Digging for beers huh?

Hey guys,

In a month or so, we are going to bottle our honeytriple. This beer will have to age for at least a year. But we have 2 problems.
1. We will probably crack half of them before a year has past, due to impatience and eventual drunkness.
2. We have limited space in our garage (Where we age our beers), so it won't be very convenient to store them there for a whole year.

So we came up with a brilliant plan. We want to bury our batch in the yard, and dig it up in a year! We are planning to bottle the batch in the thickest, strongest glass bottles we can find, stash them in a wooden box, and bury them a few feet under the soil. This way; the beer won't be in our way, the beer shall remain nice and cool (even in summer) and we will not be able to touch it for a year!

-Has anyone here ever tried burying their beer, or ever heard of it?
-Is it a bad idea, is there anything we haven't thought of?

Opinions please!

Is this a 5 gallon batch? That's gonna be one big a$$ hole!

Somebody else on here aged their beers underground and had some pretty cool pics of it. It worked, with the exact advantages that you mentioned. I think he buried them at a hunting spot or something...

I wouldn't worry about special thick bottles. Just bottle like normal put in a box like you said, and bury. I'd maybe put them into a tied off garbage bag inside the wooden box or plastic sealed tote, then bury. I see no problems. Just bury below your frost line.

I like the idea. I think the metal on the caps (if you use them) may rust but I doubt enough to break the seal.

I have a 12 pack of Mead and Apfelwein buried behind my shed. Boxed, bagged, and boxed again. 6 were made when my first son was born and another 6 when my second son was born.

I plan to exhume them when they are 21. If I can remember them.

This would be a neat idea for those who play that GPS game where you search for loot. You find it then drink it!

My grandparents had an old refrigerator buried in the yard and used it as a root cellar

I like this ideal. I have thought about putting some under my house(crawlspace) to age out.

Oldsock on this board has a blog called themadfermentationist, and on that he has a tasting of some (several?) year old meads. I would recommend burying them if you have the time/space, because the ground will keep things a relatively stable temperature year round as long as you get deep enough.

On the back of the DFH Old School Barleywine, it recommends burying it out in the woods somewhere.

Another idea is to wax seal the bottle necks before burying.

I love this idea. I also think you should time the batch to dig up the buried treasure on National Talk Like a Pirate Day: http://www.talklikeapirate.com/

What the heck, bury a keg and make it a block party. . .Aaargh Matey!

Also make sure to make a "treasure" map. Set up something with an online service, like gmail that will email you an event in a year, so in case you forget about it, you will be reminded, with directions.

devilishprune said:

Oldsock on this board has a blog called themadfermentationist, and on that he has a tasting of some (several?) year old meads.

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Link:
http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2008/08/buried-treasure-mead.html

+1 to making sure you bury it below the frost line! Sounds like a great project!

Good to see so many positive reactions!

Waxing the caps seems like a good idea, thanks!

Remembering where we buried it won't be a problem, but the one thing we won't do is set an alarm to remind us that it's digging up time. If we are stupid enough to forget to dig it up after a year, so what? Who'd say no to a 2, or 3 year old honey triple? xD It's an extremely strong batch, so we aren't afraid of it 'expiring' too soon!

What about in the winter, how far down does the "Frost" go?

Msbeer said:

What about in the winter, how far down does the "Frost" go?

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Depends on your region. In moderate climes, 18" to frost depth. Go further north where the winters are longer it goes deeper. Further south with short winters, shallower.

Not sure? Ask your local building department what the minimum footing depth is for your area. Footings generally have to be below the frost line by 6".

Dont forget to get pics!


What if the ground freezes? Gotta dig deep per the link

I was home for lunch today (and weighed in with the dumb pirate joke!) Ended up thinking about this all afternoon at work. I love the utility of the idea - nice even temps, out of sight/no temptation. . .Great idea Tomerwt!

If I were doing this I think I'd dig a pit & line the walls with cement blocks. No mortar, just dry laid block should work. Then lower the cargo by rope, a flat stone over the block, and a foot or so of earth over that. Anyway, I love the idea - personal beer cave!

This summer I had a dandelion wine that had been burried under a shrub in an old mason jar for 10+ years. It had been made by a well intentioned yet amature wine maker with some sugar/dandelions/bread yeast. Considering the frost line here runs 47 - 52" and this was buried 6" or so, the jar fared suprisingly well. Tasted just like you probably think it would. Still though, the expedition out into the boonies made for a heck of a day.

I'm definitely a fan of this idea, but not only should you bury some in the yard, you should bury some 'out there' where an expedition will be required to retrieve it. That is definitely a big part of the fun.

cklages said:

but not only should you bury some in the yard, you should bury some 'out there' where an expedition will be required to retrieve it. That is definitely a big part of the fun.

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Good idea! We might even throw some in the lake to dive for in a year
Ok maybe that's a bad idea..

Will you guys be interested if we post some pics of the burying next month?

^^ I like these ideas. I might make a barly wine and bury it till my wedding day. (note, not engaged yet)

charlie mentions burying mead on top of a mountain in TCJOHB

Or bury one hell of a strong one in a remote location where only you know where it is at.

Never retrieve it.

In your Will, leave only a treasure map.

Tomerwt said:

Will you guys be interested if we post some pics of the burying next month?

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yes!

steinsato said:

That's gonna be one big a$$ hole!

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It had to be done.