Two and a half year old beer

Lesinge · Aug 28, 2015

I run a brewery club at work and we were wondering how long a beer would last in the bottle. As luck (bad as it turned out) would have it I had given six bottles of various kits to a mate and he had left them under his desk for two and a half years! Anyway, he was leaving so we asked for them to try and he duly handed them over. For some reason (hope) we thought these would be fantastic or at least drinkable...they were not, the best one tasted of vinegar and the rest were terrible.

So the moral of the story is be like me...drink the beer as fast as possible (after six weeks) whilst brewing as fast as possible...ok I am getting fat and suffer from a lack of proper sleep but hey it's worth not wasting beer!

rodabod · Aug 28, 2015

High OG beers take ages to develop. A few years isn't unreasonable. Sourness suggests bacterial infection.

Slid · Aug 28, 2015

Lesinge said:
I run a brewery club at work and we were wondering how long a beer would last in the bottle. As luck (bad as it turned out) would have it I had given six bottles of various kits to a mate and he had left them under his desk for two and a half years! Anyway, he was leaving so we asked for them to try and he duly handed them over. For some reason (hope) we thought these would be fantastic or at least drinkable...they were not, the best one tasted of vinegar and the rest were terrible.

So the moral of the story is be like me...drink the beer as fast as possible (after six weeks) whilst brewing as fast as possible...ok I am getting fat and suffer from a lack of proper sleep but hey it's worth not wasting beer!

I use PET bottles for beer and this is fine as far as it goes. Two and a half years is too far, as there is some oxygen penetration.

Did you bottle these kits in glass?

As they were kits, there would presumably be some fair quantity of yeast in the bottom and organic material has this horrible chemical (thermodynamic?) tendency to reduce into slightly less complex compenents as it gradually decays. Which does not sound like making a good drink.

Lesinge · Aug 28, 2015

rodabod said:
High OG beers take ages to develop. A few years isn't unreasonable. Sourness suggests bacterial infection.

These were just regular kits, they weren't so much as sour as bitter and ugly..

Lesinge · Aug 28, 2015

Slid said:
I use PET bottles for beer and this is fine as far as it goes. Two and a half years is too far, as there is some oxygen penetration.

Did you bottle these kits in glass?

As they were kits, there would presumably be some fair quantity of yeast in the bottom and organic material has this horrible chemical (thermodynamic?) tendency to reduce into slightly less complex compenents as it gradually decays. Which does not sound like making a good drink.

They were glass bottles but stored in a warm office...

Slid · Aug 28, 2015

Lesinge said:
They were glass bottles but stored in a warm office...

Dreadful waste. Especially with the bottling and all.

Best advice I can give, is to move on to the next brew : cheers:

Lesinge · Aug 28, 2015

Slid said:
Dreadful waste. Especially with the bottling and all.

Best advice Ii can give, is to move on to the next brew :

It gets worse, I have 34 bottles of Coopers lager that was 10 years old to start with and I added boiled german hops and turned it into a horrible bitter tasting mess (this was the first time I had tried using hops). I have been hoping that this will improve in the bottle but it hasn't and now I have to bring myself throw it down the drain...:sad::|

markcc · Aug 29, 2015

I recently opened some bottles of a Brewferm Tripel kit I made about 4/5 years ago. They were fine!

Lesinge · Aug 29, 2015

markcc said:
I recently opened some bottles of a Brewferm Tripel kit I made about 4/5 years ago. They were fine!

I would imagine that the high alcohol content is preserving the beer better.

GlentoranMark · Aug 29, 2015

markcc said:
I recently opened some bottles of a Brewferm Tripel kit I made about 4/5 years ago. They were fine!

I disagree!!

I once bought reduced price cans (Carlsberg) that were a month past their sell by date. Thought I got myself a bargain until I tasted them compared to in date cans. Needless to say they went down the drain.

Beer certainly has a shelf life.but there must also be a sweet spot. The best beer we usually drink is always the last one but I think we're an impatient lot that doesn't allow our beers to mature.

I think you enjoyed the beer because you had nothing to compare it too. It also meant something to you as you brewed it yourself. I feel beer matures in months, not years.

It's an interesting subject however as we all want to brew that perfect pint.

Cwrw666 · Aug 29, 2015

Obviously high alcohol beers should keep more like low alcohol wines - but there again these don't keep well for all that long. My beers don't tend to be kept long enough anyway - by the time I'm on the last few bottles they're just about at their best! On the odd occasion I've left kit beers for longer I've noticed a definite improvement up to about 6 weeks after bottling, but then a gradual decline in quality. So best to drink most kit beers round about the 6 weeks mark.

markcc · Aug 29, 2015

Lesinge said:
I would imagine that the high alcohol content is preserving the beer better.

There was a noticeable booze burn!

Covrich · Aug 29, 2015

The best kits I did had a dry hop usually and I found by the time that started to diminish what was left wasn't unpleasant but wasn't very good, this would have been 2-3 months in.. God know what they could have been like after 2 years!!

dad_of_jon · Aug 29, 2015

GlentoranMark said:
I disagree!!

I once bought reduced price cans (Carlsberg) that were a month past their sell by date. Thought I got myself a bargain until I tasted them compared to in date cans. Needless to say they went down the drain.

Beer certainly has a shelf life.but there must also be a sweet spot. The best beer we usually drink is always the last one but I think we're an impatient lot that doesn't allow our beers to mature.

I think you enjoyed the beer because you had nothing to compare it too. It also meant something to you as you brewed it yourself. I feel beer matures in months, not years.

It's an interesting subject however as we all want to brew that perfect pint.

I have a few bottles of 2012 oude gueze with a bb date of 2032!!! - I might not be alive to see that one reach perfection. I find that a lot of belgian beers have a good range of drinkability. You can have a young 'brigand' and the sweetness is there or leave for 6-12 months and the flavours becomes more powerful and complex. Either one is nice, just depends what mood you're in I suppose.

markcc · Aug 29, 2015

GlentoranMark said:
I disagree!!

I once bought reduced price cans (Carlsberg) that were a month past their sell by date. Thought I got myself a bargain until I tasted them compared to in date cans. Needless to say they went down the drain.

Beer certainly has a shelf life.but there must also be a sweet spot. The best beer we usually drink is always the last one but I think we're an impatient lot that doesn't allow our beers to mature.

I think you enjoyed the beer because you had nothing to compare it too. It also meant something to you as you brewed it yourself. I feel beer matures in months, not years.

It's an interesting subject however as we all want to brew that perfect pint.

I didn't mean they were especially good - only that there were no obvious off-flavors!

I think there are beers though that will mature over years. I've had 20 year old Oude Geuze which was fantastic and earlier this year a brewery near to me released some Imp Stouts and barley wines they made in 2009 which were great.

ghb · Aug 29, 2015

The stronger beers such as barley wine and strong ales need 1 -2 years to mature fully, or so the book say, but who'd want to wait that long before drinking yer homebrew
It also says there is a commercial beer available that is guaranteed to last 25years, it wasn't named in the book

Halfacrem · Aug 29, 2015

I've got a few PET bottles of Woodfordes Nelsons Revenge that are over two Years old. I stashed them because I wasn't happy with the taste and only found them recently!

They taste really good. In fact the slightly dodgy note to the beer that led me to put them away has completely disappeared, though it's very likely they hit their 'peak' a long time ago!

Leon103 · Aug 29, 2015

I have got some bottles that are 3 years old. I have one now and again and they taste fine.

rodabod · Aug 29, 2015

dad_of_jon said:
I have a few bottles of 2012 oude gueze with a bb date of 2032!!! - I might not be alive to see that one reach perfection. I find that a lot of belgian beers have a good range of drinkability. You can have a young 'brigand' and the sweetness is there or leave for 6-12 months and the flavours becomes more powerful and complex. Either one is nice, just depends what mood you're in I suppose.

Page 26:

https://www.brewdog.com/files/1436346577HOPPROP34web.pdf

rodabod · Aug 29, 2015

I had a 7 year old Brodie's Elizabethan ale. Incredible.

Two and a half year old beer

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