What is Oxidation in Beer?

Oxidation results in a stale, cardboard-like taste in your beer.

If you are experiencing this, there are a couple of possibilities:

• If you have been storing your beer for an extended period of time, the beer may have become oxidized. While the bottle cap does provide a nearly airtight seal, air may seep into the bottle over time. If you plan on aging your beer in the bottle for an extended period of time, this is where those oxygen absorbing bottle caps will come in handy.

• The other possible cause of oxidation is the beer being exposed to high temperatures. If you store your beer at room temperature, and you don’t have air-conditioning, it is possible that your beer may become oxidized during the warm summer months.

To avoid this, you can store it in your basement on the floor, where it may be much cooler, or simply refrigerate it.

Once your beer has become oxidized, there is unfortunately no way to fix it.