Is making a mini fridge your cellar a bad idea?

It does matter. Cold temperatures preserve beer and slow the processes of aging (cellaring). Want to shoot for around 55 degrees.

 

Echo the above - but don't kill yourself over keeping it 55. Beer that can sit for a while won't go to shit just because it's at room temp, it just ages faster.

 

i wouldnt recommend a mini fridge cellar. I started off there and ended up getting a full size fridge. The mini fridge fills up way too fast just to sit for years

 

I use a mini fridge for the ones I am going to drink. I have it set to 45. My cellar is a small closet that stays around 65 through out the year. Not nearly enough room in the mini fridge for me to cellar in it.

 

That's what I'm using now. I set it on low, and threw a thermometer in it that I check regularly. The temp setting needs to be tweaked once in a while, but it's always between 50 and 60 inside. The only problem I have, as mentioned, is that it filled up WAY too fast. Deciding what beers deserve to be in the "cellar" is the tough part now.

 

This x10. I work for a company that owns several restaurants, and I got lucky and scored an industrial mini fridge for free. I was so excited (so was the wife). I got a temp regulator, started moving stuff over from the regular fridge..things were going well...until... *Note: cardboard shelf,Black Ops in champagne box on top of Firestone "Shelf", and cardboard stopper. PS. before someone says something, that Gandhi Bot was not being cellared, emphasis on was.


TLDR: Last night I was playing Tetris in the garage and evicting some residents back into (angry wife country). Mini fridges are never enough.

 

Ok, so help me out guys . . . I have some Bigfoot, Mad Elf along with some various barleywines, ris's and strong ales I can cellar right alongside my "everyday" beers I keep in the fridge around 40° ?

 

You can. They will age "slower" though. Fridge conditions are too dry for very long term aging of beers especially corked ones. Oxidation will occur either way (rm temp or fridge temp) but other chemical processes will be slowed with colder temps.

As for the mini fridge question, it's a good option for keeping a smaller amount of bottles for somewhat long term aging (5-10 years). Unless you are a person who has major bottle shares on a constant and will be pulling many vintage beers at those bottle shares, there's no need to cellar hundreds of bottles of beer. Too much good new stuff coming out to keep up with.

 

Thanks for the advice

 

Would a thermoelectric cooler, like a wine cooler be good for aging beer?

 

I wouldn't use a mini fridge myself - it's too small.
Kidding, sort of.
THe problem with those fridges is that it is hard to control the temp; because of the size, any change makes a big difference.

 

Any problem with aging corked bottles in a refrigerator/mini-refrigerator?

 

There was a thread a while back where a few people had developed some mold on the corks. There was a link to a product on Amazon that absorbs the humidity. It was only 16 bucks and was reusable. I don't have time to search for it now, but I do have it bookmarked at home, so if I remember, I'll report back.

I use a mini fridge(see above) but haven't had any mold issues, but I do plan on getting that device just as a precaution.

 

it wouldnt matter, pretty difficult to make Gandhi Bot taste bad.

 

A thermoelectric cooler, like a wine cooler, has a display with buttons that allow you to adjust the temperature. I think the range is usually mid to high 40s to 60s. I'm wondering if that would do the trick instead of using a mini fridge.

 

My girlfriend at the time got me a mini fridge for a cellar (have a external temp controller from homebrew) and I out grew it almost immediately. And I don't even add to it all to often. I'd suggest gitting a full size freezer or freezerless fridge right off the bat.