Sotring Beer?

Rhino

I'm friends with the beer store owner and he can get me a great deal on some beer. The only catch is that a) it's a one time thing and b) it's a lot of up front money (but per bottle/case it's really cheap).

The amount of beer I'm talking about is more then I could drink in two or three months (but will be great for holidays and other family functions where large amounts of beer are needed). So what I'm wondering is a) how to store it and b) how long will it keep before going bad?

My friend (the beer store owner) says that wine keeps really well, as does mead and most hard liquors; but said that beer goes bad fast and he doesn't keep anything in his storage more then a month (because he is in the business of selling it). He says you can probably store it longer then a month or two, but no guarantees.

bsjezz

it depends on the specific beer a bit i'm sure and the quality will probably degrade over time, but i've heard you can reasonably drink it up to a year after it's first bottled. keep it out of the direct light and in as cool a place as possible, and you should be set - it's already september, and if you get through christmas and new years on the back of a good stash of the stuff, you've probably already saved yourself a small fortune.

how much of it is there, out of interest? i drink beer pretty steadily but if i get a case i go through it in about two weeks, and that's just normal working weeks. i'm frothing a little bit imagining this vast cavern of beer that will put you through to the other side of the holidays

SanderJK

Light is the worst for any beer not packaged in dark brown bottle (or in a can). It will slowly oxidate anyway though, and change taste. A quick google gives a 3 month guideline for lagers. The changed taste doesn't mean it's unhealthy in general.

If we're talking Trappist beers (The ones that refermentate in the bottle), then it's a different story. Supposedly, they get better tasting over time, but again, the taste does change.

Djeet

If any of the beer is unfiltered I'd drink that first (look for sediment in the bottle, though it should say on the label). Unfiltered Wheats, Hefe's and Belgian White's can go bad pretty quickly and should be drunk fresh, I'm sure there are others but those I've had personal experience drinking after they got skunky; they aren't going to hurt if you drink them after they've turned, they just sour.

American light lagers will probably take the longest to get undrinkable (though some might think they're undrinkable when fresh :P).

winter_combat_knight

I think beer can last a while before going bad, but make sure its kept in a place away from heat. I know from expierience i had beer which was around 4-5 months old. It didnt taste bad, but it was a little odd. This was cheap ass beer as well. Also, i dont know if it helps, but maybe try refridgerating some of it.

Grobian

The big difference in how long it'll keep good is in the brewing process. Beer brewed with top-fermenting yeast will go bad faster. Bottom-fermenting yeast is used for Lagers (and Pils). I always heard 3-6 months for keeping beer, so 3 months for top-fermenting, 6 for bottom-fermenting yeast. The problem is, that you can't really know when the beer was brewed. In Germany we have a "Best before"-date on the bottles.

Keep it cool and dark, you will see and taste if a beer has gone bad. If you do drink a bad beer, you'll probably get diarrhea or stomach problems.

Djeet

Keep it cool and dark, you will see and taste if a beer has gone bad. If you do drink a bad beer, you'll probably get diarrhea or stomach problems.

Yes the 1st part is right, keep it cool and dark. But the second part is incorrect. Drinking old beer will not make you sick it will just taste off. Drinking a lot of beer (old or fresh) will make you sick, but that's just good old mild alcohol poisoning. If you're going to buy a lot of beer and store it pick brown bottles, in cases (completely boxed in cardboard) or picked anywhere other than top shelf or front of rack to minimize total exposure to light.

Beer is not an environment that will support bacteria that will make you sick (hit up DIY home brewer sites for more info). Some bacterial contaminants can get into been during the brewing or racking process. They will excrete waste products into the beer to make it taste bad. But if you can choke it down, it won't make you sick any more than normal beer.

whuppins

I could be way off, but it seems to me that if you're swinging a deal to buy several months' worth of beer in bulk, then it's probably not super-high class beer to begin with. Don't Budweiser or some of the more mainstream brands have "freshest by" or whatever dates stamped on the bottle nowadays? A trip to your local grocery store can probably give you an idea of what the shelf life is supposed to be.

Personally, I've drunk beer that's 6 months-plus and I didn't notice a difference. I'm not really a beer drinker, though, so who knows.

RedDawn

180 days is generally accepted for US domestic beer. It should be stored in a a cool dark place. I wouldn't go much over that or it will taste off.

Grobian

Djeet wrote: »

Keep it cool and dark, you will see and taste if a beer has gone bad. If you do drink a bad beer, you'll probably get diarrhea or stomach problems.

Yes the 1st part is right, keep it cool and dark. But the second part is incorrect. Drinking old beer will not make you sick it will just taste off. Drinking a lot of beer (old or fresh) will make you sick, but that's just good old mild alcohol poisoning. If you're going to buy a lot of beer and store it pick brown bottles, in cases (completely boxed in cardboard) or picked anywhere other than top shelf or front of rack to minimize total exposure to light.

Beer is not an environment that will support bacteria that will make you sick (hit up DIY home brewer sites for more info). Some bacterial contaminants can get into been during the brewing or racking process. They will excrete waste products into the beer to make it taste bad. But if you can choke it down, it won't make you sick any more than normal beer.

I meant to say "you'll probably get diarrhea at the worst". Bad beer can be sour and that can screw with your digestive tract.

EggyToast

I had a 6 pack of Dogfish Head beer in my fridge for about 2 months after my wedding, because my wife and I don't drink beer. It's a microbrewery in Delaware. Anyway, we were able to push a pair of bottles on a couple whenever they came over, because they *did* drink beer, but there were 2 bottles that made it past the 2 month line. They both got some seriously chunky stuff in them, and were essentially "no good." Our friends took a taste and we threw them out.

If you don't think you can finish it off in a couple months, you may want to pass. Throwing away part of the lot would drive the actual cost of the beers you drink up significantly.

whuppins

EggyToast wrote: »

I had a 6 pack of Dogfish Head beer in my fridge for about 2 months after my wedding, because my wife and I don't drink beer. It's a microbrewery in Delaware. Anyway, we were able to push a pair of bottles on a couple whenever they came over, because they *did* drink beer, but there were 2 bottles that made it past the 2 month line. They both got some seriously chunky stuff in them, and were essentially "no good." Our friends took a taste and we threw them out.

If you don't think you can finish it off in a couple months, you may want to pass. Throwing away part of the lot would drive the actual cost of the beers you drink up significantly.

I'm not contradicting you, but I will reiterate what I (and others) have mentioned: The shelf life for mass-produced beer is probably very different from that for small breweries. If the OP would mention what brand(s) he was going to get, we all might be able to give better advice.

JebusUD

Don't let the beer heat up ever. If it heats beyond a certain point it will skunk the beer.

As long as it can stay cool you should move it to a cool lightless area to store it. A basement should be fine.

tsmvengy

Keep it in a cool dark place like a basement - and don't refrigerate it and then let it warm up, it will taste bad. I think 6 months is usually the time you can store the stuff for most beers.

JebusUD

tsmvengy wrote: »

don't refrigerate it and then let it warm up, it will taste bad.

as long as it doesn't go above the skunking temperature it should be fine

http://media.www.ualbanyezine.com/media/storage/paper685/news/2007/03/07/DiningInAlbany/The-Science.Of.skunking-2758119.shtml

The science of skunking wrote:

One of the most common myths regarding beer skunking comes from the belief that cycling the temperature the beer is stored at (from cold to warm and back again, or vice versa) will cause it to "go bad". An excess of heat can cause the beer to go bad, but keeping it cold and allowing it to warm up to room temperature before chilling it has very little affect as long as the beer is still sealed (protected from oxygen) and kept in the dark.

Sheep Have Wool

I brew beer, and, as stated, if you gave a brand, we can give you a better idea of how long you can keep it - the difference is huge. Wheat beer starts to go downhill after a couple months, and some barleywines can be aged for years.

And temperature control isn't TOO much of an issue - it's really about keeping the beer away from light. I regularly store beer for several months at a time while it conditions at room temperature, but I usually let them sit in the fridge for 2 days or so before drinking so the carbon dioxide levels have time to adjust.