In the early stages of recording my beer evaluations I realized that it could become common to have as many as ten or more different beers in the house at one time. As a result, I did some research on how to store beer at home and quickly understood that it was an important part in the whole tasting process. This will spell out what I think I know and what I typically do.
Really the basics of beer storage are that heat and light equal bad things for your beer. As you know, Florida has a lot of both so I probably store mine differently than people would in more temperate climates. Basements aren’t all that common here and unless the garage is conditioned to be quite cool, that isn’t a good option either.
Ideally, it’s a good to store the beer at the temperature that you would like to drink it at. I have read that the late beer writer extraordinaire Michael Jackson suggested five different temperature ranges for serving and I tend to listen to what he had to say about all things beer. His recommendations are:
- Well chilled (7 °C/45 °F) for “light” beers (pale lagers)
- Chilled (8 °C/47 °F) for Berliner Weisse and other wheat beers
- Lightly chilled (9 °C/48 °F) for all dark lagers, altbier and German wheat beers
- Cellar temperature (13 °C/55 °F) for regular British ale, stout and most Belgian specialties
- Room temperature (15.5 °C/60 °F) for strong dark ales (especially trappist beer) and barley wine
A room temperature of 60 degrees doesn’t happen anywhere in my house at almost any time of year, so I needed to find another option even for that. I ended up settling on three temperatures for my home storage. I have an under counter dual zone wine fridge that we built into our kitchen a few years back, so I am able to take advantage of some space in the side for whites (set at 54 degrees or so) and reds (right around 60-61 degrees). The other space I use is the regular old refrigerator.
With that setup, my methods are pretty simple. Any darker beers or beers with a higher alcohol content end up in the wine fridge on one side or the other. Lighter beers (in color and alcohol content) go in the regular refrigerator and sometimes I pull a beer out and let it warm a bit before opening it. It’s not a perfect system but it has some flexibility and it works well for me.
Even though cellaring and aging beer is something I have yet to get into, it is certainly worth a mention. Maybe when I work up enough will power to hold onto a worthwhile beer for a year or more before drinking it, I can revisit the subject with more expertise.
The same temperature rules apply as described above since storing at the optimal temperatures will ensure a longer shelf life for your beer. The only other opinion I have on long-term storage (having not really tried it) is that the beer should be stored in an upright position so any yeast will settle to the bottom and not somewhere in the middle of the bottle. Yeast collected in the middle will surely come out when you finally decide to pour that beer into a glass. Also, I would imagine that long-term contact with a cork (that some beers do have) would not help the flavor of the beer much. I guess when it comes down to it, I have never seen beer stored on its side in a store so I don’t think it should be done at home either.
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