After bottleing, how long will it last??

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Question:

I bottled a batch of pale ale on 3 Nov. My question is… how long will it last (be good to drink) in the bottle? I know the longer it conditions in the bottle the better, but I’d think that it does have a limit. I’d like to keep it until new years eve at least. — 36 09′ 57" N 86 47′ 04" W "For my part, give me the dullest ass for a skipper before a rogue. There is a way to take a fool; but a rogue is smart and slippery." "Message created on 24 Nov 98 at 2217 hrs CST"

Response:

If kept in Ideal conditions

Thanks for the fast reply. And "Ideal conditions" are?

Response:

Assuming that your sanitation was reasonably good, and that you didn’t splash it around a lot during bottling, New Year’s should not be a problem at all. If it was a style with a lot of hop aroma or flavor, you might lose some of the hop character by then, but other than that it should still be in great shape. I’ve tasted homebrew that have been around for a couple of years or more. By then, there’s basically no hop character to speak of, and you start to pick up some oxidized flavors… but they’ve still been drinkable (though nothing to rave about). —

Response:

If you want to make an India Pale Ale that you can "store" for a longer period of time, add more ingredients (DME) and add more hops. Or, make a Belgian Ale. This stuff lasts indefinetly as it has about 14 pounds of ingredients for a five gallon batch!

Response:

No problem with that time frame. Unless you sample it frequently ;o). — heubs Spammers forced me into this. Replace "spamless" with " wf " to respond.

Response:

I just finished off the last of a batch of stout, bottled Jan 15, 1997. Last drop was as good as the first, my pale ales are usually only starting to get tasty after 6-8 weeks. I wouldn’t worry at all. If you are not sure, send me the batch and I’ll drink one bottle per day and let you know the result when I’m done Mike

Response:

Generally mid to low gravity beers will peak at about 4 to eight weeks in the bottle and begin to degrade in about three months. IMHO – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I bottled a batch of pale ale on 3 Nov. My question is… how long will it last (be good to drink) in the bottle? I know the longer it conditions in the bottle the better, but I’d think that it does have a limit. I’d like to keep it until new years eve at least. — 36 09′ 57" N 86 47′ 04" W "For my part, give me the dullest ass for a skipper before a rogue. There is a way to take a fool; but a rogue is smart and slippery." "Message created on 24 Nov 98 at 2217 hrs CST" If kept in Ideal conditions, I say 6 to 8 Months. For a New Style of beer that I Brew, I keep a Six pack aside and drink only one every month or two. Then I write down in my notes of what the out come was. This way I will know ( the next time I brew it) when it should "Peak" and I should drink it all by the time it goes bad. Harshman

Response:

I recently won two 1st places (both MCAB qualifiers) with beers that were one year old. In fact, one was exactly one year old, the other two weeks shy of a year. They were both lagers and had been sitting in the back of my fridge for 9 months waiting. Unfortunately, they were the last three bottles from each batch. This means I’ve got to make some first class beer by February for the MCAB. I think I’m up for the challenge… — John Varady http://www.netaxs.com/~vectorsys/varady Boneyard Brewing The HomeBrew Recipe Calculating Program

Response:

If kept in Ideal conditions Thanks for the fast reply. And "Ideal conditions" are?

for a pale ale, especially a very bitter one, cellar at 50-55F for 3-4 weeks after one week at room temperature to prime. Should lose the bitter edge after 2-3 weeks of cellaring. It will continue to get smoother until 6-8 weeks. After 6 months, it will loose flavour and have little body. Still, its better than mega brewery suds. — Kel Rekuta ps. remove "nospam" from my return address. I get too much spam if I don’t screen the return address.

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I bottled a batch of pale ale on 3 Nov. My question is… how long will it last (be good to drink) in the bottle? I know the longer it conditions in the bottle the better, but I’d think that it does have a limit. I’d like to keep it until new years eve at least. — 36 09′ 57" N 86 47′ 04" W "For my part, give me the dullest ass for a skipper before a rogue. There is a way to take a fool; but a rogue is smart and slippery." "Message created on 24 Nov 98 at 2217 hrs CST"

If kept in Ideal conditions, I say 6 to 8 Months. For a New Style of beer that I Brew, I keep a Six pack aside and drink only one every month or two. Then I write down in my notes of what the out come was. This way I will know ( the next time I brew it) when it should "Peak" and I should drink it all by the time it goes bad. Harshman

Response:

Thought I’d contribute a data point to this thread… Just opened a bottle of American Brown Ale that I brewed nearly 2 years ago; I’m drinking it as I type this. It’s the last remaining bottle (I think) of the batch, recently found buried under a pile of stuff in the mess I call my brewing storage area. The hop character is gone (according to my notes, it was finish hopped with plenty of Cascade and Fuggles), but it still has a discernible malt aroma, and plenty of hop bitterness. It’s oxidized (bit of a "cardboard" aftertaste), but still drinkable, with no other blatant off flavors that I’m aware of. In fact, I’d say it’s *still* in better shape than at least 50% of the imports/micros you can get at a typical liquor store. (Says something about the condition of most imports/micros by the time they reach the consumer, eh?) —

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