How long will bottled beer keep

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Wolf616

New Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2015
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Hi all. I brewed my first beer back in March (a stout) and bottled it towards the end of the month. I let it age for a good 6 weeks before trying it (more self-control than I'd ever displayed in my life previously!) and when I first cracked it open it was pretty tasty. Another few weeks on and it was even better. For various reasons I had about 15 bottles left that I've not got around to now. One or two that I've cracked open recently have an ever so slightly sour taste to them. Is this possibly due to how long they've 'aged' for or is it just one or two bottles that are 'off'? The various bottles have been of varying quality due to a complete lack of precision when adding sugar for priming.
 
I've seen stories about people finding homebrews that were made like 20years ago and when cracking them open have tasted good, I'm new to brewing myself but from the littke research I've done that's the best I can offer
 
I still have a few bottles of my first brew from 2012 lying around. And some from the last batch I bottled in 2013. They lose a bit of the hop character, but still okay.

It's possible that you have something funny going on too, though.
 
Depends on how you stored them. Ive got a few lying around from last year that are getting better with age, a stout and a 9% belgian style. Possible that there might have been a bug get in and now showing its head. Could be a few factors. Finish drinking them and refill if theyre not tasting too sour
 
I have a 3.5 year old RIS that still has not shown signs of oxidation. 12% and black as a cave at night. Only 2 bottles left :(

Usually see some signs of oxidation for most beers between 1 and 2.5 years, depending on recipe and alcohol %. This assumes you were careful during fermentation, racking, and it was stored appropriately.

Oxidized beer taste is very much like wet cardboard. Not that you've ever tasted it before, but you'll know it when you find it. Sour taste might mean you have wild yeast or bacteria present, though in small amounts. Review your sanitation routine to look for any gaps.
 
Well taken care of (dark space, relatively cool constant temperatures), oxygen absorbing caps, very low to no aeration during bottling, low amount of yeast/trub sediment in the bottles, well handled/treated beer prior to fermentation, they will "last" a long time.

Higher alcohol brews will obviously have a longer shelf life due to the preservative qualities of alcohol. Lower abv beers will have a harder time with extended storage though. I will brew lower ABV batches just so I have stuff to drink at all times, then brew a couple monster batches (9% and up) to store creating a sort of leap frog effect.

Part of the problem of truly measuring how long a batch is "good" for is not drinking the really good beers. Bottle up a barleywine that turns out fantastic at 1 year, its tough not to start drinking it cause its so delicious. I have a couple bottles of a dry stout thats almost 2 1/2 years old thats holding up well but that was probably a fluke more than it was any particular amount of skill.

3-4 years seems to be the generally accepted max for really massive beers. I'd bet a well treated eisbock close to 20% abv would probably keep going strong longer than that. Though I'd be interested in trying someones barleywine/old ale/RIS thats more than 5 years old to see if there really is a cut off point where it just plain tastes like cardboard.
 
I am still drinking beer I made in 2012, just finished the last bottle of an amber ale last week. I still have a bottles from a couple of stout recipes and a biscuit and honey that is tasting really good now from early 2013.
 
One or two that I've cracked open recently have an ever so slightly sour taste to them. Is this possibly due to how long they've 'aged' for or is it just one or two bottles that are 'off'


Honestly, all of my stouts have a slightly sour taste. I would think that's because of the roasted barley and dark malts that add acidic flavour if overused in a recipe.
 
Back
Top