how long does beer last in a carboy

[sashurlow]

I brew large amounts of cider once a year and let it age, but that is cider. Could I do something similar with beer and brew two batches at once and let one sit for 2-4 months in a carboy before transferring to my keg?
Some stats... My keg has one line for cider and one line for beer and my cider gets drank possibly more than my beer, so yes... it WILL take me 2-4 months to drink 5 gallons of beer.
Similarly... how long does beer last in a bottle?
I'm doing two batches right now. A honey wheat for the keg and pumpkin rye for bottles.
Thanks,

 

[hercher]

There's no easy answer to this. It depends on the beer, generally. Higher alcohol beers will age better. A honey wheat you probably want to drink younger and fresher.

 

[masonsjax]

4 months is nothing. Hops will fade with time, especially aroma, but otherwise you should be fine with most styles. If you really want to age some beer, get into brewing sour styles. A couple of years is typical for many sours.

 

[Cyclman]

As long as the beer style is age friendly, it can be aged in carboy. I have aged RIS and Quads for a year plus. Just make sure there isn't tons of headspace, and I always flush a carboy with CO2 before transferring into secondary.

 

[corbmonster]

As the others have hinted at, it really depends on the style. Some beers are meant to consumed fairly fresh like a wheat beer, or an IPA. Some beers like stouts might need 4-6 months. Friends in my brew club aged some sours for a year in a keg. But to answer you question, I think as far as how long "can" you age, as long as the carboy is not compromised. Glass carboys are not really oxygen permeable. The PET are not supposed to be (which is what I use with good results). But realistically, beer brewers need the carboy for other things so our beers end up getting transferred to bottles or kegs. Which is probably for the best since they have better seals, an are just better for long term storage as opposed to a rubber stopper just chilling in the carboy opening.

 

[Kent88]

So with what everyone is saying, what styles of beer do you normally make? Do you have the next couple planned out, and if so what are they? Are there some stronger styles that you want to make but haven't gotten around to? We can probably let you know how well they might age.

 

[corbmonster]

So with what everyone is saying, what styles of beer do you normally make? Do you have the next couple planned out, and if so what are they? Are there some stronger styles that you want to make but haven't gotten around to? We can probably let you know how well they might age.

I'm still fairly new to brewing. I've been doing this for almost a year, and I only do extracts. So I'm sure someone can give better insight than me. But I have / and am brewing as much as I can for the experience, and love of beer. I just bottled a high gravity stout because I knew it would need a long time to age in bottles. I'm timing it so it will be ready for the winter time. I have a hef finishing up fermenting right now to drink asap because it doesn't need much time after carbing in a keg. I try to plan ahead for season a little bit, but it isn't a huge priority. After the hef is force carbed, I'm going to give it a few days to mellow out and bottle. I was going to make a pumkin beer and give it a few weeks to mellow for the end of Oct.

 

[corbmonster]

If you want to be able to plan ahead for seasonal beers, Northern Brewer has a Google calendar. I already used google calendar prolifically to schedule things and send me automate reminders. So I just added their calendar to mine so I always see it.

 

[corbmonster]

Sorry, I forgot to include the link http://www.northernbrewer.com/learn/brewing-calendar/

 

[RM-MN]

I'm still fairly new to brewing. I've been doing this for almost a year, and I only do extracts. So I'm sure someone can give better insight than me. But I have / and am brewing as much as I can for the experience, and love of beer. I just bottled a high gravity stout because I knew it would need a long time to age in bottles. I'm timing it so it will be ready for the winter time. I have a hef finishing up fermenting right now to drink asap because it doesn't need much time after carbing in a keg. I try to plan ahead for season a little bit, but it isn't a huge priority. After the hef is force carbed, I'm going to give it a few days to mellow out and bottle. I was going to make a pumkin beer and give it a few weeks to mellow for the end of Oct.

Ready for the winter time of which year? I did a stout with a gravity of about 1.060 and finished the last bottle at about the end of year 2 and I thought that was the best bottle.

 

[corbmonster]

Ready for the winter time of which year? I did a stout with a gravity of about 1.060 and finished the last bottle at about the end of year 2 and I thought that was the best bottle.

Funny you mention this. I have one bottle of a bourbon barrel porter from last year. It was the first beer I had ever made. A 1 gallon extract. I thought it tasted bad. Fermentation was a bit on the warm side. I left the stirring spoon in the fermenter lol. Anyways, I opened up a bottle a couple months ago and it was so good! So yes, I'll probably hold onto some of this batch I just made and not drink it all this winter.