How long is too long??

[chadjaja]

I know from experiance that wheat beer is ready to drink pretty quickly and is best drunk young.

But for some simple brews I and others might do how long is too long to mature before the taste changes too much to the detrament of the beer??

My beer is stored in a cool garage so I'd say that helps.

I've found my coopers pale ale simple kit brew is best after 2 months. How will it taste after 6 months?

Same for such beers from kits like

Coopers real ale bitter
Coopers mex
Malty pale ale
Coopers draught etc etc.

Has anyone made these and had samples after a decent amount of time such as 4 months??

Just trying to figure out just when I should start making summer beer if it matters at all really.

[Kevnlis]

I find kit beers need at least 4-6 months of age before they are drinkable.

[chadjaja]

I would of thought so too but this draught I sampled tonight consisting of just a Coopers draught tin and BE2 tasted fine after just 5 weeks. I made it for my in laws who are house sitting and not that into 'fancy' beer

I want a good stash of beers for summer but don't have a second fridge to put them in to stall maturation should I decide they have peaked at how I like them.

[BierMeister]

When I first started Kit and Kilo I made a rule that I would wait at least 3 months before drinking a batch as I found after 3 months the beers were loads better. I kept a stock pile and kept up a good rotation enabling me to do so. I am no longer so disciplined and am making All Grain so don't always wait so long, but do find that most beers get better around the 2-3 month mark regardless. The longest I have kept a beer is over 2 years (and counting) and the higher the alcohol content the longer they will keep. The heavier hopped beers will also benefit from a few months storage, as will Stouts and the darker beers with a minimum of 5-6 months for my batches. It is too long when there is a off yeasty/vegemite taste to the beer because the yeast has began to go off. I have only had this once on a honey wheat beer that I used too much sugar/honey and not enough malt which I think lead to unhealthy yeast, though it took a year for the vegemite taste to happen and there was only one bottle left anyway so nothing lost. I think that as long as you are careful with the ingredients and sanitation then you can keep any home brewed beer up to 18 months with out a problem and the flavours will change as you go along. My next batch will be an imperial Russian Stout at about 10.5% which I plan to have a minimum bottle conditioning time of 18 months and hope it will last up to at least 5 years. We'll see