How long can you store homemade iced tea in the fridge?

With homemade iced tea made from black tea and lemon, you can easily go 3-4 days in the fridge, sometimes even a week if everything was clean. The lemon actually helps as a natural preservative. But it's important that the bottle was really clean and you filled it with cooled tea - if the tea was still warm, that promotes bacterial growth. And how often you open the bottle and stick your hand in there matters too.

After a week I personally wouldn't drink it anymore, even if it doesn't obviously smell bad. Eventually the flavor just gets bland or weird, the tea oxidizes. If you notice it smells musty, has flecks in it, or tastes strange, then toss it. If you want to keep supplies for longer, I'd rather freeze larger batches or just make it fresh each time.

Don't store it in the bottle you've been drinking from - bacteria will get in quickly and the tea will go bad much faster. Best to use a clean glass bottle with a lid that you've rinsed briefly with hot water beforehand.

Your iced tea will keep for about 3 - 5 days then, depending on how clean everything was and whether the bottle really seals properly. The lemon actually helps a bit because the acidity has a preserving effect. After a week I wouldn't drink it anymore - it starts to taste off or smells slightly musty. One trick a lot of people forget: finish making the tea, let it cool completely before you put it in the fridge. If you pour in still-warm tea, condensation forms in the bottle and that promotes mold and fermentation.

If you're planning to store the tea longer, make smaller batches or freeze it in portions - works surprisingly well.