barley wine bottle aging

[oldman100]

I have a barley wine all bottled up and has been sitting in my fermenting fridge
for about 3 months.
It has carbed up nicely but i need room in my fridge for a batch of cider i have in the fermentor and a batch for my empty and lonely keg.
Would it hurt to move it to a cooler area around 50-60 deg.
Will it still mellow and marry up at the lower temp.
I plan to age it for about 1-2 years.:rockin:
thanks Chad.

 

[kh54s10]

I don't think you even need to cool it. Room temperature for a year or more......

 

[MVKTR2]

You're actually retarding aging by keeping them in what should be a 35 or so degree refrigerator. If maintained at that temp continually they might last 25 years! A high alc beer, especially one with dark malts is good for 5+ years at room temps and will develop and change throughout that time. I've got some RIS that's 4.75 yrs old and drank the last bottle of a 4.5 yr old Wee Heavy last week. All good, the Wee Heavy was moderately oxidized but it taste good, the RIS is yet to oxidize and I suspect will be good for another 3-5 yrs if I were inclined to keep it that long.

So, get out of that fridge bro! I'm not addressing cellaring temps which in many respects are ideal because I'm not sure if you have a cellar. Not sure of the character of the beer either? That info along with what you're trying to achieve is pertinent to what you should do. No matter if it's highly bittered and a 9.5% alc beer that's not hop-forward aging it for a year at room temps wouldn't harm the beer, 2 years shouldn't depending on what it is. At 2+ years low hopped brews such as my aforementioned Wee Heavy might start to show deterioration. This is assuming you're keeping all this beer in dark places hopefully with few major temp swings.