Homebrew Shelf Life

[jambanks]

I have found a dozen bottles of a 5% AG brew i did some 2years ago. It has been in brown bottles out of direct sunlight in the garage.

Will this still be drinkable? or am i looking at a few days off work with a bad belly!!

 

[The Ginger Ninja]

Should be fine, only one way to find out though!

 

[RobWalker]

What is it, beer? Beer generally tastes worse after half a year depending on what it is, although there are a few that just get better with age. It's fine to drink though, and if you like the taste then there's absolutely nothing wrong!

 

[klaus]

Oldest beer I had so far has been six years old - good stuff it was. If the production process was ok and you got enough alcohol, and the storage is fine beer will last.

 

[Hawks]

If it tastes OK its not going to do you any harm :thumb:

 

[dennisking]

Smell will tell you a lot, if it smells fine it should be ok.

 

[The Ginger Ninja]

Beer generally tastes worse after half a year

Not sure about that. I think most people drink beer thats 6 months old or older and in my experience it never tastes worse. Obviously there are some beers that are ment to be drunk young, but for the average brew 6 months is nothing.

Just my humble opinion, might be wrong.....

 

[Rich82]

I was told/read that as a rough guide a keg will give you about 4-6 months, plastic bottles about a year and glass 2+ years. I don’t know how accurate that is but it’s the guidelines I was given. Spoilage is mainly down to oxygen reacting with a product, the longer you can keep oxygen out the longer it will last. Like cheese in your fridge, leave it unwrapped and it goes off quicker than if you wrap it cling film. Plastic does allow oxygen through slowly hence why a plastic bottle will still spoil. A well sealed glass bottle technically should not allow any oxygen so there’s no reason it shouldn’t keep a very long time. Apparently!! That is providing there’s nothing else wrong with it from when it was bottled. I’d have to join the majority and say sup it and see.

 

[RobWalker]

Ah. I'm a kegger so that's probably where I got that info from. I thought glass was more permeable though?

 

[Rich82]

I thought glass was less permeable, I could be wrong, I’m kind of making assumptions from what I’ve read, and from things like contact lenses went from glass to a plastic because of air and moisture transfer and glass is used in thermos flasks etc. And the only element that that reacts with glass is fluorine whereas a few things react with plastic.