Aging at 67 degrees

My current cellar is generally around 66-68, and I've had no problems. I use my kitchen cupboards below/beside the sink (not high up). Some stuff has been in there more than 2 yrs. I haven't opened anything yet that I felt was spoiled due to being too warm. I've had a bit of mold grow on corks, but that was easily wiped off, just keep an eye on it. That might not even be due to temp more likely humidity.

One thing I've noticed is that beers do tend to age 'faster' since they are warmer than an ideal cellar, but it's hard to know since almost everyone I know has a different cellar setup temp so comparing is difficult.

I've made a point to not age anything much longer than 2yrs, but am experimenting with some 'cheaper' beers for a longer time to see what happens. At the end of the day some beers age better than others so it's really a bit of a crap shoot regardless. Most of my cellar is imperial stout and strong dark ales with a few sours and saisons mixed in.

Even at 66 they are still 'cool' to the touch. Keep em dark and constant you should be fine for a couple yrs.

 

Do you plan on keeping any unpasteurized/unfiltered beers at that temp? I have heard that it should be under 55 degrees if so, but I might have been misinformed.

 

If you plan to cellar quite a bit of beers in the future or beers that you plan to trade you really should try to cellar them at lower temps. That's pretty high temps. That's basically normal room temperature. Not trying to be not nice but if you plan to trade beers that you have cellared at that temp you should really tell the other trader cause I would not want to trade for a beer cellared at that temp. Most of my beers are cellared in a dedicated fridge turned up to the highest temp which puts them at about 52F. I just started filling another place in my house and it seems to be about 60F. Keep in mind that I just started this cellar. I have since plugged up a heat vent and it brought the temp down a little. If that doesn't keep decreasing as the bottles give off heat I'm going to put up a blanket or plastic sheet that I am sure will bring it down to 55F. Cellaring at higher temps will not make for good cellaring. That's just my opinion but I would think about other options. Keep in mind that most people probably cellar in their closet which is really just as bad as high temp. I wish more people would take cellaring seriously if they trade.

 

How about the Liquor Stores/Bottle Shops that have aged/older beers laying around on the shelf, definitely not kept below 60degrees. I think 70 degrees and under is 100x better than being over 75degrees and anything below 10% abv should be kept in the fridge.

I keep mine in a closet that stays between 65-70 degrees, none are older than a year and most are above 13% abv. So I still have some time to convince the wife that I NEED a couple extra refrigerators.

 

I compare beer cellaring to wine cellaring. In wine cellaring, its rather explicit that huge bold reds get aged at 57 degrees and served around 60-65. The whites on the other hand should be aged around 45. Now here comes the tricky part. Most beers in terms of sugar content/ABV are closer to the white wine end of the spectrum. Sours are a good example here, and are often aged in the same types of barrels. Very few even approach the bold red wine end of the spectrum (something like Chocolate Rain would definitely qualify and other 13+% imperial stouts).

That being said, keeping your beers in the high 60s is not terrible, but it will age them faster and need to probably drink them quicker. If your goal is to preserve them for 5 years, you need to get the temperature down. If you are using a closet, put your higher ABV stuff up higher and the light sours on the bottom. That way you can at least take advantage of the natural physics.

 

This may be a dumb question... and regardless of the answer, I understand that for a number of reasons it is better to age beer at a lower temperature.

If beer ages more quickly at room temperature, will a beer that has been aged for 2 years in room temperature taste much different than the same beer aged for 2.5-3 years at cellar temperature?

 

If you are going to age(change your beer) two years I would get a fridge if not I wouldn't
worry.

 

Its not exactly linear. There are some chemical reactions that will take place at the higher temperatures that may not take place at the lower temps. Between 40 and 60 it should be roughly linear, but above that, you need to consult your chemistry textbooks.

 

I refer you to the paper by Vanderhaegen et al. in Food Chemistry (there is a pdf floating around). He gives an overview of about 20 compounds that are more active at different temperature ranges. There is no good table in the paper, but they note some interesting examples. Many of the examples in the paper are looking at 20 versus 40 Celsius, which is outside the range discussed here, but still gives you an idea of the complexity of the problem.

 

67 degrees... YOUR BEERS ARE RUINED!!!

 

My cellar is a walk in closet in my bathroom with no vent. I've sealed the vent in the bathroom. It usually stays right around 65 in there. I really don't think this is too bad for most beers. My cellar wouldn't fit in a normal sized fridge so I really don't know where to go from here.

 

Do people even know what a cellar is? A room that's underground! I'd say a closet in an above-ground apartment hardly qualifies as a "cellar", but hey, that's me (& Webster's).

 

I believe "cellar" on these forums is common parlance for area where you try to safely and effectively store beer.

But hey, that's me.

 

One thing to keep in mind from a chemistry stand point is that chemical reaction 'X' doesn't stop at temperature 'Y', it's merely a change in the rate of the reaction. Additionally, any two given reactions are not going to have the same rates, ie while a certain reaction slows down from 60 to 55F, other reactions may not be affected.

 

You mean the back of my downstairs closet is officially considered a "cellar?" Woo, hoo! I have a beer cellar! Now I can sound even more uppity to my non-beer-snob friends.

 

You all enjoy your white trash "cellars"