A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale • Hacker News Board

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#61

Post by ac29 » Sat, Apr 25, 2020, 7:35 AM UTC

synaesthesisx wrote: post #10

themark wrote: post #4

“Executives say draft beer typically stays fresh for between two and six months.” Need to work on this.

Most craft beers, especially those high in terpenes (dry-hopped IPAs come to mind) have flavor drop-off relatively rapidly and are best consumed fresh. Monkish, Fieldwork, Other Half, Tree House etc are some of my favorites but they’re usually bursting with flavor the first two weeks or so. “Drink Fresh”

This is true, but unfortunately most breweries still dont give a bottled/canned on date, so it can be difficult to figure this out (unless there's some secret I'm unaware of). There's at least a couple beers I buy regularly that are great within a month or so, but will be pretty nasty after being on the shelves after a few months.

The only reasonably reliable way I've found to get around this is to buy refrigerated whenever possible, and to look for "what wasnt here last week". Or buy from one of the handful of breweries that does print dates.

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#62

Post by phillc73 » Sat, Apr 25, 2020, 7:36 AM UTC

z3t4 wrote: post #52

vaxman wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Covid-19 is linked to AKF (search). As an older hacker (not a Boomer), I can tell you that the kids who setup microbreweries back in the day first tried to escape into project management and then wound up...not-in-tech.

Searching an acronym is like reversing a weak hash... they should be spelled out. When searching AKF I got mostly results about church organisations.

I think it's Acute Kidney Failure, but I can't completely decipher the rest of the comment.

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#63

Post by phillc73 » Sat, Apr 25, 2020, 7:40 AM UTC

cthalupa wrote: post #40

robochat wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought that the whole point of Indian Pale Ale was that it would last longer, as in it would survive a sea voyage from England to India in the 1800s (6 months)

It would go unspoiled, which is a bit different of a thing than tasting it's best. Grain has quite a bit of lactic acid producing bacteria in it, on top of it's just being readily available in nature in general, so breweries naturally have a ton of it around. Most common lacto and pedio bacteria, the primary two type of LAB, is not very tolerant to hops. If you make a really hoppy beer, this naturally helps prevent t…

Maybe IPAs were meant to taste as they did after a long voyage to India. Maybe at the end of the voyage was when they tasted their best. Maybe the hops were just a preservative and nobody really liked drinking beer with overly strong hop flavours and aromas.

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#64

Post by rudiv » Sat, Apr 25, 2020, 7:46 AM UTC

rawoke083600 wrote: post #8

We here in South Africa, we have actually banned the sale of alcohol and cigarettes while in lock-down for almost a month now.

Same in a lot of parts of India, sale of liquor is prohibited in the union COVID guidelines, although I'm told there are some states where liquor stores have been reopened.

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#65

Post by TeMPOraL » Sat, Apr 25, 2020, 7:50 AM UTC

toyg wrote: post #48

pugworthy wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate your second paragraph. That said I couldn’t help think, “A New Problem Sours the Malt Vinegar Industry: One Million Kegs Are Sitting Idle“

Vinegar can actually get better with age.

"It's not idle, it's appreciating."

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#66

Post by mister_hn » Sat, Apr 25, 2020, 8:07 AM UTC

Why don't they give the for free to charities?

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#67

Post by Falkon1313 » Sat, Apr 25, 2020, 8:21 AM UTC

gumby wrote: post #38

My son in college (well in his apt with his gf, taking classes online) could easily take care of one before it expired. Hell, we could too. In Germany we had the “beer man” who would drop off beer weekly and collect the empties. This should be adopted in the USA.

The local beer store here is doing daily deliveries now, including kegs. They don't say whether they pick up the empty kegs, but if they're bringing a new one they might.

Of course it's geared toward craft brew snobs, so not really a general thing. But it's one step closer than we had before.

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#68

Post by chucky_z » Sat, Apr 25, 2020, 8:27 AM UTC

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #45

brailsafe wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the reason that beer could be like wine. If you don't like wine, I imagine beer could be a decent option to have a neat collection of

This already exists. It's mainly focused on high-strength (10% and up) dark beers. Think imperial stout, triple bock, that sort of thing. The exeception to this rule is that beers with added acidity, like a lambic or a Berliner weisse, will age well despite being lighter and lower alcohol content. I have a few like this sitting in the basement. At least one of them has a label recommending at least one year and up to…

I had two bottles of a beer like that (Hunahpu), I drank one right away and aged the second for two years. The first one was an excellent beer, the second one was the best beer I've ever had in my entire life.

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#69

Post by dluan » Sat, Apr 25, 2020, 8:34 AM UTC

rawoke083600 wrote: post #8

We here in South Africa, we have actually banned the sale of alcohol and cigarettes while in lock-down for almost a month now.

And suddenly grocery stores are setting up displays of pineapples, sugar, and yeast.

Re: A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

#70

Post by voidfunc » Sat, Apr 25, 2020, 8:40 AM UTC

phillc73 wrote: post #63

cthalupa wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would go unspoiled, which is a bit different of a thing than tasting it's best. Grain has quite a bit of lactic acid producing bacteria in it, on top of it's just being readily available in nature in general, so breweries naturally have a ton of it around. Most common lacto and pedio bacteria, the primary two type of LAB, is not very tolerant to hops. If you make a really hoppy beer, this naturally helps prevent t…

Maybe IPAs were meant to taste as they did after a long voyage to India. Maybe at the end of the voyage was when they tasted their best. Maybe the hops were just a preservative and nobody really liked drinking beer with overly strong hop flavours and aromas.

My theory is that people who like these extremely hoppy IPAs have (1) lost their ability to taste more subtle flavors, (2) are performing some kind of signalling to their fellow beer connisseur peers about how much of a beer geek they are.