shelf life of home brew.

[leighaus]

:chug: i 've drank 7 year old homebrew belonging to the brewer-in-law. Delicious.

 

[jaypes]

I have been knocking back a 1 year old Bo Pilsner that I found during a garage cleanup!

Tastes pretty damn nice, the garage temp is pretty stable all year round which helps in long term storage

I'm still drinking this now!

And it is still good

 

[Vini2ton]

When did crown seals still have cork in them? We found a bottle in a shed back in the late seventies of CUB something I can't remember. We cooled it down and tasted it as if it was a lost vintage of the finest Rhone red. Still had bubbles. We thought it mazing.

 

[peas_and_corn]

They had cork in them when they were invented in the early 20th century by the crown and cork company. Plastic liners are a recent thing.

 

[brzt6060]

I'm assuming PET vs. Glass would make a difference? I would have no issue drinking (read: tasting) a still sealed 10 year old bottle of homebrew, I would probably think twice before doing the same if it was in a PET bottle.

 

[leighaus]

Drinking with the brewer in law last night, I mentioned this topic... He hastily corrected me, 16 years old.. He has one left. It is a nectar of the gods.

 

[BeerIsGood]

Last night I drank some of a stout I brewed in December 2005. After almost nine years, it's as good as it's ever been. Bottled with crown seals: PET lids degas after a year or so.

 

[leighaus]

Brewing in pet is just wrong anyway.

 

[peas_and_corn]

It isn't the lids that degas, pet isn't impermeable for co2 so it actually leaves via the bottle itself (albeit very slowly)

 

[Vini2ton]

They had cork in them when they were invented in the early 20th century by the crown and cork company. Plastic liners are a recent thing.

Crown and cork company eh? Must check to see if they're still on the stock exchange. I might invest in their fine product. These plastic liners are a passing fad.

 

[BeerIsGood]

It isn't the lids that degas, pet isn't impermeable for co2 so it actually leaves via the bottle itself (albeit very slowly)

Perhaps the gas does leave the bottles, but I'm certain it also leaves via the lids. I've never used PET bottles, but have extensively used glass bottles with PET lids. Saxby's Ginger Beer Bottles are ideal for this. I've found that after 12-18 months more and more of these have low or no gas levels. After about 2 years I'm lucky to have any carbonation left. I still use these bottles, but only for short turnaround brews.

 

[poggor]

i posted this somewhere else, but i found some 2.5 year old bottles in the shed the other day. best homebrew i've ever tasted... temps in the shed vary between 2 and 40c

 

[poggor]

ps. not sure that any beer poured out of a plastic bottle could taste that good!
just my 2 cents!

 

[Edak]

I did a comparison on Thursday night between two bottles of white ale, one in glass and one in a PET bottle. The PET one was less carbonated and actually had the oxidised flavour of wet cardboard, the glass bottle tastes quite nice and had most of the character that I expected from a 7 month old beer. Both were the same batch if anyone asks. I will never be bottling into PET again.

 

[leighaus]

Wise move..

Just drank an 11 year old honey beer with the in-law..m amazing

 

[hwall95]

I brewed for my brothers wedding which was last Sunday and I had four extract that were between 1-5 months old and they all were great. My dad also brewed a coopers kit ginger beer so in total I think we had at least 9-10 cases of homebrew but ended having to drive and get more beer since it was getting drunk too fast which was unexpected from the type of crowd.

If you have enough kegs would definitely and can afford to rent all the glasses, would definitely recommended against bottles as collecting and cleaning 300+ bottles prior is pretty time consuming and then cleaning them after the wedding is even more..

Anyways, goodluck with the wedding and congratulations!