Does Seltzer Go Bad?
You bought a pack of hard seltzers, left it in your pantry, and forgot about it.
Here we are, a year, or more, later, and you’re wondering, “does hard seltzer go bad?”
The short answer, thankfully, is no.
But the longer answer is probably the one you want – the one that concerns flavor and safety, among other things.
What Is Seltzer?
First, it is important to remember that we are talking about an alcoholic drink here – hard seltzer.
Many of the rules that apply to other food and drink do not apply to alcohol because alcohol acts as a preservative.
Hard seltzer is the product of fermented sugar.
A cane sugar is selected, boiled in water to dissolve it, and then allowed to cool down.
At that point, yeast is added. The yeast gets right to work consuming all those fermentable sugars in the water and producing alcohol and carbon dioxide as waste products.
Now, most brewers want a clean, clear product, which they simply will not have after yeast has completed fermentation.
Yeast will leave thick, clouds of proteins in the beverage, and the seltzer will likely be an off yellow color as a result.
Thus, the brewer must filter out the yeast and its residuals, leaving us with a clean, clear, alcohol product with a bit of fizz.
For flavor and fun, the brewer will then add a flavoring, usually a fruit of some sort, and extra carbonation, leaving us with a hard seltzer with an ABV hovering around 5%.
The product is usually canned, but it can also be bottled.
Why Do Things Go Bad?
In general, food and drinks go bad because they are considered perishable.
In the same way that yeast is attracted to the sugars in the wort of hard seltzer or beer, yeast and bacteria are also attracted to the sugars and other fresh ingredients in perishable foods.
Yeast and bacteria are the reason you see mold on your leftovers after about a week, why your lettuce wilts and turns slimy, and why milk goes sour.
Yeast and bacteria break down foods, digesting them and preparing them to go back to the earth and make rich soil.
It is actually a miraculous process.
This breakdown can be inhibited or even put off indefinitely by the addition of processed chemicals in labs, which is why processed foods like chips, cookies, and other snack foods don’t go bad for many years.
The breakdown can also be inhibited through natural means like canning and jarring foods or through the addition of salt.
Indeed, beef jerky was invented many thousands of years ago by people who wanted to preserve meat they couldn’t eat right away. They salted it and dried it out, staving off yeast and bacteria.
The other ingredient that will stave off yeast and bacteria is alcohol, which is why so many civilizations have learned to ferment foods.
Fermentation is a form of preservation. We invite the good yeast and bacteria into fresh food or drink in order to stave off the bad yeast and bacteria.
Brilliant.
Does Seltzer Go Bad?
Thus, hard seltzer, which, by the time it becomes hard seltzer contains a good amount of alcohol, will not go bad.
It will not expire in terms of getting covered in mold, bacteria, bad yeast, etc.
Thanks, alcohol.
But, after a certain period of time from production, it will start to go a bit off.
The general rule is that after about 9 months from the production date, you will start to notice the seltzer has gone “bad.”
How to Tell if Seltzer has Gone Bad
If indeed you have noticed your seltzer is past its 9-month mark, you can still try it. Many people will report their seltzer tastes just fine after a year or more from the time they purchased it.
It will depend largely on the seltzer, on your taste buds, and on how you stored it.
In general, all food and drink, including seltzer, will last longer in a cooler environment, so the refrigerator is the best place to store your seltzer.
The warmer the temperature at which your seltzer is kept, the more likely it is to go “bad.”
And your taste buds will have a lot to do with how you interpret “bad.”
At first, you will likely notice the seltzer has gone a bit flat. Carbon dioxide is often the first to go.
Then, you may notice the flavors are duller and less crisp.
On rare occasions, you may find that the drink tastes extremely off; there may be harsh flavors in the brew. In this case, it is likely not a result of the seltzer having gone bad but of something off having gotten into your particular hard seltzer.
It happens to the best of brewers, and just be mindful that if it happens to you, if you notice the flavor is extremely off from what you expect, don’t drink any more of it.
That should go without saying, but there will always be those adventurous souls out to see what will happen if you drink an off beverage anyway.
What Happens if You Drink Bad Seltzer?
Again, because of the alcohol in the beverage, you are highly unlikely to get sick from a “bad” seltzer.
Even an off flavor is unlikely to do you any damage.
But we humans have our sense for a reason, so use yours.
If something is off-putting, your senses are picking up on something. Pay attention.
A good seltzer will give you that familiar pfft sound when it opens, it should be carbonated, and it should taste fresh and crisp.
If any one of those factors is missing, just toss the can and go get another one.
As any experienced brewer will tell you, it is not worth wasting time or energy on bad beer, wine, or liquor.
And that goes for hard seltzer as well.
Cheers!
If you’re interested in finding out how you can use our technology to control fermentation and monitor your yeast, save work hours and improve the cost-efficiency of your business, drop us a line at [email protected] or check out our product pages:
- Oculyze BB 2.0 (Better Brewing) Yeast Cell Counter App + Hardware
- Oculyze FW (Fermentation Wine) Yeast Cell Counter App + Hardware
Also, you can now get access to a fully functional demo account to test our Web App. Completely free of charge and with no commitment to purchase.
Sources:
- https://www.stilltasty.com/fooditems/index/18296
- https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/does-alcohol-expire
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