7 year old Dunkel

[Virginia_Ranger]

Found some 7 year old Dunkel in a closet in PET bottles from the dreaded Mr. Beer days. The caps were still on fairly tight, quick swish taste and sniff test it’s still a Dunkel for sure. I wasn’t brave enough to swallow (it was also 11 AM). I think I am going to slowly pour the pet bottles into a small keg and force carbonate. Anyone have experience with beer that old / any threat of illness?

 

[Robert65]

Well, it was in glass bottles and bottle conditioned, but...

When I was cleaning out my parents' basement years ago, I found a couple of cases of beer I reckoned I'd stored there and forgotten during a move at least 15 years earlier. I was force carbing and CP bottling at the time, so I took them home and started dumping them out to salvage the "free" sbottles. Just for scientific purposes, I decided to take a sip. It was still beer. I think it had been a strong Bitter, and it still had a fruity, English yeast taste. Didn't seem autolysed or anything particularly repulsive as I recall. But I kept dumping just to be safe. Maybe shouldn't have. I considered it anecdotal evidence of the ageing potential of bottle conditioned beer. Report back on your experience. (Assuming you survive of course. jk)

 

[Vale71]

Beer cannot harbor any illness that might affect humans.
PET bottles and oxidation is another issue though. Normally I would say that pouring bottled beer into a keg would case severe oxidation but in this case it's utterly redundant.

 

[Virginia_Ranger]

Agreed on oxidation, thinking it can’t hurt at this point. I was thinking though could it be worth a small dry hop in the keg?

 

[smata67]

I have drunk a 7 year old beer. It was a Hibernation Ale from Great Divide that I bought without checking the date at a highly regarded beer store in Athens, GA that I have since found out can have terribly aged stock. It was spoiled and terrible and I did not drink it. And you would think an 8.7% Old Ale would have held up well. My guess is that your beer is spoiled, but if it tasted okay, I would certainly drink it.

 

[Virginia_Ranger]

Currently hooked up and forced carbing, will report back in a week or two!