# Is 5 Year Old Homebrew Drinkable?



## BjornJ (6/1/10)

A guy at work who used to homebrew brought me a bottle of beer.
He says he thinks it is about 5 years old, and has been in his garage since..

The bottle cap is not rusted, but certainly looking rough!
The beer was crystal clear before I put it in the fridge, now there is a bit of maybe not haze but something just floating around in there?









He believed it would be undrinkable due to the age, but I think as long as this was a bottle carbonated, non pasteurized beer it should be ok.


Any advice, should I dump it or try it?


(I have never tasted his homebrew so no idea what it would have been like after 2 months either)

He does not remember what kind it was, he does not remember if it was a kit beer or an extract beer but most likely a can of Lager or Draught something or other.


Come on, you know I want to!
But what do you think, will it be bad or what?

Bjorn


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## .DJ. (6/1/10)

do it!


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## Steve (6/1/10)

BjornJ said:


> But what do you think, will it be bad or what?



Dunno...only one way to find out though. I'd try it.


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## barls (6/1/10)

have a taste and see i opened one from 2006 yesterday, it was still good but it does depend on how it was stored. ie if its been a nice low constant temp it might be fine.


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## RdeVjun (6/1/10)

Probably not Bjorn, but you've got nothing much to lose by opening it to find out for sure.

I was given some 4 year old tallies by a brewing colleague which were much like yours, had been sitting under his house in Brisbane and he didn't really recall what they were. They were completely devoid of hops, including bittering and the remaining malt was none too pleasant either, so I tipped them all after just a sip of each. Surprising, oxidation wasn't a big problem as far as I can recall.

Like I say, pop it open, if worst comes to worst you have to tip it out but you can keep the bottle!


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## Galamus (6/1/10)

I drank one the other day, sounds much the same although the cap was rusted!

Great beer, just a hint of a smokey aftertaste. Aged really well.

I suppose it can go either way, at worst though you will open an undrinkable beer, won't get sick from it.


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## j1gsaw (6/1/10)

Jee i dunno :unsure: 
One of my mates cracked a few 4 y/o tallies last week and he said he was yakking them up 2 hrs later.


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## Galamus (6/1/10)

How many is a few


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## A3k (6/1/10)

I'd definitely try it.
The worst thing that can happen is you'll have to find a way to tell your mate his beer was crap.

I'd say it's going to depend on storage though. 
About two years ago i found about 100 old extract brews that were 8 years old that i'd left in my sun room. They'd endured some pretty hot summers.

i decided to sample them with a mate. it went like this.

1) open beer and pour into a glass
2) try it, screw up face
3) pour down sink
4) repeat steps 1-3 ten to twenty times
5) throw the rest in the bin

If they were stored correctly, i'd say my success rate would've been higher.

Cheers,
Al


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## j1gsaw (6/1/10)

Galamus said:


> How many is a few




3 to be precise lol.


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## crundle (6/1/10)

Give it a try for sure, you may be surprised.

A guy at work gave me a stout that he made and it was 4 years old, just kit and kilo, but it was really good, no twang to it at all, and very smooth. I would assume that a lot of it will depend on what type of beer it was, the ingredients and how it was stored, but definitely give it a crack.

Crundle


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## Josh (6/1/10)

Just do it.

When I was 18 a mate gave me a bottle of his old man's homebrew. I think it was somewhere between 10-15 years old at the time. The label was "B-1". No idea what that meant, but I gave it a whirl anyway.

It wasn't very good. Drinkable, but not good. At least I didn't get sick.


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## Pennywise (6/1/10)

Even though I wouldn't hold high hopes for it, it'd be just plain wrong for you not to try it. Go on give it a whirl


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## BjornJ (6/1/10)

We were saying we should try it on Friday but after thinking more about it, maybe we'll just crack it at lunch time today!


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## WSC (6/1/10)

I have had an 8 year old K&K stout and it was drinkable.....not great but OK.

Not sure a pale ale would last that well.


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## thelastspud (6/1/10)

I had some three year old stuff from my first ever brew ages ago, stored in a hot shed they were pretty well flavorless. 

I think youd taste and even smell it straight away if they were going to make you sick.


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## rowanb (6/1/10)

I don't have direct experience with this, but from listening to various episodes of the Jamil show & Brew Strong on the Brewing Network, they report prizewinning success with 5-6 year old beers. They emphasise importance of process at the brewing stage (sanition, vigorous boil, healthy yeast, good fermentation), minimisation of oxygen entry during packaging and cool storage without large temperature fluctuations over time. They argue that beer staling occurs faster as temperature increases.


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## crundle (6/1/10)

rowanb said:


> I don't have direct experience with this, but from listening to various episodes of the Jamil show & Brew Strong on the Brewing Network, they report prizewinning success with 5-6 year old beers. They emphasise importance of process at the brewing stage (sanition, vigorous boil, healthy yeast, good fermentation), minimisation of oxygen entry during packaging and cool storage without large temperature fluctuations over time. They argue that beer staling occurs faster as temperature increases.



Depends a lot on the style of beer IMO, a pale ale is unlikely to get better over such a long time span due to loss of bitterness in the hops (amongst other things) while a Russian Imperial Stout or similarly high alcohol beer will (with good storage at a consistent lowish temperature) tend to improve over such a long span, as the harshness of the higher alcohol mellows and other secondary flavours form.

Of course there may be other factors at work, but to be honest I have never had a beer last longer than 1 year, and normally they were bottled beers that were not the best and got sidelined until I needed to empty the bottles for a new batch of beer. Some improved a little, but most were still crap!

I think that might have been why the 4 year old stout I had was still good, it was stored in boxes in a cellar out of the light, and was about 5% alcohol from memory, and would have been a decent beer to begin with.

cheers,

Crundle


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## manticle (6/1/10)

I reckon you'll be able to smell if it smells like beer or something else. My understanding is that you can't get horrible poisoningy type stuff from old beer but a sniff should be the first thing.

Then a sip will let you know the rest. I'd do it.


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## Leigh (6/1/10)

Have drunk 5-6 year old homebrews before. They weren't too bad.

As others have said, I'd at least try them.


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## BjornJ (6/1/10)

Update: Had the beer at lunch time today!


Three of us; Shane the brewer, tumi2 the craftbrewer and me the eh.. homebrewer?

Cracked it and poured into a chilled jug. Poured 3 half full glasses and had a whiff.
Slight homebrew smell, a hint of ..sourness?
No hop flavor.

The beer is clear, tried to take pictures with my mobile but the beer is clearer than what the pictures show.
Not a lot of head, looks pretty flat in the jug.





The color looks good, and it definetly tastes like beer!
Not as flat as it looks, just a little low in carbonation.
Has a bit of homebrew twang, but then again most homebrewed beer does have a slight twang of something or maybe that's just me  




It had a nice and malty taste but still tasted a little watered down, if that makes sense?
A hint of sourness in the flavor but not unpleasant. No hops/freshness but a nice, smoooth bitterness if not very bitter overall. Guessing it was a draught kit kit, slightly darker in color than what kit Lagers often are judging from only having seen a couple.





All-in-all, not a bad drop at all!
The ageing had not destroyed it to a level where it was undrinkable, and I can easily say I have drunk homebrew tasting worse than that. I can easily say I have _made_ homebrew tasting worse than that!


"What's that taste in my mouth?"..

The beer of yesteryear! 









Bjorn


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## Fourstar (6/1/10)

The colour may have been the effect of 5 years worth of oxidation. did you get any cardboard or toffee caramel notes to it (another sign of oxidation on a long term scale). Either way, intersting to see a standard ABV beer, kit hops lasting the ages!


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## BjornJ (6/1/10)

Now, we are not beer judgers so hard to say what others would have tasted but no one said anything about cardboard or caramelly kind of flavors. I did not detect anything like that, only a bit of homebrew twang, easy drinking, smooth, if a hint of blandness/watery.
No hop flavor or aroma, just a smooth bitterness in the back of the tounge if you know what I mean.

Was fun, though!
And it doesn't take much to make a Wednesday interesting at work, hehe!


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## raven19 (6/1/10)

Nice work on drinking it, I would have also!

Interesting that after 5 Years, the cap was not rusted at all. I presume it was also fine underneath?

(Planning on bottling my RIS just in normal caps and aging it for as long as I can...)


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## BjornJ (6/1/10)

The bottle cap looked as good as new underneath to me. I actually thought of checking since the beer was a bit low in carbonation.

Was fun to try an old beer, if not exactly as adventurous as "Steve Don't Eat It!" 
My favourites are when he eats the canned silk worms and the fungus infested sweet corn!




thanks
Bjorn


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