RepSpec Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 So its been a while between brews for me, but mainly because i had 3 brews close to each other and ended up with 75 long necks! Ive almost gotten through it all, but some of the flavors have faded off (dry hopped), but they are still good. Question...how long does a beer last in the PET bottles...but how long does your beers tend to last? I had a few brews early that i would give out, but just didnt with these last 3 brews and havent been drinking as much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSands Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 ... how long does your beers tend to last?In my household a batch (23 litres) would typically be consumed in 2 - 3 weeks I guess. Mostly consumed by me' date=' but I do have some help! If I have extra assistance, e.g. a visit from a mate, then a batch might only last 7 - 10 days. [img']cool[/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Youngie Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 A 21 litre batch usually lasts me about 2 months. I keg so I can’t really answer your question about how long beer lasts in PET bottles. Youngie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Away Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 At one point I actually managed to build up a few months of stocks and was drinking beer that was a couple of months old. The IPAs retained a fair bit of their hoppy goodliness - but they had plenty to start with. APAs less so, and my new quaffer (a Stone and Wood Pacific Ale clone) lost most of its character. For this reason I have changed my brewing schedules and I knock out regular batches of the S & W, which I drink fairly "green", and I slot in batches of IPA, which I am happy to age for a few months. The S & W barely gets to 14 days in the bottle before I crack 'em open and a 23l batch lasts about as long as it takes for the next batch to be made... It has been commented on quite a few times in this forum, that ales should be consumed "young" so that the hopiness is preserved, while lagers can be kept much longer and still retain most of their characteristics. One thing I have noticed is that PET bottles lose their carbonation if stored for a longish time, so that is another factor to consider. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 Hard to say, I always put three full kegs on tap at the same time, and there's also a 4th smaller keg that contains a blend of two of the batches that filled the bigger kegs, so all up somewhere around 65-67 litres. Usually this will last me about 2 months unless I have friends over. I don't drink much through the week, usually just a schooner after work; it's the weekends that tend to deplete the stocks more. Never used PET bottles so can't comment on that aspect. Cheers Kelsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImaginativeName Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 I'm not going to answer this, for personal reasons..... Cheers JP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 Me either JP..... I do store /age my beer though, and I have only recently started dry hopping brews but noticed that the hops flavour does seem to subside a bit as it ages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fergy1987 Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 Im 6 bottles in on my first ever brew.....opened the first one last weekend......damn motorsport weekend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerlust Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 Not long. Cheers, Lusty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristinaS1 Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 PET bottles are not air tight. It stands to reason that the beer will eventually go flat and stale, but I don't know how long that takes. Personally I stay away from PET and use glass. Beer will last a long time in glass, six months easily. A really high alcohol beer could be aged for two years. Not all ales need to be drunk young, only those that have a lot of late hop additions, and dry hops. A lot of stouts are better with some age on them. Cheers, Christina. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkC Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 I only use a PET bottles for ginger ale, and they seem to store ok for months. I use Coopers longnecks for beer, and I find that my brews that have sat ignored under the stairs (like Rad Abbot, Dr Smurto's, imperial stout) drink beautifully after a year or more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaffeinatedSentryGnome Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 i have some ginger beer in PET that is well over a year old, ya recon its still good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fergy1987 Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 WHAT! - I didn't know PET bottles lost carbonation if they were sealed :( - But I guess chuck a bottle of coke in the fridge that has been opened and it eventually goes flat. What am I going to do with the 70 bottles I have now :P - Going to have to get people over. Whats the time frame before they start going flat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 Probably over a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuel Rice Posted October 11, 2017 Share Posted October 11, 2017 I make 330 x 750ml longnecks twice a year plus a few stubbies for checking, once in autumn and once in spring when overnight lows aren't too bad. I have been buying coopers tins for 20+ years. I am now drinking beer made last March. The lagers are great with age and I hope I can keep some till summer. I keep my beer in a cool dark place and only resort to refrigeration from about now till autumn brewing time (March/April) I try to keep my costs to a minimum so I don't use heat pads or carbonation drops and only use brewing sugars for stout, which I keep for more than a year. My beer costs about $0.70 a bottle which is about one tenth of the bottle shop price. I am old enough to remember Coopers bitter which was colour coded brown and was a bit hit and miss. When it was good it was very good and being dark was as good in winter room temp as summer from the fridge. My house rule is that any bottle that is emptied is triple rinsed immediately. I don't sterilise my bottles, only vats and gear. I have had only one or two bad batches in the last decade and that's never been from a dirty bottle. There is nothing worse than opening a bottle and smelling rotten avacado! Coopers have done two things which have made me cranky. One was introducing tamper proof lids. I used the old tins and lids in workshop for storage but now have to throw them away. The other was getting rid of colour coding of tins. I have five brewing vats going at once and it was really easy just to chuck a coloured lid on each vat to remind me which was which. I understand how these two things would cut costs, so I'll get over it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted October 11, 2017 Share Posted October 11, 2017 Do you bottle all 330 at once or do you stagger it over a few weeks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuel Rice Posted October 11, 2017 Share Posted October 11, 2017 150 in one go, 150 in next, 30 to finish up (I have five brewing vats) The last 30 are usually still full when I start brewing so I do them a bit later. I do this twice a year. I do it on the weather so one lot matches one weather cycle and the next matches the next good cycle. If the weather is too hot the yeast goes gangbusters and the beer tastes bad. If the weather is too cold (for the type of yeast) the yeast can go dormant and fool you into thinking the brew cycle is finished, so you bottle it all and bottles start exploding later on cos not all the sugar has been gobbled. All in all I have been able to produce good cheap beer with a minimum of effort. I only use glass bottles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 Its great that your system works for you. I hate bottling so that would drive me nuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSands Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 Whats the time frame before they start going flat?I wonder about how much of an issue this REALLY is. I have had a beer in PET's once that was close to 9 months old and others that have made it to 3 or 4 months. No issue with carbonation with any of them. I'm sure I've read of folks that have aged their stouts for much longer periods in PET bottles too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 Its great that your system works for you. I hate bottling so that would drive me nuts.It'd drive me nuts too' date=' I even hated bottling the couple of six packs worth I'd get from 25L batches after kegging the 19L, hence buying the 10L keg to make a mongrel keg with. [img']lol[/img] Seems a bit of a hit and miss system he's using though, but each to their own I guess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoppy81 Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 Whats the time frame before they start going flat?I wonder about how much of an issue this REALLY is. I have had a beer in PET's once that was close to 9 months old and others that have made it to 3 or 4 months. No issue with carbonation with any of them. I'm sure I've read of folks that have aged their stouts for much longer periods in PET bottles too. I bottled a stout 260 days ago in PET bottles and they still have great carbonation and tastes quite nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaffeinatedSentryGnome Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 Its great that your system works for you. I hate bottling so that would drive me nuts.It'd drive me nuts too' date=' I even hated bottling the couple of six packs worth I'd get from 25L batches after kegging the 19L, hence buying the 10L keg to make a mongrel keg with. [img']lol[/img] Seems a bit of a hit and miss system he's using though, but each to their own I guess Yeah ive started just tipping the dregs from 3x23L batches into the 10L keg, all but 1 time it tasted better than the 19L kegs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Captain!! Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 I brew every second Thursday as I work FIFO. I bottle approx 3 cartons and give away about 1 carton of that to guys who appreciate beer. In return they give me feedback on the beers so I can work on the recipes. On my days off I do drink a wee bit. Probably 1.5 cartons for the week off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerzerker Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 My first batch of 11 740ml bottles of Bewitched Amber Ale lasted a day after about a months conditioning... Well, there were 3 of us and we'd been to the Rugby... and then a mate went and got some more beers in and then the girls came round... and well, a good day became a great night and erm... yeah, sorry, off at a tangent there. After a month conditioning in the bottles the beer was bloody great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beervis Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 I find the easy to drink brews never seem to last long, probably because I'm more likely to get assistance with those :P the brews that require more commitment, like stouts and porters last for ages. Months even, I'm not a big drinker anymore so they don't get troubled during the week. So far I've only been using PET - don't have the room or the cash for kegs and haven't got around to switching to glass, but anecdotally I'd say PET isn't ideal, I sometimes get uneven carbonation across the same batch, using drops. Also get the odd flat/dud bottle. Not a huge deal but the only thing I could put that down to is the seal/thread on the bottles not being particularly great. Made a batch of a cascade amber ale (school of hops recipe) which lasted a while and I thought it only got better and better. Maybe it didn't get left that long (comparatively) or maybe I just can't taste dry hops. Makes me wonder if it's even worth dry hopping kits and bits recipes, if it's going in PET at the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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