Long term aging in cold temps?

not sure what kind of beer your aging, but storing beer in a fridge won't hurt it..and depending on the temp. may provide for ideal cellar conditions.

On a side note, you won't really want to cellar a hoppy beer. Hops fade with age.

 

It should be ok but you won't get the effects you would really want in aging. I would drop $40=$60 and buy an external temp controller. You can find some nice analog Johnson ones on Amazon.

 

The often repeated mantra of "don't age anything hoppy" is definitely an oversimplification. For example, Bigfoot is a VERRY hoppy beer that ages VERRY well.

That's true, colder temps slow down the aging process. One thing that you could do is put an external temp controller on your fridge.

 

Hey Buddy,

I went with a full size freezerless fridge and a Johnson external temperature regulator. I picked the fridge up off of Craigslist for $150 ($650 new!!) and the Johnson temperature regulator off of eBay for about $50. $200, and I can store 250-300 bottles at a perfect 55 degrees.

It's only about half full, but growing all the time . Just drop me a note if you have any questions about the setup.

 

all of your beer is ruined....just send it to me

 

They were right. Colder temps don't hurt the beer, but they slow down the processes that people find desirable from cellaring.

The risk you run with colder fridges is related to humidity - either condensation collecting on the bottles (rotting corks and damaging caps) or low humidity environments that can dry out corks. Both of these situations can ruin the beer through loss of carbonation. These problems are more common with mini fridges or cheaper full sized fridges.

If you really want to "cellar" the beer rather than just store it, get a temperature controller.