Building a beer cellar
My wife and I just moved into our new house, and it has at least one feature that I’ve always dreamed about: a beer cellar. Sure, the previous owners, who built the house, conceived of it as a wine cellar, but I’ve repurposed it for beer.
Whenever I talk about aging beer — and yes, there are several types that age very well — I’m often asked how you build a beer cellar. Happily, it’s surprisingly easy and it doesn’t have to be expensive. And with warm weather looming, this is the time to make plans to ensure your beer is protected from the coming heat.
Key ingredients
Just like a wine cellar, beer storage space should be dark, naturally cool and fairly dry. Some moisture is good, but humidity is not and heat is definitely your enemy. The sweet spot, temperature-wise, is 50-65 degrees, but it’s the consistency of the temperature that is key. And finally, you want to keep the room dark, which means no windows, no bright fluorescent lights and certainly no direct sunlight.
Most beer cellars also include a couple of other common elements. They have a gravel or dirt floor with drainage. They’re often built in basements, where the underground location helps keep an even temperature year-round. And you’ll want a moisture source.
My beer cellar is fairly plain — mine just has a sink, not fountains or underground streams — but I have friends with very elaborate cellars. One had giant
wooden doors and stonework worthy of a medieval castle. Another was built in an abandoned gold mine in Colorado.
But those are extreme examples, and until recently, I made do with far more modest accommodations for my beer. Moving from apartment to condo to house, I’ve learned more than a few tricks over the years for successfully aging beer without breaking the bank.
Cellar solutions
One of the best inexpensive solutions is an unused closet, preferably one that doesn’t abut an exterior wall, which would make it harder to keep the temperature stable. Put a thermometer in the closet and check it every day for a couple of weeks and see how much it changes. If the temperature barely fluctuates, look no further. You have a “cellar.”
If the closet option doesn’t work, consider buying a used refrigerator for your garage. They’re perfect, especially if your garage really bakes in the summer. The downside, of course, is your electric bill. Until we moved, I had four full-size refrigerators, three of them filled with beer, and my utility bill showed the effects.
You’ll need to watch your corks — yes, many beers that age well have corks. Refrigerators are usually low humidity, which means your corks may dry out. ?A refrigerator thermostat, available at home-brew supply stores and online, will let you set the internal temperature exactly.
The main difference between aging beer and wine is that wine is stored on its side, while beer should remain upright. There is some disagreement on this point, at least for beer with corks. Some insist that placing beer on its side will keep the cork moist, which helps prevent air from getting in the bottle.
But the majority — including me — believes that a very slight humidity provides enough moisture to keep the corks from drying out. Keeping your beer upright is also good for the ullage, the air space between liquid and cork. The ullage should be kept as small as possible to slow the oxidation process, which can give your beer a papery or cardboard taste and an overall stale quality. This will happen to every beer eventually, and in some beers it can take a positive form, adding sherry-like or leathery notes, but there’s no reason to rush the process if you don’t have to.
Yet another advantage to storing beer upright is that the sediment stays in the bottom of the bottle, and out of your glass, when it’s finally time to pour the beer.
And that decision — when to open your bottle — is perhaps the most difficult problem you’ll face. Wait too long and it’s ruined. Open it too early, and it could be green, having not yet reached its full potential. It’s a Goldilocks dilemma.
Sweet spot
But hit that sweet spot and you’ll understand in an instant why you put in all the work of building a beer cellar, exercising the herculean willpower necessary to patiently wait and not open the beer too soon. You’ll taste a beer like no other, with flavors that unfold like an Everloving Gobstopper, changing as the beer slowly warms in your glass.
So find or make a space with the ideal conditions, add some of the finest beers ever brewed — and wait.
To figure out what to put in your beer cellar, and what beers are best for aging, I’ve reposted my column on that topic from April 2010 at www.ibabuzz.com/bottomsup, along with some additional tips.
Contact Jay R. Brooks at [email protected]. Read more by Brooks at www.ibabuzz.com/bottomsup.
All About Beer with Bill & Sheila
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