Shelf life of bottles and kegs

[Stoutman]

Hi all, I'm new to all this stuff, but this board looks like a brilliant resource!

I'm about to start my first ever brew-up of Youngs Harvest Stout. I'm going to go down the bottling route, but I was wondering how long, on average, can I expect home brewed beer to last in bottles or barrels?

What happens over time (ie. what degrades, is it carbonation or flavour)?

Stoutman

[maxashton]

The beer can go stale, simply. Hop flavours diminish, you can get infections if you have a bottom tap and bubbles of air get into the brew.

This being said, i've had kit bitters in a cheap keg for well over 6 months with no ill effect.

[oxford brewer]

The strength of the beer can alter how long they can be left for,the higher the ABV then the longer it should keep for.Also how the beer his handled during racking or bottling will affect its keeping qualitys.
I've had some bottles for 9 months and they have all been ok(and really clear )

[Stonechat]

The oldest homebrew I've got left in the garage are 5 bottles of a Moorhouse's Pendle Witches' Brew clone bottled on 4/6/07. Might have a couple of them tonight

[Garth]

My Dad found a bottle of Brupaks 80/- in the garage last month, I did that kit over two years ago, it was bottled in a clear glass bottle but had been in the dark recesses of the garage and forgotton about.

It was perfectly clear, a deep dark red, and he said it tasted excellent, not like a kit beer at all.