Cellaring at above room tempature

No. Your beer will not sour from temperature fluctuations. Never.

 

Find a closet that is most remote from any A/C or heat vents. Place in back making sure if you do not have UV windows, that no light hits them ever. Not that a little UV will destroy them, but its better to be safe. In live in Florida the house ranges from 80F to 68F , there is no basement near the beaches. Still I had old ales age well here.

 

I'd suggest buying a simple, inexpensive wine refrigerator. Or, a mini-refrigerator. 75 - 85+ is not a good idea.

 

Odd that it would taste sour not sure what to say about that one. What beer was it?

Echo the above - if you have the money or room for a fridge it sounds like it will give you peace of mind. Although I have had beers sitting in boxes as you have and the ambient temp of our house in GA was up there - the beers ended up tasting fine. Cellaring should be all about your preference - there are no rules here. Hell there are plenty of brewers who say to only drink fresh.

I have a keezer and fermentation chamber I keep beers in as room opens up but the majority stay in a closet for now. It's true cold kept beers or beers kept at cellar temps +/- 55* will mature slower or hold up better than 75* but it's not a deal breaker IMO. Have fun collecting beers and enjoying with friends - Cheers!

 

I think you should send me all of the beer, i will take good care of it for you and send you pics when i drink them.

 

I don't think 78 degrees will ruin the beer.... it's just that it won't see any marked improvement, like it would if it was aged at the ideal "cellar temps" of 52-58 degrees.

As far as people recommending "putting it in the fridge"... overly cold temps won't improve the beer either. Another concern with putting beers in a fridge is the cork (for corked beers only, obviously) could potentially dry out due to the lack of humidity, and then you run the risk of finding your beer ruined. It probably takes quite some time to dry out a cork though.

I live in Florida without a basement. I have my beer in a sealed spare bedroom... zero light gets in from the outside (shuttered window) and I only go in there to turn on the light maybe every other day, for maybe a minute or two. Also, most of my beers are in boxes. The temp in there during the hot months (April - October) is a pretty constant 78 degrees. From November through March it will probably fluctuate from 68-78 degrees.

I've only been doing this a bit over a year, but I have yet to have any of my beers meant for cellaring taste "off" at all. I've sent beers to people in TX and MA and both raved about the beers they tasted.

 

Just looked up that beer and you should not be cellaring a 5.7% ABV brown ale. Not a good cellar candidate at all. Vast majority of beers should not be cellared. As a general rule of thumb only cellar beers that are 8% or above like strong ales, imperial stouts, barleywines, etc. even with this rule, lots are still way better fresh. Sours and bottle conditioned beers usually work to cellar as well.

 

Forget beer, if I came home everyday and couldn't possibly get the temperature below 85 I would be planning my next move. Especially if it is humid.

 

Agreed not to cellar low abv beers, but on top of that I've tried aging Fat Alberta from them and after about 6 months it also was sour/infected. It has nothing to do with temp, more in the quality control of their bottling process.

 

Put the beers in your fridge, until you get a wine cooler. The beers will continue to develop inside of the fridge, at a slower rate, but they shouldn't spoil. I had a Stone IRS that sat in the fridge for 5 years, and it was awesome!