Here's a question about aging beer....

SSBrew - 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
FATC1TY

FATC1TY

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 19, 2012
Messages
1,605
Reaction score
141
Location
Atlanta Area
I'm still pretty new to brewing, but I'm a fast learner, and pretty good with the whole brewing process.. I'm moving at a fast clip on brewing beer and have had some incredible brews under my belt

I am new to kegging however, and understand the whole process well.

However....

In my haste to get beer into kegs, I put a oatmeal stout, a high abv one in the keg, and chilled it, gassed it and carbed it over a month's time.

It needs time before I can drink it, but it's cold now, and has been for a while..

The problem is, I need some room in my keezer, for beers I can make and drinker sooner, as well, as I know that cold temps will slow the aging process, which I exactly don't need.

So my question: Is it okay to pull my keg of breakfast stout from the keezer, and store it inside the house at 70? I'll keep it carbed and pressurized, but I'm thinking 2-3 months in the house, will give me room and age it better..

Or is that not a good idea because the beer hasn't been pasteurized and shouldn't be cooled and warmed too long?
 
Justintoxicated,

Here's the thing to consider. Temperature is a catalyst to most of the processes in conditioning/aging a beer. A beer at 34 will barely creep through the chemical stages of conditioning, a beer at 55 will go exponentially faster, a beer at 70 will go exponentially faster than that, and a beer at 85 will go exponentially faster than that.

So, the issue is really controlling the conditioning processes and making sure your beer is on the uphill towards being better instead of over the hump and on the downhill towards getting worse. The speed at which this all happens is also very dependent on the individual ingredients and AVB of the beer.

That said, there's nothing wrong with storing a beer at 85 short term, but the conditioning processes are going to be buzzing along at that temp, so you certainly don't want to store it at that temp for very long. Any more than about 3-4 weeks or so at 85 and an average gravity, averaged hopped beer is going to start going downhill.

I assume this is like in your garage or something? If at all possible, throw it in an interior closet in your house, and the viable storage time turns into more like 3-4 months.
 
So I'm in the clear to pull the keg and store it in the house for a few months. Thanks!

If I can move that one and I just kicked another I'm gonna have plenty of room now..
 
TopherM said:
Justintoxicated,

Here's the thing to consider. Temperature is a catalyst to most of the processes in conditioning/aging a beer. A beer at 34 will barely creep through the chemical stages of conditioning, a beer at 55 will go exponentially faster, a beer at 70 will go exponentially faster than that, and a beer at 85 will go exponentially faster than that.

So, the issue is really controlling the conditioning processes and making sure your beer is on the uphill towards being better instead of over the hump and on the downhill towards getting worse. The speed at which this all happens is also very dependent on the individual ingredients and AVB of the beer.

That said, there's nothing wrong with storing a beer at 85 short term, but the conditioning processes are going to be buzzing along at that temp, so you certainly don't want to store it at that temp for very long. Any more than about 3-4 weeks or so at 85 and an average gravity, averaged hopped beer is going to start going downhill.

I assume this is like in your garage or something? If at all possible, throw it in an interior closet in your house, and the viable storage time turns into more like 3-4 months.
Click to expand...

My garage gets higher than 85 heh, I was wanting to put it in a spare room in my house. But hey if it will condition even faster and not be ruined that is even better! I just don't want it taking up space in my fermentation chest, but I have room in my wanna be keezer.
 

Similar threads

A
Question about Lalvin 71b yeast
Replies
2
Views
124
Autumnridgewine
A
K
Question About Keg Secondary
Replies
9
Views
743
Broken Crow
Broken Crow
T
Another "beer didnt carb" thread
Replies
16
Views
748
balrog
balrog
A
Primo Bottles for Wine Aging
Replies
31
Views
1K
whoaru99
W
A
Problems Keeping O2 out of NEIPA (I think)
Replies
13
Views
589
Dog House Brew
Dog House Brew

Latest posts

Back
Top