how soon to drink bottled home brew ?

[bobukbrewer]

I think I read a couple of years ago of a brewery that placed a "drink before" date on their product. Considering beers late hopped and / or dry hopped with substantial quantities of hops, has anybody done any research on this topic, please. My current brew will be around 5.9% and is heavily hopped, and I propose to sample it at 5,10,15,20,25,30,40,60,80 and 100 days. I will give feedback along the way.

 

[ACBEV]

I think I'm right in saying breweries are oblige to state a best before date on package beer... Your 100 days is not an awful long time to keep bottled beer. Cask beer shelf life is short once broached, keg a while longer.

I generally start drinking my bottled beer 3 to 4 weeks after bottling.

 

[bobukbrewer]

I agree - but this one also put on a DRINK BEFORE DATE - will try and find it.......

 

[ACBEV]

I'm assuming the brewery wants its beer drunk at its best in that case...

 

[Dutto]

A virtually teetotal neighbour of mine gave me a Batemans Victory Ale (ABV 6.0%) that was about three years past its Best Before Date.

He apologised, I drank it and it was a superb pint! :thumb: :thumb:

I've been sampling some of the beers in the photograph over the last couple of weeks ...

The youngest is +/- 175 days old and they still taste fine! :thumb:


BTW

Lee & Perrin reckon that although by law they have to put a BB date on their Worcester Sauce, the longer you keep it he better it gets!

 

[dad_of_jon]

I have best before 2032 on my boon oude geuze bottles. they'll outlast me

 

[britton]

My current AG is so nice I was drinking it whilst still carbing up!

 

[dad_of_jon]

I think I read a couple of years ago of a brewery that placed a "drink before" date on their product. Considering beers late hopped and / or dry hopped with substantial quantities of hops, has anybody done any research on this topic, please. My current brew will be around 5.9% and is heavily hopped, and I propose to sample it at 5,10,15,20,25,30,40,60,80 and 100 days. I will give feedback along the way.

indeed if you load a beer up with big american / citrussy hops, aka. american ipa or neipa they can loose that fruityness quickly. so drink those quick. I have a batch of 2 yr old king kongs to enjoy at christmas so it really does make a difference as to what beer you are interested in.

 

[Oneiroi]

Stone brewing did an ‘Enjoy by’ series
https://www.stonebrewing.com/beer/stone-enjoy-ipa-series#ageGatePassed

Brewdog also did a beer called Born to Die with a big brink by date on the front.

As said above I think it really is just super hoppy Beers that seem to fade so fast, although I’d say Hefeweizens are definitely best drunk fresh too.

Make sure you post up the results, be interested to hear how it changes :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Clint]

Ha! Duttos shed looks like the offy!

 

[bobukbrewer]

thanks Oneiroi - I will - by the way how does one pronounce your name...........

 

[Oneiroi]

Haha I had to think about that, don't say it out loud very often! I say it on-ear-oi (as in Oi!) but I know the end is sometimes pronounces as an -ee

 

[Clint]

I thought you was visually impaired...as in one,eye,Roy....

 

[simon12]

With very hoppy beers I find the younger the better even had one carbed in 3 days and was at its best then and had 1 that went suddenly tasteless after about 3 weeks but I do like some harsh flavours so may not be for everyone. Darker more grainy beers get better with age though but never had one all that long.

 

[Dave 666]

Well my first 40 pint kit brew was finished, all gone and drank at the weekend. This was despite my best intentions to keep some long term, yet they only lasted about 8 weeks after bottling. Just as well as my latest brew shows up my first brew for the inferior brew it was (not the kit, just how I brewed it) with what I thought is easily commercial quality beer at just several days after bottling. Maybe I'll have the same comparison with my latest brew a few more down the road?.

Now I feel I'm just starting to get the hang of things, after the 4th brew is done later on this week I'm going to try and speed up production even if smaller 10 litre ish brews and start to build up a decent stockpile than drink it all before its at its best. But all previous 3 brews I've tried the first bottles after several days.

 

[Dutto]

............

Now I feel I'm just starting to get the hang of things, .............

Here's the first lines of my own Brew Day on the Forum back in 2016 ...

I thought I would start my own "Brew Day" Thread because, for the very first time, I have managed to complete an AG brew with no real disasters and only the one mishap ...

... which was to fill my left shoe with water when rinsing out the Mash Tun!

Enjoy the feeling! :thumb:

 

[Dave 666]

Lol, my missus went ape and commented how bloody sticky the kitchen floor was after bottling my first brew. Guess I've learned how to minimise spillage when bottling and cleaning, either that or clean\mop as I go lol.

 

[Dutto]

Lol, my missus went ape and commented how bloody sticky the kitchen floor was after bottling my first brew. Guess I've learned how to minimise spillage when bottling and cleaning, either that or clean\mop as I go lol.

I don't think anyone has told you that a Mop & Bucket come under the heading of "Essential Equipment"!

Another one is an Ullage Stick so that you don't get things sticky as you measure what isn't there (see photo).

Also, if you are getting on a bit the two in the second photograph (a telescopic magnet and a flexible pick-up grab) are worth their weight in gold!

BTW "Sticky Floor"? "Getting the hang of it?" "In the kitchen?" ...

... are all indications that you need to attend the "Marriage 101" Course at your local night school.