Should you have a best before date on your beer

[stephen1546]

Hello

Had a few Stouts that i have had for about 8 months made from a kit.

I had one yesterday and got gut rot soon after, followed by a few visits to the loo.

I wondered if it could be the length of time it was in the bottle, hopefully it was just a coincidence

Anyway, do you guys make sure you have drank your beer within a certain timescale??

Cheers

Stevie

 

[Leon103]

Coincidence.

 

[chthon]

I always put the brew date on my beer labels. I always try to stretch them over a year, so that I can qualify their taste. I haven't had any problems in almost six years of brewing, and around 50 brews.

 

[MrRook]

How would you determine what it would be? Some beers will naturally last longer than others.
If you're anal about sanitation and have good brewing procedures it can last a long time. I had a brown ale that was still real good at the one year mark from brew date.

 

[johncrobinson]

As a winemaker we don't have a bbf date.Generally the older the better.
But i think conditioning beers makes all the difference.

 

[stephen1546]

How would you determine what it would be? Some beers will naturally last longer than others.
If you're anal about sanitation and have good brewing procedures it can last a long time. I had a brown ale that was still real good at the one year mark from brew date.

Yeah, that would be difficult. I have bought a kit that did say consume within 6 months

 

[stephen1546]

As a winemaker we don't have a bbf date.Generally the older the better.
But i think conditioning beers makes all the difference.

Yeah, make wine too. I always usually condition for a few months before drinking.

 

[BrewMeHappy]

It's an interesting point, as I'm not sure if there is a best before date that should be considered.

Having said that, a few years ago I found a bottle of Cooper's European lager in the shed which was about 18 months old and it was the best out of the batch.

 

[Griff097]

Best before it's all gone I guess.

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

No. Simply because it's generally finished within a few months anyway. When I was a frequent pub visitor it lasted a lot longer.

A few years ago when I was between flats, I had a load of stuff stored in a lockup and found some beer that was least a year old. It was all dark Christmas beer and stout, but despite having no doubt experienced massive swings in temperature, it was fantastic.

 

[Graz]

Never had any gut issues to do with homebrew that's been in bottles for a long time, some of my best beers were probably getting on for 2 years old when finishing the last bottle. But some beers do definitely keep better than others, I was sampling my back catalogue over Christmas and a Youngs American Pale Ale brewed probably late 2019 really wasn't great and had a somewhat soapy taste to it. Still drank it though

 

[Spratt]

I used to regularly buy discounted beers from Beers of Europe near Kings Lynn, where they sell off old stock beyond its BBE date cheaply.

I have never had any problem with any of them even ones which are 3 or so years beyond their BBE dates, though my son said that he once got gyp after one. I suspect it depends on the individual's biology and the beer in question. I'm about half way through my batch of Russian Imperial Stout brewed in 2015 and it just keeps getting better and better.

I would be very surprised if your 8 month old beer was the cause of the problem