Aging: Lagering fridge vs. Closet

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xeerohour

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Wasn't sure if this was the right forum for this. Mods, feel free to move if appropriate.


I'm debating with myself the best location for long term storage of my beer. Due to space limitations, there's really only two locations available for me.

The first is the top shelf of an indoor closet, where the temperature range would be fairly consistently in the low 70s (70 in winter, 75ish in summer).

The other alternative is that I have a full fridge in the garage that's currently being used for lagering, but there's room in it for holding beer. The issue with this location is that it's going to bounce between 33 and 60 degrees, depending on whether I'm fermenting, lagering, or doing a diacetyl rest.

So... is it better to keep it consistently colder but deal with temperature fluctuations, or is it better to keep it at a warmer, but constant temperature? The reading I've done on this really frowned on temperature fluctuations, but that seemed to principally talk about swings into really high temperatures, so I wasn't sure if this would apply.

Note: this is for beers I want to age a long time (minimum of months, maximum of years), like barley wines, oak aged beers, sour beers, etc.
 
I would store them at the warmer more consistent temps.

Temp swings from the 30's to the 60's is just ludacris IMO.
 
I like that - 'ludicrous' - always reminds me of Spaceballs.

I don't know though, the 25 degree swing from 35 to 60 is still colder than the 5-10 degree swing from upper sixties to low 70s. I just really can't decide which is worse. I may have to try putting a bottle of each one in each location and see what happens.
 
SWMBO has already pointed out that I have a fridge, a kegerator, and a lagering fridge. That's already been ruled out right now.
 
xeerohour said:
SWMBO has already pointed out that I have a fridge, a kegerator, and a lagering fridge. That's already been ruled out right now.

Buy her some jewelry and you'll be clear for another fridge
 
I like that - 'ludicrous' - always reminds me of Spaceballs.

I don't know though, the 25 degree swing from 35 to 60 is still colder than the 5-10 degree swing from upper sixties to low 70s. I just really can't decide which is worse. I may have to try putting a bottle of each one in each location and see what happens.

LUDICROUS SPEEEEEEEED!

I closet age all my beers, and I live in Orlando, Florida. I have my central AC set to 75 year round and have never had an off flavor or anything. Obviously if you are aging for years, you'll want to monitor the temps a bit better but for your average brew, a 70F closet does just fine.
 
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