Peerless How To Tell If Beer Is Bad
Ask your bartender if thats how its supposed to taste.
How to tell if beer is bad. A beer that has gone stale will have a flat dull off-flavor taste. Remember even if a beer doesnt come out as expected it doesnt mean it will be a bad beer. How To Tell If Beer Is Bad.
You can usually tell when you open the bottle if your beer has gone bad. The smell isnt the only indicator that you get that your beer has gone bad before you actually taste it. Some beers like Heineken are bottled in colored bottles and therefore often get skunky which people tend to enjoy.
When beers are exposed to lights chemical reactions release some sulfur compounds from the hops. A beer is more succeptable to becoming light-struck when ultraviolet light rays permeate the bottle and interact with the hops in the beer. Basically a beer gets skunky when its exposed to the right combo of UV rays and colored glass that doesnt block out the rays.
In some cases bacteria that may have infected the beer wont make it look any different at all at least not in the short amount of time of a fermentation. This infection is usually caused by wild yeast such as Brettanomyces or wild bacteria such as lactobacillus. There are no after-effects from drinking bad beer since no harmful pathogens grow on beer once fully fermented.
When you open the bottle you should hear the normal psssst sound indicating that your beer is fresh and ready to drink. Unless the bottle or can is leaky it will stay safe to use for years. Skunked beer is what most people associate with bad beer.
Typically beer will result in the skunked beer flavor when it is light-struck. You should also see some white foam rising from the liquid after opening lack of foam is another indication that most likely your beer has gone bad. They will come and go as the beer becomes exposed to oxygen removing the airlock or lid are common culprits of oxygen exposure.