What's the longest you've ever aged a homebrew?

[jmo88]

This can be either on purpose, by accident (i.e. that dusty forgotten bottle), or by avoidance (i.e. that gross heather experiment you avoid stomaching). How did it taste?

8 months for me (I know that's not much, but they just go down too easy) It was that heather mentioned above. Being only a 3.7ABV beer, I can't believe the age did it well because it's more drinkable now. Not great but certainly better.

 

[BierMuncher]

I had a 2 year old Anchor Steam clone this afternoon. Perfect.

I drink old beers all the time.

 

[mmb]

I have a mixed case of cider and Irish Red that was brewed back in 2002. Some really interesting sherry/oxidized notes in the Red without souring. The cider (basically apfelwein fermented with Notty) finished drying out mellowed very nice. Had something like 2lbs of dextrose in a 5G batch of fresh press cider.

It was a found case from multiple moves.

 

[nealf]

The longest I have aged anything is probably Apfelwein.. I think it is sitting at about 1.5 years... Also I have a mead that was brewed on leap year 08... so it is 1 year 3 months right now. I don't have anything that has aged for too long yet.

 

[AnOldUR]

Got a bottle of homebrew that I won for something about 20 years ago. This was long before I even thought about brewing myself. Long before I had an appreciation for good beer. Saved it because I valued it more as a prize than a beer. Now I’m giving some thought to popping the top. Could be interesting. Not even a style on the label, only “Gary’s Homestead Beer.”


Edit:
Any one here from NJ named Gary who was brewing back then?

 

[HopheadNJ]

I have a bottle of Thomas Hardy's from 1992 in my closet. I can't take credit for saving it for all 17 years though, someone gifted me a couple bottles about 2 years ago. EDIT: Missed the homebrew part in the title. Haven't made enough beer yet to let something age really long

 

[Bopper]

I have a case and a half of barley wine I made 3 years ago - it's still getting better.

 

[jmo88]

Got a bottle of homebrew that I won for something about 20 years ago.

Crank up the Guns 'n Roses to rivive that sucker and pop the top. You know you want to.

No, but seriously, I'm jealous. I need to find a way to trick myself into aging beer for a long time.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

My second ever brew. Coming in a little over 3 years old and it's still horrible.

 

[JacobInIndy]

My second attempt at a wit, I just had the last one(i dumped all but a 6-pack) about two weeks ago. Still horrible at almost a year old, probably 9 months.

I do have a sixer of Yooper's DFH 60 clone that I'm saving for the lake this August. Brewed it in early December '08, so that will be 9 months as well. I really can't wait for that.

 

[svengoat]

I have a guiness knock off I brewed almost 3 years ago in 22oz bottles.. Last opened about a month ago by mistake (was looking for wine) It's still good and getting better..

 

[velotech]

I usually keep a bomber or two of my best beers for my "library". I usually don't keep them more than about 2 years. I'll have all of my beer geek friends over and we'll break out some of the older ones to enjoy.

 

[flyangler18]

I have a dubbel aging in the keg that's pushing 7 months; my brew buddy brought out the last bottle of an RIS that he brewed to commemorate the birth of his oldest son during our last combined brewday - it was 5 years old and exquisite.

 

[jds]

I'm still occasionally drinking some of 08-08-08 recipe Russian Imperial Stout that I brewed on January 1, 2008. It's still improving at 16 months.

 

[Chad]

I've got an English Barleywine that I brewed in December of '07. I may not have had my fermentation temperatures as under control as I thought. As of this past February the alcohol is still hot. Hoping it will calm down a little by the time it hits the 2 year mark.

Chad

 

[humann_brewing]

I still have a bottle of a Rogue Mocha Porter clone from 3 years ago now when I did extracts. I tasted one a few months back and it was pretty bad. I am basically saving this to cook with.

I actually have a lot of porter around the house that I am using for cooking right now as it is getting a little warm to chug it down.

I actually boiled some ribs last weekend in my Fullers londer porter clone, then put a sweet rub on it and BBQ'd it 5 hours later and man were they good.


As far as beers I intend to age. I have a RIS in bottles and waiting until winter to open brewed back in Feb.

 

[Revvy]

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.

Last weekend I drank a 16 month old bottle of my Ginger Orange Dortmunder-esque Ale, and it was sublime.

There's a lot of stories about beers put away here. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

 

[user 22118]

The guy that got me brewing pulled out a keg of 20 year old homebrew and it was pure malt. Nothing more, just malt.

 

[llazy_llama]

247 years.

 

[david_42]

Still have a little 2003 Old Bog Water. Thought the keg was empty, but not quite.

 

[Clayton]

My second ever brew. Coming in a little over 3 years old and it's still horrible.

lol that was me, it was a barey wine i made in 2000 the last time a tasted one was in 07 and it was funky , but it was not good at 1 or 2 or 3 ether
i dont know what the hell i was thinking making a barly wine back them
i was just getting in to stouts and porters back them.

oldest good thing i made was a mead and the last bottle was drank last year at this time in May at a Beltane festival it was bottled in 01

 

[BierMuncher]

lol that was me, it was a barey wine i made in 2000 the last time a tasted one was in 07 and it was funky...

I'm thinking that Jan-2010 will be the magic turn-around date. Just give it time..."you can't rush your beer".

 

[COLObrewer]

Still have about 24 bottles of Corn Stalk beer, 2007 vintage, it's still getting worst. Initial twangy sourness cuts the palate like a dull straight razor with a nice lingering after taste of rotten dog stewed in lemon rind, but with a cottony sort of saliva gland wrenching mouth feel. Sweeeeeeeeeeet.

 

[Joos]

I haven't been brewing long enough to go into years.BUT I found an IPA (thought I drank em all) in the back of my closet that I bottled 5 months ago.It was freakin great.I need to work up my pipeline to the point where I don't drink any till 5 months.

 

[tspilker]

This makes me wonder. If you brew a beer, and store it in adequate cellar conditions (or hell, refrigerate it). Could the beer keep indefinately? Like if you purge all the oxygen from the bottle, cap on foam, use o2 caps... would it be possible to brew a beer to commemorate the birth of a son, and still have it be drinkable when he turns 18 or 21?

This could be interesting.

Has to be something big though right? RIS, Barleywine etc.

 

[HSM]

Have some mead that is 12 years old and still not old enough.

Beer.. about 1 year and that was only because I gave it to a friend and a year later he still has a bottle left.

 

[McKBrew]

I have a few bottles of the 8-8-8 RIS that I brewed in January of 2008. It was still damned good a few months ago.

 

[BierMuncher]

This makes me wonder. If you brew a beer, and store it in adequate cellar conditions (or hell, refrigerate it). Could the beer keep indefinately? Like if you purge all the oxygen from the bottle, cap on foam, use o2 caps... would it be possible to brew a beer to commemorate the birth of a son, and still have it be drinkable when he turns 18 or 21?

This could be interesting.

Has to be something big though right? RIS, Barleywine etc.

It would have to be very big, and not rely on hop flavor or aroma as a characteristic. Those would surely fade inside of 1-2 years.

A Barleywine would be the best bet. But it would need to be big...be allowed to ferment out completely to avoid bottle bombs, and held in a cool environment like a 45 degree cellar.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I've aged a few for well over a year. In fact, I may go get one of the few 888s I have remaining (brewed 1 Jan 08) and pop the lid. It's time for a beer.

 

[The Pol]

I have a couple kegs pushing 8 months. One is an oaked rye and it needed a little time. Breaking it out when we Indy brewers split our 50 pound hop order.

 

[tenglert]

Last year, in the back of a closest, I found a 6 pack of my first two batch that I brewed in 94.

One was a stout and the other was a bitter. When I tried them, they both tasted the same. Like caramel but not sweet. There was no hop flavor at all, and there was a smooth, warm alcohol sensation down the throat.

It was pretty good. I wish I had some more.

 

[Clayton]

I'm thinking that Jan-2010 will be the magic turn-around date. Just give it time..."you can't rush your beer".

LOL ,, i dont know why but when i read that i busted up laughing!

thats what i would tell the Guinea pigs over the years , when thay would start scratching around for more homebrew, i would hand them that barley wine and after they made the face like , some one served them poop tea steeped in gym sockes , i would say; well it just needs to age a little longer

 

[Jaybird]

I have some 6 year old mead and a keg of Blonde ale that I brewed 2 1/2 years ago. It was bad so I wanted to do some testing on it. It is quite drinkable at this point.

 

[tspilker]

It would have to be very big, and not rely on hop flavor or aroma as a characteristic. Those would surely fade inside of 1-2 years.

A Barleywine would be the best bet. But it would need to be big...be allowed to ferment out completely to avoid bottle bombs, and held in a cool environment like a 45 degree cellar.

Sounds like we should do a 02-22-20 barleywine brew.

 

[svengoat]

I opened the 3 year old guinness knock off last night and it's going south on me.. It mellowed out nice but there is a distinct nastiness on the trail end.. Maybe it was best after a year..

 

[cee3]

I have a box that's been buried in my basement for years with a few bottles from my earlier brewing life, 1990 and 1991! A pale ale, an altbier, a pilsener, a "Christmas" beer. None of them is a "big" beer so I don't hold out much hope for them. They weren't great back then.

In that same box I found a bottle of Bell's Third Coast Old Ale from 1991, a couple of Thomas Hardys from 1994 and a couple of Sam Adams Triple Bocks from 1995. Those are more likely to have survived and will be interesting to sample. Well, they'll all be interesting.

 

[Stevorino]

I left a couple kegs of old homebrew around for 9 months -- all of it was infected to some degree except one keg of robust porter -- which was just as good as I remember it 9 months ago.

 

[Revvy]

I have a box that's been buried in my basement for years with a few bottles from my earlier brewing life, 1990 and 1991! A pale ale, an altbier, a pilsener, a "Christmas" beer. None of them is a "big" beer so I don't hold out much hope for them. They weren't great back then.

In that same box I found a bottle of Bell's Third Coast Old Ale from 1991, a couple of Thomas Hardys from 1994 and a couple of Sam Adams Triple Bocks from 1995. Those are more likely to have survived and will be interesting to sample. Well, they'll all be interesting.

Oh wow, Third coast is one of my favorite old ales...I bet that one is awesome....uh....wait, It might be infected, so you should hand it over to me for proper disposal...I know you've heard this before by posers, but I can assure you that I AM official and credentialed.

 

[BrewBrain]

14 month old pale ale. Awesome.

 

[Figbash]

I had an Imperial Stout that lated two years. The conditioning seemed to peak at about a year and after that it was super smooth and one of the best I've had. That reminds me, it's past time to brew another batch.

Tom