Six year old homebrew... not terrible

[danlad]

Found a couple of bottles of a batch from some 6 (I think) years ago that I gave my dad.

If that is what oxidation and autolysis taste like, not bad

So far as I can guess will have been a simplish pale ale, bit of crystal and brown sugar because most of them are...

Like a Fullers Vintage with a couple of years on it, but dryer. Somewhat sherry-ish, slightly cherry-ish.

What is your oldest accidental aged brew?

 

[atcsat]

45 days from bottling. No way I could make it to 6 years!

 

[TX_Brewing]

I have one that has been sitting since 1999..... On accident. Part of me wants to try it, part of me is scared of it!!

 

[bigplunkett]

Almost 2 year brown ale was bettervthen it was fresh not that it was bad.

 

[RM-MN]

I've purposely left a stouts and porters for 2 years or more for the flavor that the get to then. So smooth to drink then too. Pale ales lose the hop flavor much quicker so I try to have them gone within a few months.

 

[RM-MN]

Found a couple of bottles of a batch from some 6 (I think) years ago that I gave my dad.

If that is what oxidation and autolysis taste like, not bad

So far as I can guess will have been a simplish pale ale, bit of crystal and brown sugar because most of them are...

Like a Fullers Vintage with a couple of years on it, but dryer. Somewhat sherry-ish, slightly cherry-ish.

What is your oldest accidental aged brew?

If you mean oxidation as in the effects of oxygen on the beer, the small amount of air in the headspace would have reacted within a few days at most. If you mean oxidation as a chemist might, then there could be more but it would still be somewhat limited in the time it would take.

Yeast autolysis in the bottle would be a rare occurrence. It could happen but doesn't necessarily happen to every bottle. If it did, nobody would drink a properly aged barleywine.

 

[xCSx]

I have a few barleywines going on about 2 years now...

 

[RM-MN]

I have a few barleywines going on about 2 years now...

They should be getting close to ready to drink by now. Just give then another year or so.

 

[danlad]

I have one that has been sitting since 1999..... On accident. Part of me wants to try it, part of me is scared of it!!

Do it!

Do it!











Do it!

 

[homemaltster]

I have one that has been sitting since 1999..... On accident. Part of me wants to try it, part of me is scared of it!!

Does anyone actually know of somebody who's gotten sick from old beer?

 

[beergolf]

no you are not going to get sick from old beer. In fact some styles are better with some age on them. I just found an amber ale that was over three years old that I drank last night Any hop flavor has faded out but it was quite nice.

I have Several Belgians that are over 5 years old. They are very tasty.

In fact I just put several in the fridge to drink on Thanksgiving.

 

[Eisendrath]

this summer i stumbled on a few bottles of nut brown porter from 2004. That's 12 years. I put them in the fridge for a few hours. Popped and foamed when opened, (volcanoed) like they did back then. believe it or not, very drinkable.

 

[Dxpert]

There is nothing to get sick about unless bacteria got in your brew!

Malolactic fermentation is what danlad was prob referring to as to what happens in the aging process, stronger beers age better than light ones IMO, I had some brown ales from 2 years ago and they were a bit stronger as if they were barrel aged on a sherry cask. Not bad but not my cup of tea. I do have some barley wine aging for 3 years already, so waiting for that!

 

[Pakdoc]

Just tapped a 12 month old keg of Maple Bacon Coffee Porter as it was too sharp last year. Perfect this Christmas, mellowed nicely!

 

[XPLSV]

I just finished off the last of a keg of an English Barleywine that was brewed a bit over three years ago. It wasn't very good when I first tapped it and did not do well in a competition back then. But, 9 months later, it was wonderful. I have been putting it in and out of the kegerator, storing in the lower basement, the garage, etc. Certainly not caring for it in a proper manner. It took a silver medal last month at the ASH Fall Classic. I bottled the last of the keg as I needed space, so there are just a couple bottles left after sending three of them to the Big Beers, Belgiums, and Barleywine competition last week. I generally don't bottle much, but I did find a couple beers that are a few years old in the back of a closet recently and will have to try them and see how they have held up...will report back. I believe the pale and lower ABV beers will not age as well. I think, in general, aging will mellow fusel alcohol flavors, which are more likely to be encountered in high ABV brews. Hop flavors are certainly fleeting, so if those are a key factor in a beer, it won't be the same after even six months.

 

[grrickar]

A friend of mine brewed a very tasty raspberry ale that I really liked, and after 10 years (yes, years) he gave me his last 6 pack of the batch. I expected it to be lousy, but it was not bad at all. Even he was surprised...

 

[MaxStout]

I drank the last bottle of an imperial stout I brewed summer 2014. After almost 2-1/2 years, it tasted good, though it had a bit of cardboard flavor, due to oxidation.

 

[thezfunk]

I have some brew in minikegs and in bottles that are several years old...I was going to dump them but I guess I should try them!

 

[MikeSzwaya]

1994 Double Brown Ale. Haven't had the heart to open it. I don't know why.
It's probably strong enough to have survived but I'm sure it's got some oxidation and next to no hop character left.

 

[Haack]

Made a small batch of barley wine in 2002. Found 3 bottles tucked away in a corner last year. Drank one. Delicious. Saving other two for special occasions.

 

[JohntheKiwi]

Does anyone actually know of somebody who's gotten sick from old beer?

I drank a 1994 Sierra Nevada Summerfest in 2009. Still quite tasty. Gave me the squirts the next day though. I drank a 1980 Cartwright Brewing (Portland's first Microbrewery) beer last year. Tasted funky. Did not have side effects. I have a 1987 Celebration I am saving for it's 30th birthday next year. It's been cellared.

 

[BrewLew]

On a similar note, I had a container of liquid malt extract that I used
that had been in the refrigerator for more than 30 years.

It was a Munton & Faison Irish Lager and I was told by my local
home brew supply store that there was no way it was still good.

Turned out to be a very good batch of brew that I shared with
some fellow home brewers. After drinking the beer and getting
their responses, they were very surprised by when I shared the
facts of the 30 year old brew.

Just cause it's old doesn't make it bad.

brewlew

 

[ElmCityWobblyPops]

I have some that are nearly 3yrs old. Some from when I first got back into brewing. First one was a wheat beer, it is way over carbed now, but still tastes pretty good.

 

[rahernandez]

but very drinkable, had it kegged and stored in the garage (insulated garage) so it never got over 80 in the heat of summer.

Found a couple of bottles of a batch from some 6 (I think) years ago that I gave my dad.

If that is what oxidation and autolysis taste like, not bad

So far as I can guess will have been a simplish pale ale, bit of crystal and brown sugar because most of them are...

Like a Fullers Vintage with a couple of years on it, but dryer. Somewhat sherry-ish, slightly cherry-ish.

What is your oldest accidental aged brew?

 

[Roo_Dr]

2009, so 7 years old and counting - 10 long-necks of my RIS left from a total batch of 26 still sitting in the cellar, and one in the fridge chilling down for sunday evening.

As it's matured it has married together well, a long way from the 3 pronged attack of nose, flavour, alcohol, to a more harmonious beer.

 

[cowhide]

i began brewing back in the early 1980s. I don't think there was even a brew shop in my area other than a guy who sold stuff out of his house. I was about to quit because of the bottle washing and the guy convinced me to buy a 3 keg setup. I kept brewing for a little while after I got married in 87. When I started brewing again about 3 years ago I dug the old kegs out of the back of the garage and 1 was full. I drank about a gallon of it. It was pretty bad, not infected but just old funky tasting. My life flashed before my eyes as I drank it, thinking of all I had been thru in the last 25 plus years

 

[patbfd]

I have some 4, 3, 2 and 1 year old stuff, still good. In fact I think they got better!

 

[jabraben]

I have 5 bottles of English Barleywine I brewed in 2001 in the basement. Drank one with my homebrew club on the event of a member moving away a couple years ago, when it was 13 years old, and everyone said it tasted great. Aside from storing it well through the years, I'm lucky it was and still is great as I'd only been brewing a couple years at the time.

 

[jabraben]

And I've started making a batch of barleywine every winter for cellaring and would like to work on some other cellar-worthy styles to put back for years.

 

[rmclark12]

Me & a friend each got a six pack of Westvleteren 12 when they sold it in the US on 12/12/12. We get together each year and drink one. Haven't gotten together yet this year, so i guess the oldest I've drank was 3 years old. It seems to get better every year.