long is too long? I assume it also varies by style?

 

[doktorhook]

Several months for sure upwards of a year in most cases I would think but a barley wine is a different animal. A strong barley wine could have 15% ABV or more. It may easily last several years. Most homebrew I would think should be tossed out after a year & half if even that but I don't know for sure.

 

[BigPoppa502]

I asked the same question in another thread today. I ran across some information that was talking about the eventual breakdown of the oils causing skunky beer. It was saying that this will happen eventually to all beers. The x factors were light exposure, oxygenation, temp, and time. I was left with the impression that it's not a perfect science and to use your judgement and palate.... But who wants to sit on a beer for six years anyway. It's for drinking!

 

[unionrdr]

Well,my Buckeye Burton ale got bottled on 11/13/11 @ 6.8%ABV & I have 4 bottles left in the fridge. The carbonation is getting lighter,even for 2.0 volumes. But the head is still very good. Flavor still has some hop bite counterpointing the malty sweetness.
I also had my Whiskely ale (based on a dark ale recipe) that took 9 weeks,& 6 days to be ready for it's 2 week fridge time.
In my experience it's the gravity as well as the darkness of the malts used that govern how long the conditioning time will be. The Whiskely ale was a mid gravity,but the dark malts,oak,& bourbon all needed some time to mingle. So that must also be taken into concideration. Not mearly gravity alone.

 

[Balto]

Check Revy's post!

We tried 48 year old beer today

 

[copyright1997]

Thinking of keeping a 12 pack of everything i brew if its any good for rainy days etc. . . .

Good luck with that. I've done 14-15 (losing track) batches since July and have at most 3 bottles left from batches I really liked. Now, there were two batches which were more so-so, and I have more of these). One thing about home brew is you will find yourself drinking more.