New to having a Cellar

Discussion in 'Cellaring / Aging Beer' started by bradleydavid5, Jun 29, 2015.

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  1. bradleydavid5

    bradleydavid5 Initiate (0) Sep 22, 2014 Texas

    Hey all,

    Don't rip me to shreds on this, but i'm starting to realize i'm going to need a cellar to store my some of my beers. I don't typically "age" stuff before i've tried it, but I definitely have some sours and high abv stouts that I want to put some age on. I have a mini-fridge that I could use, and I can try to make sure to keep it at a constant 55 degree temp, but is it cool if all the bottles are on their sides? Only a few are corked.

    I also have a part of my house where the floor in a closet opens up to the bottom of my house so it's just dirt. I guess that could work pretty well, or at least better than the boxes of beer that I have piled up in my room as of right now. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks guys.
     
    #1 bradleydavid5, Jun 29, 2015
  2. boilermakerbrew

    boilermakerbrew Initiate (0) Aug 13, 2010 Indiana

    I personally don't age anything on it's side, but that's just me. I would think that you are ok putting anything with a cork on its side as that is how most of the Belgian lambic breweris store their beer.

    The reason I do not age crowned beer on its side is because I am not aware of the type of crown that every brewery uses. Some have oxygen capturing liners, which I would think have trouble capturing oxygen if they are in contact with beer (just my reasoning, no facts to support). The other types of crowns have no liner and I don't trust them much at all after ~1 year.

    As far as where your cellar is, a mini fridge works fine. It is hard to regulate to 55 F unless you have some sort of temperature control for it. The area under your house would work if you used a box and maybe taped some of the corked and caged beers. Honestly, as long as you don't let your house get up into the 80's all the time, in a box in your room is fine. Just remember, no light and no big temperature swings. The closer you can get to 50-60 degrees is better, but not necessary.
     
    #2 boilermakerbrew, Jun 29, 2015
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