Can beer age at 45 f?

Discussion in 'Cellaring / Aging Beer' started by Benighted88, Dec 6, 2016.

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  1. Benighted88

    Benighted88 Devotee (330) Jan 10, 2016 North Carolina
    Trader

    Hey everyone, I am trying to cellar some beer but my only options at the moment are a room temp closet (about 60-65f in Winter, 68 in Summer) and my kegerator which gets up to about 45f, can this work out or will I need to invest in a wine cooler or something similar?
     
    #1 Benighted88, Dec 6, 2016
    Last edited: Dec 6, 2016
  2. mich34

    mich34 Initiate (0) Jan 5, 2015 Michigan

    Doesn't sound like an issue to me it your high is 68, I wouldn't plan on keeping beers for decades but a few years shouldn't be a problem
     
  3. loebrygg

    loebrygg Initiate (0) Jun 4, 2016 Norway

    Stash your keg with fresh beer like IPA/APA and wheat beers and age the rest in your room
     
  4. NeroFiddled

    NeroFiddled Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,276) Jul 8, 2002 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I'm sorry if this seems harsh, it's not meant to be, just the truth.

    And if you're just keeping some beers around for later, and not "aging" them, please ignore this. I usually throw a couple of cases in the basement each year just to have them on hand in case I want them (and usually end up forgetting them!) myself.

    I've spent quite a bit of time and money over the years aging beers and in the end I have to say that although it was worth it for the learning experience of what aged beers are really like, it wasn't worth it for the beer. What I mean by that is that it can really be quite haphazard with a certain beer aging good one year but not the next (i.e. Thomas Hardy's '94 might have aged well, but the '95 was ruined, only to be followed by an unimproved '96 and '97, and an OK '98), or learning that some beers just don't age whereas something you didn't expect did (3 Monts for example, or Chimay Premiere versus the Grande Reserve).

    My advice would be that if you don't have a proper place to store everything so that you have a solid baseline to judge the changes from there's really no point at all - you're just storing beers, not aging them properly, and there's no need to waste the time and money. You might get some decent beers, but in my experience you'll get 4 times as many clunkers, and you won't really be learning anything, you'll just be getting lucky.

    If you decide to go forward, good luck.
     
    DLang713 and eppie82 like this.
  5. phildow

    phildow Crusader (407) Jan 6, 2013 Michigan

    I don't know what dollar value you're storing, but if I were you, I'd put my more "prized" beers in the kegerator and the ones I didn't care so much about in the closet. Or if you grab, say, a 6 pack of something, drink one now and take notes, then put one in the kegerator, one in the closet, and one in the back of your fridge and have them side-by-side after a year or two to see what the difference in temperatures (~45, ~68, ~32, respectively) actually does to the beer.

    I guess I just sorta repeated what @NeroFiddled said...and he's right - I've aged some stuff that turned out to be awful after too long because the style just didn't really lend for aging. Don't sit on beer for too long (3+ years) unless it's something you know will age well (lambic, most stouts, etc.)
     
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