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Beer's shelf life

D

Dannken

Hello, I wanna know how can I calculate my home made beer´s shelf life
or if there´s a specific time. I hope u can Help me.
Best regards.

 
i dont know of any calculation you can do but  with bottle conditioned beer I have kept mine over 6 months and it was still very good. The one thing I would recommed is that after a couple of months you may want to refrigerate it as it will keep changing if left at room temp.
 
It'll depend on the alcohol content and the type of hops...the  higher alcohol and the higher alpha in the hops (they're a preservative of sorts) the longer it'll last.  I had a barley wine that was high hops and 8.4% ABV that was great even 3 years later.  Fortunately, homebrew doesn't ever seem to be around long enuf to go bad!
 
Bottled beer can last over a year if everything is properly sanitized and you store it properly.  Naturally its better to store it cold, and out of sunlight.  I've tasted several great brews over a year old.  If you are going to store it a long time, oxygen absorbing caps might help.

Kegged beer can be stored longer - largely because it is stored with pressurized CO2 (no air to oxidize it) and also no light inside the keg.  I have one on tap now that is about 1-1/2 years old and it tastes great.

Quite a few variables enter into the age equation - oxidization, sunlight, temperature, degree of starch conversion (which affects taste stability), alcohol content (higher will last longer), hop level (more hops helps preserve the beer), carbonation level and others.

Cheers!
Brad
 
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