Is there a certain time limit one should keep in mind when storing beer for a week or two (in a fridge)? Do different types of beers react differently? How long is too long when storing beer?
Refrigeration preserves beer's freshness - in an ideal world, beer would be kept under refrigeration from the bottling line > brewery warehouse > distributor > retailer > to home.
Fresh beer can be stored for months. Storing it cold will lengthen the time the beer will stay fresh: “Storing beer at room temperatures (e.g., 70°F) is not necessarily a bad thing as long as the beer is consumed in a relatively short period of time. Storing beer at refrigeration temperatures (e.g., 40°F) will extend the shelf life on the beer. There is a rule of thumb for the shelf life of BMC type beers: “A general rule of thumb is that beers from large breweries will have a shelf life of approximately 8 to 12 months if refrigerated properly and kept from direct light, or 4 to 6 months at room temperature. Keep in mind that these shelf lives are from time of bottling, not time of purchase, and plan accordingly to ensure that you have the best-tasting beer available.” Above was posted previously at this thread: http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/beer-that-goes-warm-to-cold-to-warm-to-cold-again-in-fridge.48183/#post-616589 Cheers!
Different beers will have different replies to your question based upon the characteristics of each beer. I have one beer in my cellar that was bottled in 1999. (A barleywine.) I'm certain that others reading this thread will chime in that they've had beers longer than that, but I've read that 5 years is generally considered to be a maximum point at which a beer will continue to improve. However, I don't know if that means that it will begin to degrade from there, but I'd guess that any beer that is worthy enough to improve up to that age is not likely to degrade to the point of being spoiled and may last many more years.
All good answers so far..keeping it in a fridge won't hurt it. The one thing I want to add is to make sure you keep them out of the sunlight. What kind of beers are you storing?
Could you expand a little? I'm curious about shelf life of various types of beer.....stouts, porters, IPA's, Belgians, etc. I have a bad habit of buying more beer than I consume. I have tasting get-togethers with friends and family regularly, but the beer still stacks up. A local craft beer heavy bottle shop just changed owners; the new folks are not craft beer people. Prior to the changeover; they have been selling off good beer at crazy cheap prices. Bought a case of Rochefort 10. Just curious how long it should be viable. Thank you to all. Cheers.
There is no precise answer to any specific beer, just that if you meet the generalities of the ideal storage conditions then you should be okay keeping a beer for an extended period of time. Ideal cellar conditions are 50-55 degrees and darkness as best as you can get it dark. I think that your Rochefort should do fine for a number of years (keep int in the cardboard case), but I suggest drinking regularly from your cellar when you have multiple bottles so that you may never reach the point where any beer starts to degrade and you lose your entire investment. I always use a rough rule-of-thumb that dark beers that are at least 8% abv are your best candidates for cellaring, but there are exceptions to that (Lambics/sours/wilds, etc.). You can also look up each beer here on the BA site, and on the right side of the screen will be advice about cellaring that specific beer. You can also read the various thread on the Cellaring forum for all kinds of advice.
I may be wrong, but beers with higher ABV will age easier. I agree that 8% is the mimimum, I'm just not sure that they have to be dark beers though. The other thing to consider is humidity. Ideally, you need to keep the beer bottles at 50-60% humidity. This prevents corks from drying out as well as the rubber seal under the cap. Too much humidity and you could develop mold around the cap. The general rules I use are: Darkness Temperature between 50-55 degrees Humidity between 50-60% Remember, refrigerators typically AREN'T humid. Buy a cigar hydrometer and place it in the area you are storing your beer.
I have read where people place a small bowl of water in the refrigerator, but I have not personally done this.
