How to get proper cellar temps?

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.

vinyl_key

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2009
Messages
182
Reaction score
5
Location
SLO, CA
Is there any way to get proper cellar temps for the beers that I am aging in a closet? It's pretty much the coolest area in my place that I can store beer in, and any sort of dedicated fridge is way out of my price range.

Right now, the closet sits at a hair under 65F, but I don't know what it will get to in the summer.

Anything I can do short of putting a frozen water bottle in there every so often?
 
From everything that I've seen, 55 is the ideal cellaring temp. The higher the temp the faster the beer will age.

You can try a wine fridge. Might be able to find one cheap on craigslist and they have a programmable temp.
 
Hmm, I'm getting up to 70F in my beer closet now. Anything I can do to shave at least 10 degrees off of that?
 
Your other option is to submerge the carboy in a tub of water and use frozen water bottles to regulate the temperature. You should only need to swap out the bottles once or twice a day. Search HBT for "swamp cooler" and you will find a lot of ideas.

Welcome to HBT! :mug:
 
If you check classifieds or craigslist, you can probably find a used fridge or mini fridge between $20 and $50.

I'm planning on getting one in the next 1 - 3 weeks for lagering. My cellar actually has good cellering temperatures 80% of the year.
 
....

I'm planning on getting one in the next 1 - 3 weeks for lagering. My cellar actually has good cellering temperatures 80% of the year.

...For those that don't know, in Utah, Mormon construction frequently involves a room in the basement that is unheated for food storage since those folks are supposed to save 2 years of food for some sort of apocalypse or something.

These spaces ****ing rock for storing booze in :mug:.

I concur with you Beernik about these cellars :).
 
I don't think mine is a food storage room.

I don't think my cellar was originally part of my house. I think it had a dirt floor basement that someone finished with concrete in the 60s. My cellar was formed by pouring a concrete box and trying it to the foundation under my front porch.
 
Back
Top