Keeping Your Brews at Their Best

Like wine, beer can mature over time.  Unlike your finest reds and whites, lagers and ales do not quite possess the same shelf life.  Most beers last 3-6 months before spoiling.  What can you do to keep your beer tasting fresh, even when you are not looking to keep it for months at a time?  I have found some tips to keeping your brews at their best.

Put a cork in it!  Opening a bottle of beer is a commitment.  The longevity is compromised with the release of the "psshh" sound from under the cap.  Air is one of the major enemies to beer and thankfully corks (pictured left) are here to save the day.  Once opened, the carbonation dissipates and particles of air will react with what is left in the bottle.  After only a few hours you can be left with is just unpalatable brown liquid.  If you are using natural corks, like those shown, be sure that they are inserted at least a half-inch in (go ahead, make your "That's what she said" jokes) and is clean.  Plastic and other synthetic materials are now used to make corks.  Thankfully, they are not too expensive.  Check out some prices here.

Round here, we always stand up straight.  Keep the air out, keep the beer up (Sue & Frank, this is for you).  Yeast should remain at the bottom of your bottles.  When poured, the yeast more easily and more evenly permeates through the beer rather than creating a more complex, and potentially repugnant, taste.  Additionally, beer can easily oxidize when on its side flowing against the cap or cork.  A wine blogger that I am connected with once compared the cork taste to licking a moldy basement.  No thanks.

Turn away from the light!  Although beer is not passing to the afterlife, you certainly want to avoid the light as much as possible.  Ultraviolet light exposure is one of the top contributors to beer spoilage...also known as skunked.  Both visible and invisible light break down beer components creating new chemical compounds.  In fact, one of the ethyl compounds created is a constituent of actual skunk spray.  Gross, but applicable.  Storing bottled beer in either the cardboard holders or brown bags may help prevent this.

Just keep it cool, boy, real cool.  Besides being incredibly brisk, cold beer is fresh beer.  Higher the ABV, the higher the tolerance for warmer temperatures (bulleted summary below).  A constant temperature environment is best.  But for those of us who are not blessed with beer cellars in their homes, a refrigerator will do.

• 55-60° for stronger beers such as barleywines, tripels
• 50-55° for standard ales such as lambics, dobblebocks, stouts
• 45-50° for lighter beers such as lagers, wheats, pilsners

I hope these tips help you maintain long lasting libations.  Slainte!