Beer shelf life

[crazychicken]

Any ideas regarding shelf life of beer?

Variables?

CC

[Glass]

Heat is probably your biggest variable and the type of beer as well. Many beers are not fermented with alcohol creation in mind and alcohol is added.

Caveat: I know Australian beers are brewed this way. industrial alcohol is added during the bottling phase. This is why I drink european brewed and bottled beers. Imports basically.

So temp will affect the beer if it is a properly fermented beer. Chilling these types of beers slows or stops the fermentation process. Fermentation can only go so far and at some point the beer will spoil. I have had beers at around 9% to 10% and they are hard to drink. Completely different to a wine which will be around 11-12%.

Extreme temp will obviously spoil it. I can't say how high but I'd suggest you want to be below 25C.

In the old days, our local brewery used to warehouse their brews for 3 months before distribution. It was a problem at Christmas which is both our hot and thirsty time of year and obviously a major celebration season. It made things difficult for them because of the volume they would need to warehouse to meet the seasonal demand. Thats why they went to adding alcohol instead of fermenting it. It's also more neurologically toxic but that's another story.

Not sure I helped any but I guess a few months is pretty viable if the beer is cool enough to halt fermentation, if it is that type of beer. There are lots of home brew forums. They would be a good place to go and perhaps that is a better idea. To have the ingredients, containers and skills to brew beer. Would make you mighty popular for sure. Still, a still might be another option. You can just jar that stuff up in any old kind of jar, pickles etc.

[SLV^GLD]

Actually, the higher the abv the better they will store.
For longer term storage you should be looking at a baseline abv of 8%.

Many fine beers indicate peak storage times.
Depending on base ingredients and style peak times range from 2 years to 10 years or more with 5 years being more or less an average. Practically any beer can store well for 2 years given good conditions. Refrigeration works well primarily because temperature range is tightly maintained. Consistent temperature is important for any type of storage exceeding 6 months. Lower temperatures are less deleterious than higger temperatures but aging characteristics can be enhanced or accelerated with temperatures outside typical refrigerated temps (<45F) such as cellar temps or wine refrigerators (50F-60F).

Store beer standing up. Laying it on its side can foul the cap and therefore the beer and can cause the cap to leak. Also, the side laying beer has a much greater surface area exposed to the air inside the bottle which has been said to be a no no throughout the ages.

Don't forget to check on your beer from time to time to make sure nothing has gone awry and to remind yourself to drink it every now and then.

[BrewTech]

This is a decent overview...

http://hubpages.com/hub/Beer-Cellaring-Basics

(I would give a bunch of my own opinion on the subject, but I have a job now I have to get to... this working thing is really cutting into my screwing-off time...)

[crazychicken]

Thanks for the information.

I appreciate it.

CC

[RUSH.IS.A.BAND]

How about, say, 10 cases of Pabst Blue Ribbon, in cans, in two stacks of 5 ( as to not crush) in a 65 degree basement ? Being a mass produced lighter beer, how long would it store for, in those conditions, before they went bad? I thought about stocking up.

Thanks

[Dogman]

do not if this would help .

In the past , had 2 cases of Budweiser (can) that spent 2 years in my shop forgotten. And when found
most of them lost pressure and spoiled. Always wondered it cans were totally gas tight and the cases that
I had were from a bad lot?

[SLV^GLD]

How about, say, 10 cases of Pabst Blue Ribbon, in cans, in two stacks of 5 ( as to not crush) in a 65 degree basement ? Being a mass produced lighter beer, how long would it store for, in those conditions, before they went bad? I thought about stocking up.

Thanks
I wouldn't recommend storing cans 5 deep and I wouldn't recommend storing them for more than 2 years and that would be pushing it. In less than ideal conditions the cans will leak after the 1st year. Bottles are going to avoid the leakage issue and under your conditions you could probably keep it 2 years max because 65F is pretty high for that sort of thing.