I purchased a 12 pack of swing-top bottles at a decent price. I only now noticed that over time as I drank through the batch, the bottles were less and less carbonated, ranging from perfect carbonation in the early bottles to virtually no carbonation in the later bottles. I've never had an issue with losing carbonation in previous batches in capped bottles, so I can rule out my technique for carbonating. In hindsight I'm starting to think the bottles were …

I know of two classic beers that should be consumed young and taste awful when aged - Belgian Wit and German Hefeweizen. What they obviously have in common is that both are wheat beers. Does that mean that wheat decreases shelf life and tastes better on young beers?

I have some mead in bottles, which have been stored in a reasonably cool, dark place for possibly as much as two years old. I had intended to leave it for about a year for bottle conditioning, but now I'm curious what's likely to have happened after a couple years. Is it still safe to drink, and if so, how tasty is it likely to be?

I have a kegerator setup with CO2 and a tap. Once a keg has been put into the kegerator, how long will it stay good? What can I do to ensure that I get the longest life possible out of a keg once it's been tapped? Is there some way (aside from the flavor changing) to know that it's gone bad? Is the answer to this question different for homebrew kegs than for commercial kegs?

I asked in a prior post about canning wort to have it handy for yeast farming. What would the shelf life be of canned, unfermented wort? Any special steps to extend shelf life, perhaps adding hops? What I'm getting at, is would it be possible to do a huge batch (several gallons) and keep it for a year or two? On the surface it sounds like it would be plausible, as the contents are sterilized in the canning process and …

I'm building a kegerator for my husband as a welcome home from deployment present. I'm going to assemble it in about a month and he's back in about two months. I want to connect everything and tap the beer to make sure there aren't any leaks or problems, but if it sits for about a month, is that going to affect the beer?

Making a batch and for the first time the recipe calls for a whirfloc tablet. From what I understand the tablet assists with settling the haze produced by proteins. I've read a half tablet to 5 gals. What is the expected shelf life? And is this something I should throw in on every batch I make in the future?

I've been reading some forums on probrewer.com, and there seems to be a consensus that bottle conditioned beer lasts longer than force carbonated beer. Why would that be?

I picked up the ingredients for an IPA when I was getting the ingredients for a Milk Stout a while ago. The plan was to have everything at the ready so I could make the IPA shortly after the stout. Well, the Stout was made, but as is often the case, time conspired against me and I've not gotten to the IPA yet. It's been about a month now, and I'm wondering if the yeast and hops I've got are …