Answers.Body: <p>Bottle conditioned beers definitely have longer shelf-lives than their pasteurized/filtered counterparts - the yeast helps scavenge oxygen and release sulphites to stop free radicals (such as from lipid breakdown) from staling the beer. </p>
  
  <p>The yeast can survive for decades - Guinness <a href="http://zythophile.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/bottle-ageing-beers-the-donts-and-dos/" rel="noreferrer">observed</a> yeast still alive in the bottle after 35 years!</p>
  
  <p>How long a bottle conditioned beer can be aged for and, thus how soon you should drink, comes mainly down to </p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>the alcohol percentage - stronger beers age better, and</li>
  <li>the color - darker beers age better than lighter ones</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>While a light beer may be best consumed within 5 years, darker beers can be aged much longer than that. </p>
  
  <p>See</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><a href="http://zythophile.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/bottle-ageing-beers-the-donts-and-dos/" rel="noreferrer">bottle aging beers - do's and don'ts</a></li>
  </ul>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-02-05T22:31:54.973Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-02-05T22:31:54.973Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: mdma
Answers.Body: <p>Quite the opposite, bottle conditioned beer is perfect for aging. The yeast carbonates the beer and will produce slight changes over time, like upping the ABV. This needs to be done in climate controlled environments similar to wine. The yeast will settle to bottom and you want to avoid pouring this into your glass when finished. </p>
  
  <p>I brewed a Imperial honey stout and aged a few bottles at 68f for about a year for my birthday. The beer started at about 7.2 ABV The beer finished at over 9 ABV (this is because the yeast had plenty of starch to munch on and the carbonation was not affected. </p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-02-05T19:40:49.413Z
Answers.Text: How do you know the beer went from 7.2 to over 9% abv? That much sugar converted to alcohol would represent over 15 volumes of CO2, which would easily break a glass bottle (above 4 vols CO2 and you need champagne bottles). Priming sugar additions to carbonate a beer typically acount for 0.2-3% alcohol in the beer.
Answers.UserDisplayName: mdma
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-02-05T21:28:06.250Z
Answers.Text: THe ABV calculations are quite easy as I used the OG and read the final gravity before bottling and after it aged. This could be due to the fact that the beer was not fully fermented when i bottled.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Waitkus
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-02-05T21:47:10.033Z
Answers.Text: There has to be a mistake somewhere - converting sugars to CO2 to produce 1.8% abv would produce a colossal amount of carbon dioxide and more pressure than a glass or plastic bottle can withstand.
Answers.UserDisplayName: mdma
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-02-05T15:41:52.860Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-02-05T15:41:52.860Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Waitkus
Answers.Body: <p>In addition to Waitkus his answer I would like to note that the perfect time to drink a beer depends on the type, brand and most importantly taste. There is also a difference when storing larger bottles. For instance a 75 cl Duvel bottle (or larger) can be stored easily for several years, whereas the smaller bottles of the same beer don't fair too well. </p>
  
  <p>Other beers, mostly heavier abbey beers allow for prolonged storing. For instance an Orval changes taste quite drastically once you have stored it for about 1 - 2 years. I've even seen these beers being stored for 30 years and still being drinkable (although you needed to pour it very carefully as there was a lot of cediment). The monks of Westmalle even have 35 year old beer on site for their own consumption.</p>
  
  <p>In regards to taste, they tend to become heavier, stronger in taste, sometimes a bit more sour. They also loose a bit of their carbonation (very old beers).  </p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-02-05T20:07:58.787Z
Answers.Text: perhaps you could also comment on this question - http://beer.stackexchange.com/questions/521/does-bottle-size-affect-aging-or-storage. The accepted answer indicates size doesn't make a difference.
Answers.UserDisplayName: mdma
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-02-05T20:36:04.757Z
Answers.Text: I've only had that experience with this particular beer though (Duvel).
Answers.UserDisplayName: Lucas Kauffman
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-02-05T18:49:21.107Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-02-05T18:49:21.107Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Lucas Kauffman
Body: <p>Just wondering how a bottle conditioned beer will change over its life - if at all? And is there a perfect time to drink one? Also do different types change differently?</p>
  
Tags: <taste><aging><bottle-conditioning>
Title: Should bottle conditioned beers be consumed quickly after purchase and do they carry on changing taste for a while?
UserDisplayName: Mat Evans
ThreadText: # Should bottle conditioned beers be consumed quickly after purchase and do they carry on changing taste for a while?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2014-02-05)
  
  Just wondering how a bottle conditioned beer will change over its life - if at all? And is there a perfect time to drink one? Also do different types change differently?
  
  **Tags:** taste, aging, bottle-conditioning
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 3 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2014-02-05. Score: 13
  
  Quite the opposite, bottle conditioned beer is perfect for aging. The yeast carbonates the beer and will produce slight changes over time, like upping the ABV. This needs to be done in climate controlled environments similar to wine. The yeast will settle to bottom and you want to avoid pouring this into your glass when finished.
  
  I brewed a Imperial honey stout and aged a few bottles at 68f for about a year for my birthday. The beer started at about 7.2 ABV The beer finished at over 9 ABV (this is because the yeast had plenty of starch to munch on and the carbonation was not affected.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: How do you know the beer went from 7.2 to over 9% abv? That much sugar converted to alcohol would represent over 15 volumes of CO2, which would easily break a glass bottle (above 4 vols CO2 and you need champagne bottles). Priming sugar additions to carbonate a beer typically acount for 0.2-3% alcohol in the beer.  
  > **username_2**: THe ABV calculations are quite easy as I used the OG and read the final gravity before bottling and after it aged. This could be due to the fact that the beer was not fully fermented when i bottled.  
  > **username_1**: There has to be a mistake somewhere - converting sugars to CO2 to produce 1.8% abv would produce a colossal amount of carbon dioxide and more pressure than a glass or plastic bottle can withstand.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2014-02-05. Score: 9
  
  In addition to username_2 his answer I would like to note that the perfect time to drink a beer depends on the type, brand and most importantly taste. There is also a difference when storing larger bottles. For instance a 75 cl Duvel bottle (or larger) can be stored easily for several years, whereas the smaller bottles of the same beer don't fair too well.
  
  Other beers, mostly heavier abbey beers allow for prolonged storing. For instance an Orval changes taste quite drastically once you have stored it for about 1 - 2 years. I've even seen these beers being stored for 30 years and still being drinkable (although you needed to pour it very carefully as there was a lot of cediment). The monks of Westmalle even have 35 year old beer on site for their own consumption.
  
  In regards to taste, they tend to become heavier, stronger in taste, sometimes a bit more sour. They also loose a bit of their carbonation (very old beers).
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: perhaps you could also comment on this question - http://beer.stackexchange.com/questions/521/does-bottle-size-affect-aging-or-storage. The accepted answer indicates size doesn't make a difference.  
  > **username_3**: I've only had that experience with this particular beer though (Duvel).  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2014-02-05. Score: 5
  
  Bottle conditioned beers definitely have longer shelf-lives than their pasteurized/filtered counterparts - the yeast helps scavenge oxygen and release sulphites to stop free radicals (such as from lipid breakdown) from staling the beer.
  
  The yeast can survive for decades - Guinness [observed](http://zythophile.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/bottle-ageing-beers-the-donts-and-dos/) yeast still alive in the bottle after 35 years!
  
  How long a bottle conditioned beer can be aged for and, thus how soon you should drink, comes mainly down to
  
  * the alcohol percentage - stronger beers age better, and
  * the color - darker beers age better than lighter ones
  
  While a light beer may be best consumed within 5 years, darker beers can be aged much longer than that.
  
  See
  
  * [bottle aging beers - do's and don'ts](http://zythophile.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/bottle-ageing-beers-the-donts-and-dos/)
  
  
  ---
  
  