Question on beer aging

Can / Does beer age while in the fridge or does it need to be kept at a warmer temperature (50-60) in order to age properly? I have some Dogfish Heads (Palo Santo Marron) and some RISs that I want to age for a while but were kept in fridge in the mid 40's. Will these age or am I just wasting my time?

There's a difference between aging (conditioning) and storage.

True that beer stored at cellar temperatures continue to condition. Residual CO2 is produced, Hops sharpness softness, alcohol harshness on big beers mellows and the beer just generally matures.

Once the beer hits the chiller, these activities are essentially suspended (or certainly slowed).

If these are homebrews you made and want them to improve...store them warmer.

If they are commercial bought beers and they already are at their peak...chill them.

Thanks BierMuncher.

These are all commercial brews. Some are already stored in the fridged and I've had the impression that chilling beer and then warming it back up causes it to skunk. Is this true or am I just making stuff up?

red999 said:

Thanks BierMuncher.

These are all commercial brews. Some are already stored in the fridged and I've had the impression that chilling beer and then warming it back up causes it to skunk. Is this true or am I just making stuff up?

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Skunking comes from exposure to sunlight (or extended exposure to fluorescent light).

Going from chilled to room temp a time or two should impact big beers like those.

You'll be ok taking them out and putting them somewhere cool. You don't want your beer undergoing temperature swings too many times, but once won't hurt anything. Which RIS' are you holding on to?

I got a couple bottles of DFH Palo Santo Marron, DFH World Wide Stout (hope it was worth the $8), Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. Just started getting into cellaring so hopefully I can have enough willpower to hold on to them for a while.

I have experience with only one bottled batch - not a good sample size but it's all I have. I had a beer from an extract kit I didn't care for. I put 6 in the fridge, left 6 @ ~70F. After 4 months. After chilling the latter, I drank a few of both and the one left at room temp was far superior.

I also had a kegged batch that got better the longer it sat @ 38F.