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Beer Aging/Storing
Posted on 7/9/15 at 2:57 pm
Posted on 7/9/15 at 2:57 pm
What is your methods of storing beers for aging?
I have an upright fridge in my garage that has all my bottles. I also have a chest freezer i use for temp control of homebrews.
The beer fridge stays around 45 degrees during the summer, down to about 38-40 during the winter. In the fridge i've been keeping the majority of beers that i've been aging. Including barleywines, Belgian ales, and other higher ABV brews, including a couple sours (they've been in there a while, should have stored them in the other freezer), and the rest of my beer for daily consumption.
The fermenting freezer never gets above 70 unless i'm brewing a saison. Majority of the year it stays around 68, or goes to about 58-60 when no beer is being brewed. In there i started to keep any sours i've purchased.
Eventually, i'll be adding acouple taps to the outside fridge. This means i need new storage for some of my aging beers.
I'm sure some of you have a dedicated beer room, and others dedicated storage fridge's for beers. Would it be a problem if i moved my "stored" beers to the fermenting fridge? I'm essentially taking 2-3 year old beers that have been in storage in my fridge at 40 - 45 degrees and moving them to an environment with a higher temp of around 65-68.
I've read that you really arent aging a beer if you store it at fridge temps. You are simply storing them. Flavors do not evolve, and if they do, it is very slow.
I also have read that 55 degrees is the ideal aging temps for many beer types.
I have an upright fridge in my garage that has all my bottles. I also have a chest freezer i use for temp control of homebrews.
The beer fridge stays around 45 degrees during the summer, down to about 38-40 during the winter. In the fridge i've been keeping the majority of beers that i've been aging. Including barleywines, Belgian ales, and other higher ABV brews, including a couple sours (they've been in there a while, should have stored them in the other freezer), and the rest of my beer for daily consumption.
The fermenting freezer never gets above 70 unless i'm brewing a saison. Majority of the year it stays around 68, or goes to about 58-60 when no beer is being brewed. In there i started to keep any sours i've purchased.
Eventually, i'll be adding acouple taps to the outside fridge. This means i need new storage for some of my aging beers.
I'm sure some of you have a dedicated beer room, and others dedicated storage fridge's for beers. Would it be a problem if i moved my "stored" beers to the fermenting fridge? I'm essentially taking 2-3 year old beers that have been in storage in my fridge at 40 - 45 degrees and moving them to an environment with a higher temp of around 65-68.
I've read that you really arent aging a beer if you store it at fridge temps. You are simply storing them. Flavors do not evolve, and if they do, it is very slow.
I also have read that 55 degrees is the ideal aging temps for many beer types.
6
Posted on 7/9/15 at 2:58 pm to BugAC
quote:
I have an upright fridge in my garage that has all my bottles.
I keep a google sheet with the fridge contents and dates
Eta: Some bottles have a recommended storage temp on them
This post was edited on 7/9/15 at 2:59 pm
Posted on 7/9/15 at 3:00 pm to BugAC
quote:
Would it be a problem if i moved my "stored" beers to the fermenting fridge? I'm essentially taking 2-3 year old beers that have been in storage in my fridge at 40 - 45 degrees and moving them to an environment with a higher temp of around 65-68.
No, not at all.
I don't think temperature is as important as keeping them protected from UV light.
I keep most of mine in boxes in the spare bedroom's closet.
Posted on 7/9/15 at 3:03 pm to LSUBoo
quote:
don't think temperature is as important as keeping them protected from UV light.
Really? I thought temperature could cause it to age too quickly. I guess i've had one too many beers that aged into an old musty malty mess. Light protection is no problem. I have plenty of wine boxes in my garage.
Posted on 7/9/15 at 3:06 pm to GrammarKnotsi
quote:
I keep a google sheet with the fridge contents and dates
That sounds like a good idea. And i'm meticulous and anal enough to do just that.
New project...
Posted on 7/9/15 at 3:07 pm to BugAC
quote:
I guess i've had one too many beers that aged into an old musty malty mess.
Well... that's what happens when they age. Especially something that was dependent on hops for optimal flavor.
I'm not saying that temperature doesn't matter at all... ideally you would want it at 'cellar' temp, but I don't think it's the end of the world if they are at room temp. I've never had a problem aging beers at room temp.
Posted on 7/9/15 at 3:14 pm to LSUBoo
quote:
I'm not saying that temperature doesn't matter at all... ideally you would want it at 'cellar' temp, but I don't think it's the end of the world if they are at room temp. I've never had a problem aging beers at room temp.
Well, off the top of my head i have
Parish GR 2012, 2013, and 2014
St. Arnold Pumpkinator 2013
St. Arnold DR 12 and 13
Stone Vertical Epic 11.11.11 and 12.12.12
Cantillon Classic Gueze
Bruery Tart of Darkness
Bayou Teche Joie de vivre 2012
Bayou Teche Loupe Garou 2013
St Bernadrus Abt 12 2014
Delirium Noel 2014
and a few others i can't think of
It's not very impressive compared to many on here. Some of them i don't really care for, i'm just hoping age does it wonders. I plan on having a fridge purge party this winter to knock out some of that.
Posted on 7/9/15 at 3:25 pm to BugAC
I don't know about the Stone VE series, but the rest of those should age well.
Posted on 7/9/15 at 3:32 pm to LSUBoo
I think you were there when we cracked the 06.06.06. That was Jan. '14. It was super complex, in a good way. As I recall it was well-received. I think R2R brought it, he had gotten it pre-aged from Stein's.
Posted on 7/9/15 at 3:36 pm to BugAC
I just keep mine in the back of a dark, cool cabinet
it probably stays in the 60-70 range in there all year
it probably stays in the 60-70 range in there all year
Posted on 7/9/15 at 3:47 pm to BugAC
Posted on 7/9/15 at 3:54 pm to BugAC
I store it in my tummy for a few hours and then send it down to Houston.
Posted on 7/9/15 at 4:23 pm to Zappas Stache
Posted on 7/9/15 at 8:14 pm to BugAC
$60 IKEA shelving unit plus a closet. Temps stay around 68-70 or so. I worry less about temperature than I do light getting to the beers. Always been a bit iffy on long term storage in a fridge as caps begin to rust and lose their seal. To me the only brews worth aging are sours and stouts.
This post was edited on 7/9/15 at 8:17 pm
Posted on 7/9/15 at 8:28 pm to wiltznucs
quote:
To me the only brews worth aging are sours and stouts.
I've had very little success again IPAs and have given up on it.
I'm moving into a new house this weekend, and am going to have a dedicated beer fridge for the first time. My stouts and sours will stay at GFT, but everything else goes in the fridge....
Posted on 7/10/15 at 9:21 am to rutiger
Posted on 7/10/15 at 12:10 pm to BugAC
If you are only going to keep something for 2-4 years a dark closet will probably work fine but if you are planning for decade or so you would want a humidity controlled environment. Humidity will mess with corks and caps. Light is your enemy and if doing long term storage I would think you would want to minimize temperature fluctuations. I think a fridge would do better than a closet in the south for minimizing humidity.
Why does anyone think that a closet temp only fluctuates 2-3 degrees? When you go out of town do you keep the AC/heat on? Is your thermostat next to your closet? I would think you would be looking at 20 degree swings at a minimum in a closet.
Colder temps will slow aging and higher temps will speed it up. Some yeasts will react differently to higher temps giving off flavors that you may or may not like. Temp swings will cause yeast to react also.
I have two set ups. One is my basement closet for beers I plan to drink within the year and kegs. The other is a locker at a humidity controlled wine storage unit that stays at 55 year round and is dark unless I have the locker open. I use the wine place for lambics and gueuzes mostly with a few extra high abv stouts in there also. I find that the larger the vessel the better it ages(kegs vs magnums vs bombers vs 12 oz.).
Every beer I am aging I have drank a bottle of fresh. I age them to try to let certain flavors fade and let others develop. If I really enjoy a beer fresh, I drink it then. Anything that is pasteurized like New Belgium sours or the latest Great Divide BA beers doesn't have much point in aging, the yeast is almost dead and isnt going to do much more. I age lambics and gueezes so the yeast can keep working and give it more funk. I age big stouts to let the hops fade and the beer develop more of the dark fruit taste. It is always a crap shoot, it might age great or it might fall apart. I don't age sours for very long because they tend to get too sour for my taste. I have found that barleywines seem to get the most of flavors from closet storage.Your mileage may vary for all this, this is just my opinion on the subject.
Why does anyone think that a closet temp only fluctuates 2-3 degrees? When you go out of town do you keep the AC/heat on? Is your thermostat next to your closet? I would think you would be looking at 20 degree swings at a minimum in a closet.
Colder temps will slow aging and higher temps will speed it up. Some yeasts will react differently to higher temps giving off flavors that you may or may not like. Temp swings will cause yeast to react also.
I have two set ups. One is my basement closet for beers I plan to drink within the year and kegs. The other is a locker at a humidity controlled wine storage unit that stays at 55 year round and is dark unless I have the locker open. I use the wine place for lambics and gueuzes mostly with a few extra high abv stouts in there also. I find that the larger the vessel the better it ages(kegs vs magnums vs bombers vs 12 oz.).
Every beer I am aging I have drank a bottle of fresh. I age them to try to let certain flavors fade and let others develop. If I really enjoy a beer fresh, I drink it then. Anything that is pasteurized like New Belgium sours or the latest Great Divide BA beers doesn't have much point in aging, the yeast is almost dead and isnt going to do much more. I age lambics and gueezes so the yeast can keep working and give it more funk. I age big stouts to let the hops fade and the beer develop more of the dark fruit taste. It is always a crap shoot, it might age great or it might fall apart. I don't age sours for very long because they tend to get too sour for my taste. I have found that barleywines seem to get the most of flavors from closet storage.Your mileage may vary for all this, this is just my opinion on the subject.
Posted on 7/10/15 at 12:22 pm to 8thyearsenior
Thank for all the info 
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