Temperature changes

[sunscar22]

I bought a couple of beers that need to age and they were in the fridge when I bought them.  I brought them home and put them in the fridge because I was afraid going from cold to cool would affect them.  Is it safe to go from fridge temp to a cement basement or do I need to keep them chilled until I'm ready to drink them in a year? 

[KingG]

In my experience, cold to warm won't hurt the beer unless you go through giant fluctuations in temperature frequently. In your case, as soon as you get it at your "cellar temp", leave it.

Beer is more resilient than people give it credit. In saying that, you should be more worried about the conditions it was stored in at the shop and what conditions you'll be storing it in.

I actually get this question a lot since I store all my beers at Bine & Vine in the cold box to maintain freshness.

[fRed Scare]

In my experience, cold to warm won't hurt the beer unless you go through giant fluctuations in temperature frequently. In your case, as soon as you get it at your "cellar temp", leave it.

Beer is more resilient than people give it credit. In saying that, you should be more worried about the conditions it was stored in at the shop and what conditions you'll be storing it in.

I actually get this question a lot since I store all my beers at Bine & Vine in the cold box to maintain freshness.

My basement regularly gets up to about 80 F in the summer, and I haven't experienced any problems with my bottles that have been down there for 3-5 years.  They may end up "aging" faster, but I generally only keep really big beers for that long anyway and the effect should be pretty minimal.

[KingG]

In my experience, cold to warm won't hurt the beer unless you go through giant fluctuations in temperature frequently. In your case, as soon as you get it at your "cellar temp", leave it.

Beer is more resilient than people give it credit. In saying that, you should be more worried about the conditions it was stored in at the shop and what conditions you'll be storing it in.

I actually get this question a lot since I store all my beers at Bine & Vine in the cold box to maintain freshness.

My basement regularly gets up to about 80 F in the summer, and I haven't experienced any problems with my bottles that have been down there for 3-5 years.  They may end up "aging" faster, but I generally only keep really big beers for that long anyway and the effect should be pretty minimal.

80 degrees? Holy poop, that's pretty warm. Do you have any beers in there you've been aging long term? If so, have you tried them?

[howardf]

There's a guy here in town that teaches a "Master of Beer Appreciation" class and part of his class is to bring in two boxes of beer - one stored in his basement, one stored next to his hot water heater - and people can't tell the difference.

[JJ]

I remember reading about an experiment a while back. I believe the guy had six bottles and stored them all differently to see what happened. If I remember correctly...
1- Normal in refrigerator
2- Counter top
3- Dark cellar
4- Next to light constantly on
5- Buried in yard wrapped
6- Buried in yard unwrapped
After I think six months he tried them all. Obviously #4 was shit but the rest were all similar.
This ring a bell with anyone else?

[fRed Scare]

In my experience, cold to warm won't hurt the beer unless you go through giant fluctuations in temperature frequently. In your case, as soon as you get it at your "cellar temp", leave it.

Beer is more resilient than people give it credit. In saying that, you should be more worried about the conditions it was stored in at the shop and what conditions you'll be storing it in.

I actually get this question a lot since I store all my beers at Bine & Vine in the cold box to maintain freshness.

My basement regularly gets up to about 80 F in the summer, and I haven't experienced any problems with my bottles that have been down there for 3-5 years.  They may end up "aging" faster, but I generally only keep really big beers for that long anyway and the effect should be pretty minimal.

80 degrees? Holy poop, that's pretty warm. Do you have any beers in there you've been aging long term? If so, have you tried them?

Yeah, it's a walk-out basement and my insulation is for shit. 
I've had 3+ year old beers that have been fine, but I'm struggling to remember if I've had any that I have had down there for longer than that. 

I'm not really trying to age anything for longer than that anyway.  And the aging is really just a matter of me wanting to hold on to some things to drink with other people, or having bought a lot and working through it slowly (a case each of the Short's Blood Orange Wheat Wine from each of the past three years).

[sunscar22]

Thanks everyone.  I'm not planning on aging it longer than a year or two but wanted to make sure I don't skunk it. 

[Javit]

There's a guy here in town that teaches a "Master of Beer Appreciation" class and part of his class is to bring in two boxes of beer - one stored in his basement, one stored next to his hot water heater - and people can't tell the difference.

How do I get that teaching gig?

[fRed Scare]

There's a guy here in town that teaches a "Master of Beer Appreciation" class and part of his class is to bring in two boxes of beer - one stored in his basement, one stored next to his hot water heater - and people can't tell the difference.

How do I get that teaching gig?

First you need a basement...

[Javit]

There's a guy here in town that teaches a "Master of Beer Appreciation" class and part of his class is to bring in two boxes of beer - one stored in his basement, one stored next to his hot water heater - and people can't tell the difference.

How do I get that teaching gig?

First you need a basement...

1200 unfinished square feet......

[howardf]

http://www.beermba.com/

[Sebowski]

I remember reading about an experiment a while back. I believe the guy had six bottles and stored them all differently to see what happened. If I remember correctly...
1- Normal in refrigerator
2- Counter top
3- Dark cellar
4- Next to light constantly on
5- Buried in yard wrapped
6- Buried in yard unwrapped
After I think six months he tried them all. Obviously #4 was shit but the rest were all similar.
This ring a bell with anyone else?

Bunch of us accidentally did a sunlight experiment. It was crowded so half our group was inside and half outside in the sun. We all had a Pliny the Younger. I was part of the outside group. I went inside and my buddy mentioned something about the sun skunking my beer. I was out there for less than ten minutes. I didn't buy it. Then we all smelled and tasted the difference between the beer that was outside and the beer that wasn't. It was a high difference. The sun will crush a hoppy beer. Funny part was that the outside sun touched beer had a "dank" kind of aroma that I normally totally go for. Made for a weird thought process. I love that dank dry hop smell, and a couple mins of sunlight damage accentuated it all. It was pretty weird. We even tried it with another DIPA and found the same results. Sun will completely change a beer in just a couple minutes. Sometimes it can work though. I still think I liked the skunkier version of those crazy DIPAs.

Temp change is a different animal though. I'm not going to pretend to know much about it. I just hope for the best since I am storing at various temps.

[howardf]

I remember reading about an experiment a while back. I believe the guy had six bottles and stored them all differently to see what happened. If I remember correctly...
1- Normal in refrigerator
2- Counter top
3- Dark cellar
4- Next to light constantly on
5- Buried in yard wrapped
6- Buried in yard unwrapped
After I think six months he tried them all. Obviously #4 was shit but the rest were all similar.
This ring a bell with anyone else?

Bunch of us accidentally did a sunlight experiment. It was crowded so half our group was inside and half outside in the sun. We all had a Pliny the Younger. I was part of the outside group. I went inside and my buddy mentioned something about the sun skunking my beer. I was out there for less than ten minutes. I didn't buy it. Then we all smelled and tasted the difference between the beer that was outside and the beer that wasn't. It was a high difference. The sun will crush a hoppy beer. Funny part was that the outside sun touched beer had a "dank" kind of aroma that I normally totally go for. Made for a weird thought process. I love that dank dry hop smell, and a couple mins of sunlight damage accentuated it all. It was pretty weird. We even tried it with another DIPA and found the same results. Sun will completely change a beer in just a couple minutes. Sometimes it can work though. I still think I liked the skunkier version of those crazy DIPAs.

Temp change is a different animal though. I'm not going to pretend to know much about it. I just hope for the best since I am storing at various temps.

I've tasted the sun skunking my beer by the sip while drinking on a patio.  It's amazing how fast it happens.

[mr. furley]

how long before someone starts wrapping all their hoppys in paper?

[fRed Scare]

how long before someone starts wrapping all their hoppys in paper?

You mean like the DFH Liquor De Malt?

[mr. furley]

how long before someone starts wrapping all their hoppys in paper?

You mean like the DFH Liquor De Malt?

never saw that one.  is it really wrapped in paper? 

[Tip Top]

how long before someone starts wrapping all their hoppys in paper?

You mean like the DFH Liquor De Malt?

never saw that one.  is it really wrapped in paper? 

[mr. furley]

  is that plastic with a screwtop??

[howardf]

  is that plastic with a screwtop??

The screwtop definitely looks plastic.

[sunscar22]

I like the way Firestone puts a lot of their cellar beers in cardboard boxes. 

[KingG]

I like the way Firestone puts a lot of their cellar beers in cardboard boxes.

I wish they'd skip the cardboard box and bottle condition instead so their beers wouldn't oxidize as fast when aged.