Introduction to cellaring

You'll get a lot of varied answers on a few of these. 1 & 3 seem to have no consensus.

2. 55 degrees is the widely accepted perfect temp. Humidity is probably less important, but I'd assume corks wouldn't last as long in low humidity.
4. Get an old fridge or freezer and a temperature control device. I've done this for 5 years now. It holds lots of beer but is a limited space, and trust me that's a good thing, because in a few years you'll find yourself with more beer ready to drink than you have time to drink.
5. As close to stable temperature as possible. A temp controlled fridge will do the trick. Fluctuation between 67 and 72 probably won't matter that much if you can't keep it at 55.

Definitely read Vintage Beer. It's cheap, a fun read, and will tell you almost anything you need to know.

 

What does one have to do with the other? Regardless of the position of the bottle, no beer should be stored or cellared where it is exposed to natural or other light.

 

My wifes a professional baker and we only have one fridge. Sometimes she gets a job and has to store sheet cakes in the fridge and i have to take all my shit out. Nothing had happened, as far as i know, to the beers ive taken out and put back in. Now i just buy unrefidgerated ba stouts and shit and leave them around the house.
I cant afford to have 2 fridges and damned sure not trying to get a bigger place just for beer storage.
It sucks but it's just beer. Once i am ready to have one i refridgerate overnight and next day its damned delicious.

What if you cant afford two fridges and have limited space? Does under the bed like boogeyman keep them safe?

 

If you don't have a fridge or true cellar you just want to look for a relatively cool, relatively stable place in your house. Some things to consider would be avoiding heating elements (so not in the closet with your water heater or furnace, etc), on the floor vs up on a shelf, probably best stored along a North wall and definitely avoid a south wall, not in an area that gets lots of light.

If you're not keeping your bedroom extra warm then under the bed would be great.

 

Some good answers here so I'll just address climate fluctuation.

When I started this madness of cellaring (about 2009) I knew jack. I had a nice concrete bunker in the basement in the furnace room that was empty, so that's where the beer went.

The room fluctuates wildly from about 50 in the winter to 70 in the summer. That's a pretty big swing. I've kept stouts down there for years (I believe the oldest was an 8 year old Abyss at this point) with no obvious damage to the beers. They are probably aging a bit quicker due to the higher summer temps, but, well, none of them have complained about their quarters.

Point being unless you're into ultra long aging I haven't experienced much impact by a 20 degree swing with the seasons.

 

If you are willing to do some manual labor you could construct a 'root cellar' in your backyard for beer cellaring.

An example of an inexpensive (minus labor) root cellar:



Cheers!

 

I could discuss these topics ad nauseum, but unless asked to or other questions are raised I'll try to just leave the answers above and comment on one thing that @maximum12 said, quoted above.

People years ago used to talk about "skunky beer," and this often was associated with, for example, putting beer in a cooler, letting all the ice melt, and that beer coming up to at least room-temp. I'm not sure 'skunk' really has a true definition, but from everything I've ever read, the term was intended to be used with beer that was exposed to too much sunlight and underwent a chemical change.

So, what about the temps? Temps affect beer only in very specific circumstances. People have done lots of experiments. Basically, you can store beer at any reasonable temperature, even 80-degrees for reasonably long time periods (e.g. over the summer or multiple summers) with no discernable effects on the taste of the beer (although longevity becomes a problem). The real issue with temperature is wildly vacillating temperatures at extremes. For example, your beer shouldn't go on the daily from 40-50(F) deg to 80+ deg, or from non-freezing temps to freezing. The latter is more problematic for low ABV beers that may partially freeze. Regarding the hot to 'cool' temps wild swings, this is certainly where some people have used the 'skunky' term. This is most problematic for lower-abv and hoppy beers, but still won't happen from a single day, or even a week.

The reason @maximum12 experienced no issues is because his beer experienced gradual changes. If they were 20-deg changes every day (twice a day) for 2 years, it might have affected it depending on style. 2 years still isn't very long for stouts, especially high ABV stouts.

 

Years ago? It probably happened somewhere last night when someone was served a lightstruck Heineken, Rolling Rock or Yuengling Lager.

Well, "skunky" is recognized as the less technical term for "Light Struck", used by consumers and, to a lesser extent, by brewers (well, maybe not Heineken or Yuengling brewers...). Take for instance this 'snip' from The Practical Brewer, the handbook published by The Master Brewers Association of The Americas:

As frequently noted, the resulting chemical change produces
"... 3-methylbut-2-ene-1-thiol, or “skunky thiol,” which is chemically similar to the compound in a skunk’s glad that gives their spray such an intense smell".

Yeah, well, that would likely not be the cause, depending on the beer, the beer's packaging (bottle, can) and other factors like exposure to sunlight or other light sources. But, in general, if one is using "skunky" as a casual synonym for Light Struck, it would not be caused by temperature changes. Lots of people do, incorrectly, use "skunky" for any off-flavor or beer flavor they do not like.

At least AB used to claim such a temperature change has no affect on Budweiser.

 

This is exactly my setup which fluctuates from around 60 - 75 and I also have abyss I've stored down there for 5 years or so along with many other brews. I did a comparison not to long ago of side by side 2017 Willitized coffee stouts. 1 was in my temperature controlled fridge @ 52 and 1 was stored in my basement with the temperature differences.. After 4 years of storage, I could taste no difference.. I do have a shitty palate but they both tasted fine to me.

 

I just bit the bullet and bought a chest freezer and an ink bird controller and use it as a cellar.

 

It started as a fermentation chamber for my homebrew. As my kids got older and I brewed less it was a natural progression.