Hopefully you have had a chance to read our previous articles on cellaring and aging beers, as well as Part I of Cellaring Tips & Tricks, and have considered to exploring the hobby – or perhaps you already have a beer cellar that is encroaching on your living quarters. While the day that aged beer is overflowing out of my beer closet is still years away, I have nonetheless come across some tips that just might help out novice and veteran alike. So in the same spirt of prosperity that spawned our other articles, I offer my research in several installments throughout the weeks ahead.
Temperature:
The method for creating humidity listed above is a passive system, meaning it requires no power to function. Should you choose to place a humidifier in your cellar, this would be an active system. Regardless of what advertisers and salesmen may tell you, passive systems are always superior. If you have done any research on cellaring outside of our articles, you may have come across someone able to use caves as a wine, or beer, cellar. These caves are natural cellars, and as such, will classify as a passive system. Caves keep a constant humidity and temperature, and the best part is that is costs no money to operate and will never under any conditions break down. This is proof that passive designs are far superior to their high maintenance and costly active counterparts. Building a man made cave is costly and beyond the scope of this article, but keeping caves in mind can help us develop passive systems for our cellars.
If you’re lucky enough to have a basement, then look no further, as this should be your best bet for a somewhat temperature controlled environment. If you are in a similar predicament to me, in that basements are not available in your locale, than how do caves apply to us? In Texas, many homes have storm shelters that are largely unused (save storm season), and these are prime locations to stash your brew. If you don’t have one, storm shelters can be had for a couple of thousand dollars and financing is often provided. I have been looking at purchasing one of these units, and may do so in the future. The idea of having a safe place to ride out inclement weather while enjoying an aged beer is most attractive, however the cost is not to be taken lightly. If this option is too costly, or unavailable to you, there is still hope.
What does underground storage provide that makes it so great for cellaring? Simply insulation from external temperatures. If we consider an interior closet, we can see that it, too, is somewhat insulated from outdoor temps, but not nearly as well. This makes an interior space the best option for above ground storage. This gets us to a constant 72 degrees (or whatever your thermostat is set to) in an uninsulated closet. If you were to insulate the closet and use weather stripping and a proper sweep on the door (these topics will be covered more in depth at a later date.) you will most likely drop your cellar temps into the sixties. If you have a slab foundation, this is the best you will achieve without going active, but pier and beam foundations offer one more aid to the cellarman- the crawl space. My interior cellar closet also includes an access to the crawl space under my house. This crawl space is humid and completely blocked off from the sun, is mostly stable and provides a passive method for temp control. I plan on building a simple screen to keep insects out and install a floor register to take advantage of the cool humid air from below. If the temp should rise too much in the summer, all I have to do is shut the register to keep warm air out. It is not the most elegant option, but it does provide a means to an end that requires the minimum of labor and cost. It it not difficult to create an access panel in your closet, should one not be in the closet already.
If you have decided to go active, your best bet is wine chillers. These are prohibitively expensive, but knock out humidity and temp issues in one shot. If these are too costly to make them attractive to you, then portable air conditioners are your next bet. Portable air conditioners are far more affordable at around a tenth of the cost of wine chillers, but they still hinder optimal humidity levels. Nothing that a bowl of rocks can’t help though!
Of course, wine coolers are available anywhere appliances are sold these days, and are a great option for someone looking to stash a small amount of bottles. An alternative to this is to purchase an external overriding refrigerator thermostat. These units plug into your wall, and your refrigerator plugs into it. A small probe goes into the fridge, and when the desired temperature is reached power is shut off to the fridge and this keeps the beer in the “Goldilocks zone”- neither to hot or too cold. The great things about these units are the price (50$ USD, plus the cost of a fridge if you do not already have a spare) and the fact that they will work with any size refrigerator.
Catch us next week for more tips and tricks ~ we’ll be discussing how to pimp your cellar and how many of those brews you’re going to want to hold on to…
- Ben W.
Filed under: Beer 101, Beer Cellaring Tagged: active system, aged beer, aging beer, basement, Beer, beer cellar, budget friendly, cave cellar, cellaring, craft beer, crawl space, evaporation, external overriding refrigerator thermostat, goldilocks zone, gravel pan, homebrew, humidifier, humidity, passive system, storing beer, wine chiller
