How long will bottled homebrew keep?
- Thread starter badmajon
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The reason why I ask is because I was thinking of making a sort of "beer vault" piece of furniture to store the bottles that won't fit in the beer fridge... then I thought, hey, beer isn't wine, and maybe it wouldn't keep too well in a room temperature cabinet. I wouldn't want to build a nice oak highboy type thing with slots for beer inside (like the things they have for wine, but with smaller sized nooks for beer bottles) and then realise the whole thing was an exercise in stupidity.
ChshreCat
Well-Known Member
Well, first, you probably don't want to store your homebrew on it's side like you would wine. The sediment would settle along the side, then it would get disturbed when you set it upright to open the bottle.
As for lifespan... it really depends on the beer. Hop aroma and flavor tend to fall off over time, so a nice hoppy IPA isn't going to age very well long term while something like a stout or porter will handle it more gracefully. Higher alcohol beers tend to benefit from aging more than lower alcohol beers. Many barleywines aren't even worth thinking about until they're approaching a year old.
Temperature... many beers need some time to bottle condition before they reach their prime. Conditioning at warmer temps (not hot, but not in the fridge either) makes the process go faster. Once a beer has peaked, refrigerating it will help slow the process.
As for lifespan... it really depends on the beer. Hop aroma and flavor tend to fall off over time, so a nice hoppy IPA isn't going to age very well long term while something like a stout or porter will handle it more gracefully. Higher alcohol beers tend to benefit from aging more than lower alcohol beers. Many barleywines aren't even worth thinking about until they're approaching a year old.
Temperature... many beers need some time to bottle condition before they reach their prime. Conditioning at warmer temps (not hot, but not in the fridge either) makes the process go faster. Once a beer has peaked, refrigerating it will help slow the process.
wilceaser
Well-Known Member
Consitant temps are key in keeping beer for extened time, the cooler the better.
As far as how long will homebrew last? It comes down to how good your sanitation and bottling practices are. The better your sanitation the better chance you have of you beer keeping for a longer period. As CC pointed out recipe and style also have a lot to do on how beer ages.
As far as how long will homebrew last? It comes down to how good your sanitation and bottling practices are. The better your sanitation the better chance you have of you beer keeping for a longer period. As CC pointed out recipe and style also have a lot to do on how beer ages.
It really depends on the gravity of the beer, and how it was stored.
In the Dec 07 Zymurgy Charlie Papazian reviewed bottles of homebrew going back to the first AHC competition that he had stored, and none of them went bad, some had not held up but most of them he felt were awesome...We're talking over 20 years worth of beers.
This is a great thread about one of our guys tasting 4-5 years of his stored brew.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/revisiting-my-classics-160672/
Beer's like wine, a lot of them improve with age....That's why stone has "vertical epic" with vintage, and people have vertical tasting parties
I made a beer that won't even be opened before 5 years go by on Sunday. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/he...emorial-5-year-aged-barleywine-recipe-195096/
It's really not a matter of "beer going bad," beer rarely goes "bad" it just may lose some of it's originaly character and it may chance....but that is not always for the worse.
In the Dec 07 Zymurgy Charlie Papazian reviewed bottles of homebrew going back to the first AHC competition that he had stored, and none of them went bad, some had not held up but most of them he felt were awesome...We're talking over 20 years worth of beers.
This is a great thread about one of our guys tasting 4-5 years of his stored brew.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/revisiting-my-classics-160672/
Beer's like wine, a lot of them improve with age....That's why stone has "vertical epic" with vintage, and people have vertical tasting parties
I made a beer that won't even be opened before 5 years go by on Sunday. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/he...emorial-5-year-aged-barleywine-recipe-195096/
It's really not a matter of "beer going bad," beer rarely goes "bad" it just may lose some of it's originaly character and it may chance....but that is not always for the worse.
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