How long will bottled beer last without refrigeration?
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It depends on the beer and the storage conditions. To start, the stronger and hoppier the beer, the longer it will keep. For instance, a hefeweizen won't keep as long as a barleywine. The temperature is also important. Generally, cooler is better. The main thing is to avoid excessively high (85+) temps. Avoiding temp swings helps, but it's mainly high temps that are your enemy. I've kept 1.100+ bbers like Am. BW and RIS for 10 years at normal room temps and the age just improves their complexity. Of course, you must have excellent sanitation, too. |
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Like Brewchez and Denny have said, avoiding high temperatures and light are the most important parts. I've found that a lot of my "muddy" beers have cleaned up after around a year of storage in a dark ~65F closet. Case in point, I had a pumpkin ale that was neigh undrinkable two years ago, and almost an entire case remained in the closet. This fall I dug it out again and found that all the "pumpkin pie spice" flavors that they always talk about had melded into something surprisingly drinkable. I wouldn't go more than a year or two for low-gravity beers, but I'd say leave it in there, forget about it, and you might be surprised by how well things turn out. |
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BrewYourOwn magazine (Mar/Apr 2011) just did an experiment on how storage temps affect home brew. Their main finding was just as Denny said: high temps will degrade the beer and cause off-flavors. In this experiment the "high temps" were >100° (like in an attic during the summer) for weeks at a time. "Room temp" storage was almost indistinguishable from "Cellar temp" storage. |
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