Refunds for 2015 Regular BCBS and 2015 Prop

I don't think he's trying to replicate any particular storage condition, he's doing an experiment in an attempt to accelerate growth of unwanted contaminants. This would show what the beer will eventually be like given enough time just sitting around in normal storage conditions.

 

Do you think a week of this kind of storage and agitation will make much of a difference? Obviously, if you get a positive (negative, depending on how you're looking at this) result and it tastes like shit, then it worked, but seems most likely to get a false negative here. I know this is just a lark, but I'm curious what kind of length of time would be necessary for the effects to be shown, assuming there is something wrong with every bottle. Maybe I'll put one of mine outside my chest freezer in my Texas garage for the summer and see what happens....for science.

 

Very valid question, and I don't have the best answer to this. I think you make a good point though, and it's worth leaving the beer in the heat for longer. I'm almost tempted to put two bottles in there now and open them at different intervals, but I like this beer too much!!!

If any locals want to sacrifice a BCBS, they're welcome to come partake in the experiment!

 

not a lab tech, but based on my last opened bottle exhibiting a soured scent, & it having been in the fridge for just about 6 mos, i'm guessing his should at least begin to smell *off* after a 160+ straight hours of 90°. will be highly surprised if he can say with a straight face nothing is amiss. personally. i'd probably wear goggles for the so called bottle shaking segments. then again, i wouldn't do the experiment to begin with but more power to the mad scientist.

 

A better control would be to also put a 2014 through the same conditions as well. Not that I'm volunteering any of mine.

 

While I certainly agree something is amiss, I would have expected to get some indication of infection from the last bottle I opened which had been stored at 60 degrees or so for the last six months. I have had my share of infected barrel aged beers through the years, and have yet to see a complete infection where there are so many bottles stored unrefrigerated showing no signs of contamination. I'm more inclined to think the cause is something which would explain only partial contamination, be it an issue with the bottles and caps or an issue with the bottling line.
Considering it appears a bad batch of Coffee was the first thing through the bottling line, I'm inclined to think there may have been some contaminant left in a component or components of the bottling line. This would explain why a batch would test clean and later show as infected, why Prop seems to have a more widespread issue than regular (since it seems to have been next through the bottling line), why the earlier bottling dates seem to have more reports of issues, and why there is such a variance in the quality from bottle to bottle.
This theory is partially based on the rumor that both a portion of Coffee and Barleywine had known issues resulting in a partial dumping. If not, this theory does not explain the issue with the Barleywine.

 

i didn't hear that Barleywine had known issues beforehand like Coffee? i might have missed that - where'd you dig that up from?

if i had to make up the story on what happened i would envision it something like this. first off if it were me & some large amount of coffee tasted off & i had to toss some beforehand - there's NO WAY i'd have put the remainder i thought was o.k. on first - i'm putting it dead last! the 1 scenario i can see them running it first, knowing there was a related issue is them reaching a conclusion they had to get what hadn't gone bad, out of the barrels not now, but right now!

as i said above, it's also my wonder, when they dumped the "off" coffee, whether it was their belief that the off taste was just the coffee not gibing well with the base & barrel influence as time passed, not realizing there really was something more to it than just the coffee itself. when you read the responses throughout, they're consistent in saying their brewers tested & didn't *taste* or find any off flavors. it would seem their QC was based more so whether or not they "tasted" off flavors (early on/beforehand) as opposed to they actually did lab tests to confirm nothing malicious was lurking. again, that line of thinking would make sense if they took for granted the whole issue was just the weird/unique coffee they opted to use, not looking further.

 

Wow. After three days, I've just finished reading through this thread. I dug into a bottle of BCBS last night and it tasted fine. Head was a little light but overall there didn't seem to be any issue. Bottle was from Illinois, purchased about a month after Black Friday.

I checked because I have a case and I was going to have the bottles engraved for the groomsmen in my wedding. It would be a pretty terrible gift if all of the beers started going bad, though I guess the bottles are pretty cool.

I'll check to see the bottling date this evening.

 

Staling/oxidation happens in a matter of a day or two at 100 degrees F, IIRC., less quickly at 90 but a week will be plenty time enough. @JackHorzempa has a graph he posts often in answer to this question.

 

The 1 day equates to 60 degrees C (140 degrees F):

 

I drank my Regal last week and it was sublime.

 

Either a distributor or brewery rep (I think distributor) told several stores in an area which did not receive any Coffee or Barleywine this year that both had issues. This was prior to the stores actually receiving their allotment.

 

Unfortunately, the graph makes it hard to see how many days for 90 degrees F (~32 degrees C)

I agree that a week should affect it pretty seriously, according to the graph, but it looks like at least 20-ish days on the graph.

EDIT: I'm definitely curious in how this turns out.

 

That is how I 'eyeball' it as well.

The 'bigger' message of this graph is that beer is best stored cold (e.g., refrigerator temperatures) for optimum storage. In other words if you have the space and dollars buying a dedicated refrigerator for beer is a very good idea.

Cheers!

 

Any reports of Regal being off? Im drinking one right now and it seems a bit sour. Not sure if its in my head with all this talk or its suppose to be this way. Its been awhile since ive had one.

 

Just finished splitting my first of two Regals with the wife and it's definitely souring. 27OCT15 0752. Smelled like sour cherry and tasted like a slightly heavier infected BCBBW with only the faintest hint of chocolate. Every single BCBBW I had (4-for-4) was sour as was my sole BCBCS. BCBS and its variants are (were?) my favorite line of beers; this fucking sucks.

 

I've got a 27 oct 0945. I'll drink it when I'm ready , if it's bad I pour it, if not I enjoy it. But at my discretion. With fruit IMO it takes a year.

 

Ive got a keg of regular that I took off my kegerator tap a couple months ago. Ill reconnect it soon and report back, but the difference is that it has consistently been stored under refrigerated conditions, both before and after purchase.

 

Drank one last night, bottled 10-15-15. Bought in CA. It was great!

 

Indeed! I was surprised at the slope between fridge and cellar temperature and then again to ~room temp (68F). There has been a lot of good information to come out of all these BC threads, despite probably 100 pages of noise.