Guest Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 Ive just had my brother in law down for a week, every time he comes down we drink our way through stored bottles of brews. (I keep 1 from every batch). All of these beers are stored in the cellar quite cool, I used to do quite a bit of playing with kits to 'tart' them up a bit with the usual suspects but I found it really hard to distinguish between them all (20 to 30 different batches) They pretty much all tasted the same, the youngest of them would have been 12 months old. No Hop flavour or Aroma... nil... nada.. [crying] WTF happened to my once tasty brews? I may have to stop this practice as it wasnt as enjoyable as I hoped it would be. Oh well, at least I have the bottles back... Now I can fill then with a delicious IPA this week and a IIPA next week [ninja] Yob ed: and yes I know hop flavour fades with time but I did expect there to be SOMETHING still there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 14, 2012 Author Share Posted September 14, 2012 I have had the same trouble with all my brews loosing hop flavour quickly since i started adding malt and specialty grains. I never had a problem when using crappy old dextrose the flavour of hops remained after 6 months i once saved a Aus Bitter for. I still think what i am doing with malt and grains now is better and just means i can only save a brew for a few months which is no problem as i brew when i can and drink it when its about 4 to 6 weeks anyway as i dont like the frequent tem changes in my shed where they are stored. This really suprised me to read this coming from you yob as i thought the amount of hops you put in your beer would be flavoured for years. [lol] im about to chuck 14 P.E.T bottles of english bitter for same reason 3 months old and all i can taste is the crystal malt [sick] way to sweet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ash Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 Ive just had my brother in law down for a week, every time he comes down we drink our way through stored bottles of brews. (I keep 1 from every batch). All of these beers are stored in the cellar quite cool, I used to do quite a bit of playing with kits to 'tart' them up a bit with the usual suspects but I found it really hard to distinguish between them all (20 to 30 different batches) They pretty much all tasted the same, the youngest of them would have been 12 months old. No Hop flavour or Aroma... nil... nada.. [crying] WTF happened to my once tasty brews? I may have to stop this practice as it wasnt as enjoyable as I hoped it would be. Oh well, at least I have the bottles back... Now I can fill then with a delicious IPA this week and a IIPA next week [ninja] Yob ed: and yes I know hop flavour fades with time but I did expect there to be SOMETHING still there Yob was your hrews in PETS or Glass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 14, 2012 Author Share Posted September 14, 2012 Ive never put a single beer into plastic. I just thought I'd share this to save others making the same mistake.. Drink it... Drink it all. I will however be saving some (AG) that are cold carbed, From what I understand cold carbing and storage can greatly contribute to long term flavour stability. Will be interesting to see if my AG beers exhibit the same characteristics after 12 months. Yob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamB8 Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 storing beer is over rated [devil] Unless or course your making big Belgiums and Plambics which dont rely on hop charector. Drop the bottles and get a 3 month keg rotation going...That reminds me Ive got a parcel to send out to you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 Drink it... Drink it all. Now this is a piece of advice I have no problem following! [love] I'm a bit of a hop head, so I like to start going through my brews while the aroma and flavor hops are still nice and fresh. Actually, very few of my brews make it past two months. Obviously this has to do with the fact that I only have one FV, and that I prefer to keep the ABV moderate, somewhere between 4 and 5.5 percent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordEoin Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 It's good you made this thread, 'cos I've been doing the exact same in keeping one bottle from every batch. I was wondering how long is 'too long' and based on what you say, it looks like I might start working my way through them. hopefully it'll give me some inspiration for upcoming brews. After about 6 weeks conditioning, I generally don't notice much of a difference in the beer anyway and i'm slowly running out of longterm storage space... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 G'day guys. I would think the time frame would have to be relative to the style of beer brewed. Less complex, lighter beers, with simpler flavours you would think reach their suitable drinking times earlier than say the heavier styles such as stouts & bocks & dark ales. I personally drink mainly Pale Ales & Lager type beers & maintain a stock level of 3-4 months worth of pre-brewed beer, & am happy with the flavours I achieve from the beers once they have reached that age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeonardC2 Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Yup,beerlust. Bigger beers with higher ABV can be aged well. I think about 7% on up myself. APA,IPA,& most pale ales will only be balanced for a couple months in the bottle. About 7-8 weeks in my experience. You need high alcohol to make them celler well. Lighter ABV's will be wasted,basically. Hop flavor discipates over a couple months,& all theat remains is any bittering from their time in the BK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 17, 2012 Author Share Posted September 17, 2012 Not sure I agree fully with this.. Ive had beers come into their own at between 3-6 months of age, just didnt hold up to the 12 month test. As stated, there are factrs other than ABV that come into play for long term flavour stability, storage temps being one of them. The same beer treated to storage at 4'c will taste different than the same beer stored at ambient with temp swings regardless of ABV (or style to a large degree) Yob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
***** Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 The same beer treated to storage at 4'c will taste different than the same beer stored at ambient with temp swings regardless of ABV (or style to a large degree) Yob I bottled a Fruit Salad Ale on 15/11/2011. Last Sunday I found the last long neck in my beer fridge, that's about 9 months in the fridge. The hop character was still there and the beer was much better than it was at 3 - 5 months. Perhaps being in the fridge at 4'C preserved the hop flavours while time in the bottle helped the beer mature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 17, 2012 Author Share Posted September 17, 2012 BN Podcast on Staling Beer well worth the listen. Yob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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