Questions about cellaring beer in an varying temperature range

I've been perusing and browsing this awesome website for the last few weeks, it's an amazing tool! It's been about ten years since I home brewed and the Brewmasters series on TDC has rekindled my love and desire. The last time I brewed I was in an temperature controlled apartment and never had anything but a 70 degree environment.

I haven't seen much talk about this topic here, please feel free to link me to any threads on it, but I'm curious how you folks account for the variety of temperatures needed to ferment, bottle condition, and cellar.

I have lots of space now and like making big beers so cellaring for at least two months would be expected on most of my beers. My basement doesn't have a constant temperature. I'm most concerned about the ups and downs. Let's say I were to cellar a beer for a year. In that year the beer doesn't see wide swings in temperatures over a several hour period but wide swings would occur over a several month period. What sort of impact can I expect on the beer?

In the summer my home thermostat runs from 72-84 and in the winter it runs from 50-66. I can expect my basement to be somewhat consistent in the winter 53-60 and in the summer somewhat consistent at 66-76. I turn the heat/ac off when I go to work, the house sees up to a 10 degree swing during that time, the cellar has a 5 degree swing on a typical day.

So let's say I put a bottle of saison, dubbel, and an IPA in my basement in January. I plan to drink the beers one year later. And in the months to come this is the range I can expect the temperature in my basement to go through:

January: 53-62
Feb: 54-62
March: 55-64
April: 58-65
May: 63-72
June: 67-74
July: 67-75
August: 68-76
September: 67-75
October: 58-66
November: 57-65
December: 55-63


What negative effects can I expect on my beer? Any concerns? Should I store them in a 38 degree fridge from May-September (I don't have the fridge space). Should I avoid storing beer at all in those summer months?

If you value stable temps over cool temps I could move the beer from time to time to get a tighter range of 64-76 year round.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Continual temperature swings can speed up the processes of aging, staling, oxidation, etc. Hop bitterness and flavor can drop out faster than normal, too. There's not much you can do about it without a dedicated fridge. I'm in the same exact situation, from Delaware County. As long as the temp is consistently under 60* though the effects aren't nearly as bad in my experience, and if you have a good process that minimizes oxygen contact and contamination, a few months won't even make a noticeable dent.

I've noticed that (unless I'm mistaken) standard fridges don't operate at 55 degrees. I could purchase a wine cellar, but I need one that fits 100 bottles, not one that fits 12.

Any fridge suggestions?

I like this one: http://www.frigidaire.com/products/kitchen/refrigerators/fru17b2jw But I can't seem to find any fridge spec sheet or guide that mentions a temperature range as high as 55. Fridges are designed to run near 38.

With a temperature controller such as this:
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=12193&osCsid=24a8fbd992a3be1a69f230f12c857da1
or this:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/

you can set any temperature you like and it will stay virtually that temperature constantly. I have 3 of the ebay ones, 1 runs the fermentation chamber, 1 runs the lagering fridge, 1 for the kegerator.

I think it's sort of a learning process, as to when to make a beer to have it ready by a certain date. If warm temperatures speed the process, then maybe 6 months is enough for that Barley Wine...

I'd be more concerned with fluctuating temperatures in fermentation, honestly.

You could maybe find a way to huddle together the cellared bottles and insulate them to minimize the temperature swings. Even a blanket under a cardboard box would probably help.

I asked similar question but keg conditioning during summer in my living room. You have plenty of time between brew date and before it starts to get hot. Most people carbonate their beer for 3 weeks at room temperature (~70F) so you are safe.

BeerBrian said:

I've noticed that (unless I'm mistaken) standard fridges don't operate at 55 degrees. I could purchase a wine cellar, but I need one that fits 100 bottles, not one that fits 12.

Any fridge suggestions?

I like this one: http://www.frigidaire.com/products/kitchen/refrigerators/fru17b2jw But I can't seem to find any fridge spec sheet or guide that mentions a temperature range as high as 55. Fridges are designed to run near 38.

Click to expand...

Your summer temperatures are not ideal, but a lot of people homebrew in less than ideal circumstances and do just fine. To my mind ideal is storing most beer refrigerated. Most people aren't going to go that far.

You can run a fridge at any temperature you want with an external controller. Homebrew shops sell these and the simplest analog models, which are fine for this application, are under $50. You can get a fridge very cheap on craigslist. If you keep the fridge section at 55 for big beers the freezer section will happen to be around 35 which is good for IPAs or other beers you want to keep as fresh as possible.