by Ross » Monday Jan 22, 2007 7:57 am
A kegged, force carbonated beer is technically going downhill from day one; even though it can taste better from 1 week to a month or more in the keg. The life span of the beer is down to several factors, eg hygene, quality of ingredients, brewing technique (partial/AG), temperature stored at etc. A beer stored warm is likely to drop off after 1 month, whereas stored at fridge temps 3 months or more. If you treat with something like polyclar (i treat all my beers) the shelf life can be extended by up to 10 times, but in the normal home situation this is not usually neccesary. I have minimum 10 beers on tap at anyone time, so some can be on tap a fair while.
Low alcohol pale beers (as a rule) will also show negative traits far quicker than a higher alcohol or dark beer.
cheers Ross