Buying beer - do you check the production date?

[cyril sneer]

I've recently noticed a difference in taste between bottles produced in January, and ones produced in March

 

Does anyone check the date before buying, or care? Is there a time limit before they start to taste foul?

[worgeordie]

They all make p!ss,so why bother 

regards worgeordie

Edited May 6, 2020 by worgeordie

[Henryford]

I always check, won't buy anything over 3 months old.

[Worldplus]

Don't give a <deleted> what date is...

 

All tastes the same to me...

[Nero Dog]

Stop moaning, just drink it. It's great. 

[tifino]

this sounds the same scenario as as Not Buying a Monday or Friday car!

[Baht Simpson]

I presume we're talking about the common pale lagers, Chang, Leo, Singha etc.  These lagers aren't best left for a long time but a January bottled beer should be fine.

 

What is more important is how it's been stored. Light will affect the taste of beer more than heat. I've seen bottles of Chang left stacked up and left in the sun ??! The light will penetrate lighter bottles like the green Chang ones and will make it taste skunky. I think that beer in cans often tastes fresher.

 

I tend to check the date but I've often purchased bottles that have passed their consume by date and they've been fine. It depends on the quality of the beer.  Pale lagers are not really made to age so drink up. 

 

P.S. If any beer smells or tastes funny pour it away.  There's always others.

Edited May 6, 2020 by Baht Simpson

[Moonlover]

Never check. Bottled beer generally, has a shelf life of 6 to 9 months. I can't envisage any beer staying on the shelf for that long in this county.

 

I think we're talking yet another 'Covid 19' affect here.

[Swiss1960]

Standard depending on the type of beer is 6 month to 2 years non-cooles shelf life. Of course,  if the beer was in a hot warehouse for long time, that will impact the quality.

 

In the past month, lot of resellers probably had no turnover and I would question the storage quality during this time.

 

As I still have enough beer, I can wait few more days till the older production has left the resellers warehouse. It's all about planning ????

 

 

[Kwasaki]

1 hour ago, cyril sneer said:

Does anyone check the date before buying, or care?

Reminds me reading once where a large bottle of 6.4 vol Chang in some kind of visit shop survey where some of the beers tested that had been kept at the back of the self because of owners staff not bothering circulating when restocking 1 of them was tested at 8.9 vol apparently they reckon it just kept brewing the bottle. ????

[villageidiotY2K]

Is that the taste of bloody rust from da cap? 

Anyway suck it like u want it! Yeah baaaby suck it guuud

[Moonlover]

2 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Reminds me reading once where a large bottle of 6.4 vol Chang in some kind of visit shop survey where some of the beers tested that had been kept at the back of the self because of owners staff not bothering circulating when restocking 1 of them was tested at 8.9 vol apparently they reckon it just kept brewing the bottle. ????

That's what's known as 'secondary fermentation'. It can be used in beer or wine making. But only in an open container. if it occurs in a sealed bottle, it could explode. They were very lucky!

[ProbPossConf]

When the ban was lifted and procured my 2 cases of LEO from my neighborhood store, the dates of 20-3-20 were the same as a partially used box not fully filled with empties leftover from before the ban.  The beer still tasted the same.

[Kwasaki]

2 hours ago, Moonlover said:

That's what's known as 'secondary fermentation'. It can be used in beer or wine making. But only in an open container. if it occurs in a sealed bottle, it could explode. They were very lucky!

Yeah I do not claim the story to be true only that it carried on fermentation maybe it had been capped and sometime and placed back on the shelf.

[Moneyhonour]

7 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Reminds me reading once where a large bottle of 6.4 vol Chang in some kind of visit shop survey where some of the beers tested that had been kept at the back of the self because of owners staff not bothering circulating when restocking 1 of them was tested at 8.9 vol apparently they reckon it just kept brewing the bottle. ????

 

4 hours ago, Moonlover said:

That's what's known as 'secondary fermentation'. It can be used in beer or wine making. But only in an open container. if it occurs in a sealed bottle, it could explode. They were very lucky!

A second fermentation in the bottle of a Lager Beer is very small to non, but It is possible. In a nutshell, let me tell you how.

 

A Lager is produced by cooling down the beer during fermentation. In this process the yeast cells who produce the alcohol and C02 going to be inactive and sink to the bottom of the tank.

 

The first thing a brewer is going to do is harvest the yeast from the bottom of the tank to use for the next batch of wort that will become by fermentation beer. 

 

The liquid what is left is a hazy beer with a little amount of yeast cells left.

 

The hazy beer has a temperature of about 0 degree celsius when its going to be filtered. During the filter proces all the inpurities will be filtered out so you will have the clear Amber Nectar without any yeast cells in it.

 

If the filter proces is not good a few yeast cells can come into a bottle and can start a second fermentation when the temperature is right, between 20-37 degrees celsius.

 

So, it is possible but I think this kind of batches do not pass quality control of the brewer. If so you must see a kind of residu on the bottom of your bottle when out of the fridge.

 

 

 

  

[Moneyhonour]

Oh and I forgot to react on the topic; Yes I check production dates of Beer because it is necesarry in Thailand not everybody understand First in First out system of storing beer even the 7-11's

[Moonlover]

5 hours ago, Moneyhonour said:

 

A second fermentation in the bottle of a Lager Beer is very small to non, but It is possible. In a nutshell, let me tell you how.

 

A Lager is produced by cooling down the beer during fermentation. In this process the yeast cells who produce the alcohol and C02 going to be inactive and sink to the bottom of the tank.

 

The first thing a brewer is going to do is harvest the yeast from the bottom of the tank to use for the next batch of wort that will become by fermentation beer. 

 

The liquid what is left is a hazy beer with a little amount of yeast cells left.

 

The hazy beer has a temperature of about 0 degree celsius when its going to be filtered. During the filter proces all the inpurities will be filtered out so you will have the clear Amber Nectar without any yeast cells in it.

 

If the filter proces is not good a few yeast cells can come into a bottle and can start a second fermentation when the temperature is right, between 20-37 degrees celsius.

 

So, it is possible but I think this kind of batches do not pass quality control of the brewer. If so you must see a kind of residu on the bottom of your bottle when out of the fridge.

 

 

 

  

Thanks for that. It could explain why we did, in fact, have a bottle of Chang explode a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't in the fridge and was a hot day.

[Scotssing]

My large bottles of San Miguel Light have a stamp on them saying brewed 18/02/20 and expiry date 18/0221 so obviously San Miguel think they will last a year. I hasten to add they will not

[lee b]

Nope. Beer is beer to me, if it was 100 years past the sell by date, I would still drink it.

[alien365]

I didn't check until I'd stocked up a month or so ago for the ban. My last box of Tiger was brewed in November so I'm finishing that off first. They still taste fine. My Chang were brewed in February so logic dictates they will be ok for at least another three months too. It's always hot here but I keep them out of the sun.

 

In future I will check the dates in the supermarket or Makro. It would feel rude asking from the local seller though.

[scubascuba3]

I had a large fly in a large Chang last year, i always check now

[vogie]

20 hours ago, Moonlover said:

That's what's known as 'secondary fermentation'. It can be used in beer or wine making. But only in an open container. if it occurs in a sealed bottle, it could explode. They were very lucky!

Is it possible to check the final gravity (fg) without knowing the specific gravity (sg), it would seem a very difficult exercise, maybe achievable in a lab, not sure.

[cyril sneer]

6 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I had a large fly in a large Chang last year, i always check now

yes i've heard they can crawl into older bottles

[jimn]

On 5/6/2020 at 4:41 PM, Worldplus said:

Don't give a <deleted> what date is...

 

All tastes the same to me...

Thats way off the mark. Some light tasting beers will be ok, but something with a stronger taste like Tiger for example will start to taste strange. Obviously not a beer connoisseur then obviously

[steelepulse]

3 minutes ago, jimn said:

Thats way off the mark. Some light tasting beers will be ok, but something with a stronger taste like Tiger for example will start to taste strange. Obviously not a beer connoisseur then obviously

I agree.  I can taste the difference in Tiger from batches that a couple months old, compared to batches that are 6 months or older.  Sometimes our local restaurant accepts whatever the wholesaler delivers and doesn't check the dates.  They now know to check after a few of us commenting on the beers tasting bad and the necessity to check dates.

 

That being said, a box I bought before the ban has the exact same date as the box I bought after the ban was lifted, January 31st.  Not the freshest, but not the oldest.

[Yorkshire Tea]

I quit buying bottled beer years ago due to out of date beer.  Buy the large cans now & never had a problem.

[steven100]

9 minutes ago, jimn said:

Obviously not a beer connoisseur then obviously

That's obviously twice in the same short sentence.

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2020 by steven100

[transam]

On 5/6/2020 at 4:34 PM, worgeordie said:

They all make p!ss,so why bother 

regards worgeordie

Yep, they remind me of my driving trips around the US of A................????

 

Was I relieved to find a place that had Bass on tap in Key West....

[scubascuba3]

33 minutes ago, cyril sneer said:

yes i've heard they can crawl into older bottles

I imagine it got in during the production stage as I can't see the fly getting in once the top is on

[stouricks]

23 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Reminds me reading once where a large bottle of 6.4 vol Chang in some kind of visit shop survey where some of the beers tested that had been kept at the back of the self because of owners staff not bothering circulating when restocking 1 of them was tested at 8.9 vol apparently they reckon it just kept brewing the bottle. ????

There is no way to test the ABV of an alcohlic drink once it is made except for mixing it with gunpowder, so I am led to believe.

 

And beer stops fermenting once the yeast has done it's job on the sugar.