Realistic shelf life of a IPA

[MHBT]

I know IPA's are better fresh but realistically if you were to keg your IPA and keep oxygen exposure to a minimum and keep the beer very cold say 32-33 F how long would it take for the hop flavors and aromas drop out?

 

[CervezaMaLa]

It all depends on the beer, of course. The bitterness profile will last for a long time. Aroma will start falling off immediately, but perceivable after 2-3 weeks in my experience.

 

[day_trippr]

It's all about the O2.
This was the last pour of a 10g batch of Tree House Julius clone I had brewed the first week of September. This was on Jan 3.

While my cold side O2 avoidance was already elaborate, for that batch I applied all the mechanical O2 avoidance techniques on the hot side I could muster.
And it really paid off. This pour was just as hop-heady and juicy and had all the color of the first pour.

This was far and away the best "shelf life" for any IPA I've done. I'm totally sold on HSA avoidance...

Cheers!

 

[Zamial]

This is dependent on a couple of things. (Since you probably do not have a canner I will assume bottles and crown caps. Kegs that are pressure transferred and filled will last longer than any bottles.

At the brewery, for bottles, we use a machine but the concept is the same at home, sanitize, fill and cap. Our product has a 60 day shelf life but this can be shortened or extended based off conditions. Since we don't do all these things or do not have absolute control over teh product once it leaves we have found 60 days to be the max we could go. We have and continue to do closely monitored tastings comparing old and new date codes of all our beers but the IPA shows it's age fast.


1. Is the IPA bottle conditioned? Bottle conditioning will extend shelf life. How much I can't say but it is known that this will extend shelf life. For reference we do NOT bottle condition.

2. What type of crown you use. Some crowns actually eat aroma and then flavor. Some caps are better at not allowing oxygen in as others. I have some of my 1st batch of homebrew prob close to 10 years old now. It was bottle conditioned AND I dipped the crowns in sealing wax. While It was a pale ale folks have been surprised at how much hop flavor is present and how drinkable it is.(That was 5 years ago.)

3. How is it stored? Storing beer, especially IPA warm (at room temp) is INFURIATING to me. In our tests over 60 days the beer that was warm stored one week is far superior to the beer stored 2 weeks, more than 2 weeks shortens the shelf life dramatically.

I could go on and on but for now this should give you some decent info.

 

[Granite03]

I know IPA's are better fresh but realistically if you were to keg your IPA and keep oxygen exposure to a minimum and keep the beer very cold say 32-33 F how long would it take for the hop flavors and aromas drop out?

My IPAs are best after aging 4-6 weeks and are good through 3 months as that is the longest they last. They definitely need to sit a few weeks as they tend to just blossom if I’m patient enough.

 

[gunhaus]

Last night I drank a couple of Two Hearted - Their bottle says six month shelf life. One of the bottles I am looking at now has a pkg date of 12/04/17, the other say 9/03/2017 (I THINK - it is definitely 9, but it is a little scuffed, could be an 08 in the center - but close enough) So basically about 4-1/2 months old. I cannot say i really noticed any difference between the newer one and the one that had been hiding behind the keg. I have never had one of my homebrews last that long so i cannot comment there.

 

[aprichman]

I've never heard of

This is dependent on a couple of things. (Since you probably do not have a canner I will assume bottles and crown caps. Kegs that are pressure transferred and filled will last longer than any bottles.

At the brewery, for bottles, we use a machine but the concept is the same at home, sanitize, fill and cap. Our product has a 60 day shelf life but this can be shortened or extended based off conditions. Since we don't do all these things or do not have absolute control over teh product once it leaves we have found 60 days to be the max we could go. We have and continue to do closely monitored tastings comparing old and new date codes of all our beers but the IPA shows it's age fast.


1. Is the IPA bottle conditioned? Bottle conditioning will extend shelf life. How much I can't say but it is known that this will extend shelf life. For reference we do NOT bottle condition.

2. What type of crown you use. Some crowns actually eat aroma and then flavor. Some caps are better at not allowing oxygen in as others. I have some of my 1st batch of homebrew prob close to 10 years old now. It was bottle conditioned AND I dipped the crowns in sealing wax. While It was a pale ale folks have been surprised at how much hop flavor is present and how drinkable it is.(That was 5 years ago.)

3. How is it stored? Storing beer, especially IPA warm (at room temp) is INFURIATING to me. In our tests over 60 days the beer that was warm stored one week is far superior to the beer stored 2 weeks, more than 2 weeks shortens the shelf life dramatically.

I could go on and on but for now this should give you some decent info.

I've never heard of bottling extending shelf life, from personal experience I've observed the opposite. The aroma and flavor of my hop forward beers really started to shine when I switched to kegging.

 

[brewery_fixer]

I've never heard of


I've never heard of bottling extending shelf life, from personal experience I've observed the opposite. The aroma and flavor of my hop forward beers really started to shine when I switched to kegging.

He’s referring to bottle conditioning, and yes it can extend shelf life. This is done quite often in production breweries by dosing in a small amount of Yeast to the final product. This dosed Yeast will help scavenge out any remaining DO pickup in the product, thus increasing shelf life. DO pickup in product= shortened stability.

 

[MHBT]

He’s referring to bottle conditioning, and yes it can extend shelf life. This is done quite often in production breweries by dosing in a small amount of Yeast to the final product. This dosed Yeast will help scavenge out any remaining DO pickup in the product, thus increasing shelf life. DO pickup in product= shortened stability.

But how does bottle conditioning preserve hop flavor and aroma?

 

[aprichman]

He’s referring to bottle conditioning, and yes it can extend shelf life. This is done quite often in production breweries by dosing in a small amount of Yeast to the final product. This dosed Yeast will help scavenge out any remaining DO pickup in the product, thus increasing shelf life. DO pickup in product= shortened stability.

I think the physical agitation would outweigh any oxygen concerns if you're flushing the headspace of your keg. Additionally you will have to leave the bottles at room temp for 2 weeks to build carbonation whereas a keg you can begin cold storage immediately. I'm not talking about shelf life so much as retaining hop taste and aroma.

I can't think of any well known IPAs that bottle condition. Beers like Pliney and Heady Topper certainly do not and are considered world class examples of hop forward beers.

 

[brewery_fixer]

But how does bottle conditioning preserve hop flavor and aroma?

Excessive DO pickup will ruin Hop flavor and aroma, limit DO pickup and you’ll preserve that freshness. I feel as if this is what Yooper was eluding to also

 

[seangmacleod]

Excessive DO pickup will ruin Hop flavor and aroma, limit DO pickup and you’ll preserve that freshness. I feel as if this is what Yooper was eluding to also

As much as this may be true with regard to the oxygen issue...I have found bottle conditioning hoppy stuff to have an extra issue... it's not as simple as just changing this one variable.

I've bottle conditioned a good many hoppy ales (dozens...) and I swear that something happens during the extra fermentation in the bottle that changes hop aroma/flavour...and not for the better...

Just my 2 cents

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Ive stored IPAs in the back of my closet at room temp for 3 years and they were outstanding.

On the flip though, I worked at a brewery. There was a random Keg hidden in the back of the keg cooler storage that was found. It was one of their specialty IPAs. When they connected it to the keg rig in the taproom it was unrecognizable as an IPA. everyone tried to guess what beer it was but all were incorrect. Even the owner/brewmaster. There was absolutely no hop character left in this beer.

I think after they researched they found that it was from the very first batch of the specialty IPA “Chocolate Orange IPA” brewed years before.

 

[aprichman]

Ive stored IPAs in the back of my closet at room temp for 3 years and they were outstanding.

On the flip though, I worked at a brewery. There was a random Keg hidden in the back of the keg cooler storage that was found. It was one of their specialty IPAs. When they connected it to the keg rig in the taproom it was unrecognizable as an IPA. everyone tried to guess what beer it was but all were incorrect. Even the owner/brewmaster. There was absolutely no hop character left in this beer.

I think after they researched they found that it was from the very first batch of the specialty IPA “Chocolate Orange IPA” brewed years before.

I don't mean to sound rude but I am extremely skeptical that your three year old IPA stored at room temperature was "outstanding"

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

I don't mean to sound rude but I am extremely skeptical that your three year old IPA stored at room temperature was "outstanding"

I know. Amazing right? It was “Clown Shoes: Supa Hero”
And because of that happy accident, I am currently working on an experiment to test IPAs over time.

Since 2013 I have been purchasing the “Stone Enjoy By 4/20/“ 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and will get the 2018 this year.
I put one in the fridge, and put one in the closet at room temperature.

Hopefully this year I’ll actually do the side by side tasting with a group of friends.

I’ll be video taping it and putting it on YouTube.

 

[radwizard]

As a generalization, I would say I can do about 6 months on mine, and still have them tasting pretty good. They do taste the best right after being tapped, and the quality does slightly go down, but I would say they are still pretty damn good at 6 mo. I try and not leave them around that long, but my job often requires me to leave town for a few months.

I am kegging mine, but often shoot them into bottles I know I'll be leaving for a while.

I could never really brew a top notch IPA with bottle conditioning. If I was limited to that, I would be inclined to brew Belgian IPA's, or Farmhouse IPA's - and try to compromise my hop aroma loss with a little yeast character.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I can't think of any well known IPAs that bottle condition.

Worthington's White Shield is one, and I'm not sure about Marston's Old Empire but Pedigree is so it wouldn't surprise me if Old Empire is. Of course, to properly mature an IPA, it needs at least three months being bounced around a ship in the tropics - I know people who have kept a keg in their car to approximate that treatment. The whole point of an India Pale Ale was to make it robust enough to survive such treatment.

Obviously that's not true of all modern beers that carry the IPA name, it depends so much on the exact style. Malt-led beers need a couple of months to really come together, if bitterness features strongly then that takes a bit of time to for the raw edges to come off - but with the small-molecule aromas you're losing them from the start. So it just depends on where the balance of the beer lies - and on personal taste as well.

John Kimmich once drank the same batch of Heady Topper daily back in the days when it was only on draught and found for him it peaked at 10 weeks (ie 6 weeks after release), although there's a hint that nowadays his taste lies to something a bit younger; at the same time in that video he drinks a can that's been stored cold for 8-9 months and claims the taste has not deteriorated much although it''s clearly a lot darker. I've also seen somewhere that Vinnie prefers Pliny at 7 weeks.

OTOH, commercial breweries have access to sophisticated packaging equipment that allows very low levels of oxygen pickup, and it's hard (but not impossible) to replicate that at home. Cask/bottle conditioning is one trick to replicate that.

 

[jpakstis]

I can't think of any well known IPAs that bottle condition. Beers like Pliney and Heady Topper certainly do not and are considered world class examples of hop forward beers.

I think Maine Beer Co are bottle-conditioned.

 

[Steveruch]

Back in the early 1800s IPAs were hopped to high heaven, close to undrinkable, and then aged close to a year before being released. So, if you want a longer lasting IPA shoot for well over 150 IBUs. 150 being calculated and not necessarily the actual amount.

 

[aprichman]

I think Maine Beer Co are bottle-conditioned.

You're right, Maine Brewing Co. does bottle condition and makes some great hop forward beers. FWIW a lot of people have the same issues with the aroma and flavor falling off on older bottles from them, so I'm not sure DO is the only thing responsible for losing flavor and aroma.

 

[Calder]

Worthington's White Shield is one, and I'm not sure about Marston's Old Empire but Pedigree is so it wouldn't surprise me if Old Empire is.

I've never heard of 'Old Empire', but I have drunk my fair share of Pedigree, and it is not an IPA. I didn't think White Shield had been made for at least 35 years, and yes, I have had it. That was the beer you used to buy for the yeast (dregs) to use to brew homebrew back then.

Neither Pedigree or White Shield compare to the Hop-Bombs that are the subject of this thread.

Pedgree was my go-to beer in my younger days. Decent beer.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I didn't say Pedi was an IPA - but Old Empire is the Marstons IPA. My point was that Marstons gave up bottle-conditioning a while back but made a big deal of Pedigree being bottle-conditioned once more when they rebranded a while back, and while I don't know the status of Old Empire it may well have become bottle-conditioned at the same time, which would make it a bottle-conditioned IPA.

White Shield has been made pretty much continuously since 1830 or whenever it was, allthough in recent years it's been kicked around several different breweries. You don't want to harvest the yeast though, they don't condition with the production yeast these days (and I'm not sure how long it's been since they did).

You're the only person to mention "Hop-Bombs" - the OP merely asked about "IPA's", and my point was that it's hard to generalise because that phrase now covers so many different styles of beer, even if you just consider the US ones.

 

[schematix]

When I've practiced all the low oxygen techniques, both hot and cold side, I've enjoyed 95% of the original fresh hop flavor and aroma from a keg at 5 months old. It's insanely good at about 10 days.

Best is to never let wort touch air, and to naturally carbonate the beer in a keg. Bottling is going to be a losing battle with oxygen.

In comparison when using standard techniques the beer was blah by the time it was finished forced carbonating.

 

[MHBT]

I think Maine Beer Co are bottle-conditioned.

Funny you mentioned Maine brewing cause i'm about to brew a lunch clone but im on the wagon until i can cut some weight..that's why i made this thread..cause i want to brew the lunch clone and keep it in the kegerator but i wont be drinking it till i cut some of this blubber off and that might take a few weeks..only reason i need to brew it now and not later is i don't want the yeast i have to sit around and get lower viability and the ingredients i want to use before they get old..cheers

 

[murphyslaw]

I find that mine peak around 4 to 6 weeks after brewday, which is usually 2-4 weeks in the keg.